Muttenz

Muttenz is a municipality with a population of approximately 17,000 in the canton of Basel Country in Switzerland. It is located in the district of Arlesheim and next to the city of Basel.

Under the Roman Empire a hamlet called Montetum existed, which the Alamanni invaders referred to as Mittenza since the 3rd century CE. At the beginning of the 9th century CE the settlement came into the possession of the bishopric of Strasbourg. In the following centuries various noble families were invested with the fief. Muttenz is first mentioned around 1225 26 as Muttence. In 1277 it was mentioned as Muttenza.

Muttenz has an area, as of 2009, of Of this area, or 16.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 40.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 41.2% is settled (buildings or roads), or 2.0% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.1% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 8.1% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 14.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 15.0%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.7% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 2.2%. Out of the forested land, 38.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 5.6% is used for growing crops and 8.0% is pastures, while 2.5% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

Muttenz has a population of as of 2008, 17.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 2.5%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (14,642 or 87.9%), with Italian language being second most common (648 or 3.9%) and French being third (254 or 1.5%). There are 18 people who speak Romansh. as of 2000, there were 6,189 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 8,470 married individuals, 1,099 widows or widowers and 896 individuals who are divorced. as of 2000, there were 7,340 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.2 persons per household. In 2000 there were 7,768 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 2,395. There were 267 single room apartments and 2,041 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 7,219 apartments (92.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 378 apartments (4.9%) were seasonally occupied and 171 apartments (2.2%) were empty. The vacancy rate for the municipality, in 2008, was 0.31%.

The Au Hard (Part of the late Roman era Rhine fortifications), the Freidorf settlement, the Rangierbahnhof (Train Station) and the Reformed Parish Fortified Church of St. Arbogast are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire village of Muttenz and the cemetery with surrounding settlements are both listed in the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

Built in the Middle Ages, the three fortresses built on the Wartenberg were heavily damaged in the earthquake of 1356, rebuilt in the following decades and later abandoned. They were partially restored in 1955/56.

The fortified church of St. Arbogast, serving the local evangelical community, was built in the late Middle Ages. Its surrounding seven metre tall ramparts built in the 15th century are still intact. A charnal house was built adjoining the church in the 15th century. Wall paintings made in 1513 were painted over following the Protestant Reformation, but were restored during a complete renovation in the 1970s. Muttenz was awarded the Wakker Prize for architectural preservation by the Swiss Heritage Society in 1983. The church is listed as a heritage site of national significance, as is the medieval village core.

Freidorf is a communal housing estate with 150 buildings built in 1920 by Hannes Meyer (1889–1954), a Bauhaus affiliated architect. It is also listed as a heritage site of national significance.

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SP which received 30.59% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (27.32%), the FDP (13.79%) and the Green Party (12.37%). In the federal election, a total of 5,850 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 49.0%.

as of 2007, Muttenz had an unemployment rate of 2.04%. as of 2005, there were 93 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 22 businesses involved in this sector. 5,170 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 191 businesses in this sector. 8,902 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 664 businesses in this sector. In 2000, there were 12,909 workers who commuted into the municipality and 5,640 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 2.3 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 15.4% of the workforce coming into Muttenz are coming from outside Switzerland, while 0.3% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work. Of the working population, 33.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 32.6% used a private car.