Gerlafingen

Gerlafingen is a municipality in the district of Wasseramt in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.HistoryGerlafingen is first mentioned in 1278 as Nidergerolvingen.GeographyGerlafingen has an area, of 1.85km2. Of this area, 0.18km2 or 9.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.19km2 or 10.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.52km2 or 82.2% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.02km2 or 1.1% is either rivers or lakes.Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 15.7% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 44.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 12.4%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 2.7% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 7.0%. Out of the forested land, 8.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 4.9% is used for growing crops and 3.2% is pastures, while 1.6% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.The municipality is located in the Wasseramt district, on the eastern bank of the Emme river, about 5km south of Solothurn.Coat of armsThe blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules a Cramp Azure in bend between two Mullets or one above the other.DemographicsGerlafingen has a population of., 39.7% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 2%. It has changed at a rate of 1.8% due to migration and at a rate of 1.4% due to births and deaths.