The story of Badia del Vallès is the most unusual of the housing estates that the Francoist Board of Trustees built to provide shelter for Spanish immigrants. From a bird's eye view, the layout of the buildings resembles the Iberian Peninsula, and on the ground, the street names are arranged faithfully to the geography. It is unique for many reasons. First, because it reaches 50 years not as a neighborhood but as a city—it has been one since 1994—with the unique feature of being the only one with all its homes (5,400) subsidized, although as of next year only a hundred or so will remain. The origin of Badia is a "big hit urban planning," explains the socialist Josep Martínez, mayor of the town since August last year, alluding to the fact that the Badia family bought the land just before its expropriation to make the neighborhood, which was born as a community of Barberà or Cerdanyola.