Geneva with other cities. It declares itself related to the entire world. Geneva has a population () of . The city of Geneva is at the centre of the Geneva metropolitan area, known as "Grand Genève" in French (Greater Geneva). Greater Geneva includes the Canton of Geneva in its entirety as well as the District of Nyon in the Canton of Vaud and several areas in the neighbouring French departments of Haute-Savoie and Ain. In 2011, the "agglomération franco-valdo-genevoise" had 915,000 inhabitants, two-thirds of whom lived on Swiss soil and one-third on French soil. The Geneva metropolitan area is experiencing steady
Geneva Lake with the nearby town of Geneva, Illinois, the city was renamed "Lake Geneva"; later the lake was renamed "Geneva Lake". Lakeshore attractions include Big Foot Beach State Park, Lake Geneva Yacht Club, the George Williams College campus of Aurora University, and Yerkes Observatory. The observatory is owned by the University of Chicago, which has established a study group to plan a regional center for science education at the observatory. Public access to the lake is allowed as the result of a decision by early European settlers that "20 feet of land leading up to the shoreline should be public domain."