This is life in the town near Girona with the fastest growing population in Catalonia.

Vilablareix (Gironès)For those who have never set foot in the town of Vilablareix, near Girona, it is known above all for your municipal radio. The persistence of Didac Romagós, coordinator and sole worker, with a music schedule only in Catalan and daily interviews with personalities Of all the Catalan Countries, has made this station, with 44,000 followers on Twitter, the great ambassador for a town of just 4,000 inhabitants. But the local radio station's figures aren't the only record-breaking ones: Vilablareix is the town in the Girona region that has grown the most in percentage terms in the last decade, going from just over 2,000 inhabitants at the turn of the millennium to the current 4,059, with the prospect of reaching 50 in 50 years. If we expand the map a little more, this town in Girona is surpassed by only two municipalities in the whole of Catalonia, according to data from Idescat. These are Talamanca, a small mountain village in Bages, which has grown from 100 to 223 inhabitants since 2011, and Pobla de Mafumet, which has tripled its population to reach numbers similar to those of Vilablareix thanks to its proximity to the Camp de Tarragona petrochemical plant.

But the case of this Girona municipality isn't driven by industry. Nor is it driven by agriculture. The majority of its inhabitants—and it should be noted that it's the second-largest town in Catalonia with the largest employed population (82.3%)—are dedicated to services. Vilablareix's situation has much to do with the 2008 economic crisis and the housing shortage in Girona city, with skyrocketing prices increasingly comparable to those of Barcelona. One in four inhabitants of Vilablareix has arrived in the town in the last five years. But not because it has a high level of foreign immigration; quite the opposite: less than 2.5% of the population comes from outside the state. Walking through Vilablareix is like stepping into a town of urban contrasts: the farmhouses and the old town of Perelló—where the municipal radio station is located—on one side of the road that connects with Girona, and the communal apartment blocks with swimming pools and single-family homes in the area of the Can Gruart cultural center, where once everything was irrigated fields.

1,199 new homes

Half of what was planned in 2006 has been built.

Maite Tixis, the current mayor for the Esquerra party, put down roots in Vilablareix 14 years ago and has witnessed the town's great transformation. In 2006, the burying of the power line that crossed the irrigated fields in the area of the old Can Gruart farmhouse led to the approval of a major urban development project for up to 1,199 homes on a 60-hectare area, half of which has now been completed and executed. "Here we were fortunate enough to plan the town, to think it through so that Vilablareix could be a place of full life and that the growth of services and buildings would be sustained over time," Tixis explained to ARA in an interview at the Town Hall.

The urban development plan, however, came late due to the 2008 crisis. The real estate agencies left, and the plots remained empty for years. Until a decade ago, the cranes reappeared, and for the last seven years, construction has continued nonstop, a key factor in explaining the dramatic population growth in such a short period of time. Almost everything for sale is new, and there are no listings for less than €290,000. There are no rental offers on the Idealista website. And the older houses for sale are priced at over €450,000. Idescat doesn't record any tourist accommodation. This is a town, therefore, where the vast majority of residents have their primary residence.

New school and institute

The youngest can live a full life in the village until they are 18.

"Vilablareix is unique in that it's right next to Girona. It's very peaceful and at the same time has a wide variety of services. For example, you don't have to move to study: you can start from nursery to high school. Last year, the new Madrenc school opened in the Can Gruart area. And in September, the second one opened in Romagoso. The construction of facilities, especially educational ones, is another key factor in understanding the town's growth. It started with the nursery before the crisis and with the recycling center—it was one of the first towns in Catalonia to implement door-to-door recycling—and the new library is expected to open very soon, next to the Can Gruart farmhouse, where there's also a large new playground, and during the Madrenc school hours, you can see a girl from Madrenc. The majority of the population moving to Vilablareix are couples over 30 who already have families or want to start soon.

This is the case From Mònica Garcia, president of the new Vilablareix Residents' Association, born from the creation of a WhatsApp group to organize Halloween in the town's streets two years ago. Garcia arrived in the town three years ago from Salt. Her children are now finishing secondary school, but she emphasizes that the profile of families interested in collaborating with the association is very similar: couples who grew up in Girona or the surrounding area, who have stable jobs, children, and are looking for a quiet place for them to grow up. "Vilablareix is in high demand right now because it's fantastic to live there," Garcia adds. "The children have a great quality of life, and you see how people are arriving because more and more of us are signing up for the activities."

A dormitory town?

The number of entities and businesses has multiplied in a short time.

The growth of the child population has also translated into a significant increase in the offering of extracurricular activities and sports and leisure activities. During the celebration of the magazine's 25th anniversary and 100th issue, The Torratxa This week, we recalled how the school had gone from being a rural area with only 60 students to currently having more than 300. Vilablareix is one of the Girona towns with the youngest population, followed only by Quart, Celrà, and Salt around the capital. But when looking at household and per capita income, it is by far among the highest: only surpassed by Fornells de la Selva, which itself is on the podium in Catalonia, after Matadepera and Sant Just Desvern.

As Romagós explains, there are currently 36 organizations in a town of just over 4,000 inhabitants, the most recent being the new sardana gang. For Tixis, this demonstrates that "Vilablareix is not a commuter town," although most adult residents admit they drive to work every day, often in Girona. However, as for their children's lives, most complete all their studies in the town, including extracurricular activities. As for the adults, Josep Aribau admits that they are struggling to send talks with a rich cultural content. Aribau is a member of the Vilablareix Cultural Association, created in 2015 to bring culture to the town and eliminate the need to travel to book presentations in Girona every few minutes. "The town has grown a lot, but the concerns of young people with children are different," he laments, although he predicts a very different outlook in 10 years.

Vilablareix's outlook for the next decade is similar: to continue growing to 5,000 inhabitants, as established by urban planning. Meanwhile, the City Council, Tixis, believes the goal is to "build a community" to "make a town" and to ensure good coexistence through these organizations, while Vilablareix becomes more integrated into the urban area of Girona. The connection to the bike path has already been made, the town's first two supermarkets are being built, and the City Council is eagerly awaiting the development of the Nou Trueta, which will be built right on the edge of the municipality.