Riaz

Geschichte

Riaz is a municipality in the district of Gruyère in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland.HistoryRiaz is first mentioned in 900 as Villa Roda. The municipality was formerly known by its German name Zum Rad, however, that name is no longer used.GeographyRiaz has an area, of 7.8km2. Of this area, 4.82km2 or 62.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 2km2 or 25.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.95km2 or 12.2% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.01km2 or 0.1% is either rivers or lakes.Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 7.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.3%. Out of the forested land, 23.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 16.2% is used for growing crops and 35.1% is pastures and 10.7% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.The municipality is located in the Gruyère district and neighbors the district capital of Bulle. The village of Riaz is located along the Bulle-Fribourg road.Coat of armsThe blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules a Wheel argent.DemographicsRiaz has a population of., 12.7% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 29.1%. Migration accounted for 25.3%, while births and deaths accounted for 7.9%.