Villeurbanne is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. It is situated northeast of Lyon, with which it forms the heart of the second-largest metropolitan area in France after that of Paris. Villeurbanne is the second-largest commune in the metropolitan area of Lyon and the 20th most populated in France, and the most populous commune that is neither a prefecture nor a sub-prefecture.