urbaines

Urbaines is the feminine plural form of the French adjective urbain, meaning relating to cities or urban life. As an adjective it agrees with feminine plural nouns, for example zones urbaines, populations urbaines, and villes urbaines. The corresponding masculine forms are urbain (singular) and urbains (plural), while the feminine singular is urbaine. The term derives from Latin urbs, urbis, meaning city.

In typical usage, urbaines appears in geography, urban planning, sociology, and public policy to describe features, groups, or phenomena associated with city areas. It can modify nouns denoting places (zones, villes, quartiers), activities (vie urbaine, économie urbaine), or populations (population urbaine). In many contexts it is part of compound terms such as zones urbaines sensibles or centres urbains. While urbaines can be used as a noun when referring to city dwellers, the standard masculine noun les urbains is more common; the feminine plural les urbaines as a standalone noun is rare and context-dependent.

Related concepts include urbanisme, urbanisation, and urban sociology. The term is widely found in French-language sources addressing city development, spatial planning, and demographic patterns.