It is a historically mono-industrial commune [ 3 ] in the Nord department , [ 4 ] which grew rapidly in the 19th century from its textile industries, with most of the same characteristic features as those of English and American boom towns. Located to the northeast of Lille , adjacent to Tourcoing , Roubaix is the chef-lieu of two cantons and the third largest city in the French region of Hauts-de-France ranked by population with nearly 99, inhabitants.
Together with the nearby cities of Lille , Tourcoing , Villeneuve-d'Ascq and eighty-six other communes , [ 9 ] Roubaix gives structure to a four-centred metropolitan area inhabited by more than 1.
As regards towns' boundaries, Roubaix is encompassed by seven cities which constitute its immediate neighbouring environment.
These municipalities are namely: Tourcoing to the north and the northwest, Wattrelos to the northeast, Leers to the east, Lys-lez-Lannoy to the southeast, Hem to the south and Croix to the southwest and the west.
Roubaix, alongside those municipalities and twenty-one other communes, belongs to the land of Ferrain, a little district of the former Castellany of Lille between the Lys and Scheldt rivers. As the crow flies , the distance between Roubaix and the following cities is some odd: 16 kilometres 9. The land upon which Roubaix stands belongs to the plain of Flanders.
