Located above the Arctic Circle, the Swedish city of Kiruna is facing a rather unique obstacle: it is slowly sinking into the ground. Thanks to a local iron mine owned by Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB (LKAB), it is projected that most of the structures in the city will collapse into the expanding iron mines below by 2050, sciencealert.com reports.
It may seem as though the simple solution would be to close the mine, but that isn’t an option. As Niklas Siren, the Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee Kiruna explains in a short documentary about the city’s move (which can be seen below), the city and the mine have always had a symbiotic relationship. In fact, Kiruna exists where it does solely because of the mine and was founded as a city in 1900 by the LKAB managing director Hjalmar Lundbohm. With so much of the city’s economy tied up in the mine, the decision was made to keep the mine open and operational and move the city.
The lengthy, complicated process began back in 2004 when White Arkitekter AB won the global design competition set up to find the best idea for moving the city with its “Kiruna 4 Ever” plan. The firm broke ground on the new city in 2014.
Three historical structures in the city will be moved in their entirety to the new location, including the clock tower and the Kiruna church, which was voted as the most beautiful building in Sweden in 2001 by the people of Sweden. The rest of the structures will be recycled and their materials will be reclaimed for use in new construction.
Homeowners, on the other hand, will be given two options for how to go about the move, Gizmodo reports. LKAB will either buy their homes at market value plus 25%, or the residents can opt to be given a brand-new home for free in a new part of town. Renters will get subsidized rent to help with the transition into what will likely be more expensive buildings.
Rendering courtesy of White and Tegmark
Kiruna is seizing the opportunity of being forced to move the city as a means of fixing many of the city's existing problems. Currently, the space occupied by the city is massive. In fact, until two Australian municipalities combined, Kiruna was the largest municipality in the world in terms of area. However, with only around 20,000 people, the city’s layout was not as efficient as it could be. The new city is going to employ a much more focused, dense design. A more compact city center will allow for the residents to meet their daily needs in the most effective manner possible.
The first phase of the master plan is to create a new civic square. The historic Kiruna clock tower will reside in the civic square in addition to a new travel center, with a completion date of 2018, and a new city hall, which is scheduled to be completed in 2016, and was designed by Henning Larsen Architects. Phase one will also be comprised of a library (2019), swimming pool (2016), and moving the Kiruna church (2021).
The city’s neighborhoods will extend from this central civic square and form "urban fingers" into the surrounding arctic landscape, meaning residents will never be more than three blocks away from nature. Part of the plan with the design of the new city is to help give Kiruna less dependency on the mine and achieve a more sustainable economy.
An interesting part of the White Arkitekter AB team, and one that is not usually found in architecture firms, is a social anthropologist, meant to be an interpreter of sorts between the residents of Kiruna and the architects and planners. The key is to make sure the residents always feel as though they are being heard and have some say in the new city and the transformation process. Additionally, the anthropologist is meant to help facilitate the transfer not of the city’s buildings, but of the city and the residents’ culture to the new site, a task of equal difficulty as moving the city itself.
LKAB will be paying for everything in what has become the world’s largest urban relocation.
A short documentary about the move can be seen below.
Related Stories
Mass Timber | May 22, 2024
3 mass timber architecture innovations
As mass timber construction evolves from the first decade of projects, we're finding an increasing variety of mass timber solutions. Here are three primary examples.
K-12 Schools | May 13, 2024
S.M.A.R.T. campus combines 3 schools on one site
From the start of the design process for Santa Clara Unified School District’s new preK-12 campus, discussions moved beyond brick-and-mortar to focus on envisioning the future of education in Silicon Valley.
Sustainability | May 10, 2024
Perkins&Will’s first ESG report discloses operational performance data across key metrics
Perkins&Will recently released its first ESG report that discloses the firm’s operational performance data across key metrics and assesses its strengths and opportunities.
Sustainable Development | May 10, 2024
Nature as the city: Why it’s time for a new framework to guide development
NBBJ leaders Jonathan Ward and Margaret Montgomery explore five inspirational ideas they are actively integrating into projects to ensure more healthy, natural cities.
K-12 Schools | May 7, 2024
World's first K-12 school to achieve both LEED for Schools Platinum and WELL Platinum
A new K-12 school in Washington, D.C., is the first school in the world to achieve both LEED for Schools Platinum and WELL Platinum, according to its architect, Perkins Eastman. The John Lewis Elementary School is also the first school in the District of Columbia designed to achieve net-zero energy (NZE).
K-12 Schools | Apr 30, 2024
Fully electric Oregon elementary school aims for resilience with microgrid design
The River Grove Elementary School in Oregon was designed for net-zero carbon and resiliency to seismic events, storms, and wildfire. The roughly 82,000-sf school in a Portland suburb will feature a microgrid—a small-scale power grid that operates independently from the area’s electric grid.
Contractors | Apr 26, 2024
AGC releases decarbonization playbook to help assess, track, reduce GHG emissions
The Associated General Contractors of America released a new, first-of-its-kind, decarbonization playbook designed to help firms assess, track, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions on projects. The AGC Playbook on Decarbonization and Carbon Reporting in the Construction Industry is part of the association’s efforts to make sure construction firms play a leading role in crafting carbon-reduction measures for the industry.
Mass Timber | Apr 25, 2024
Bjarke Ingels Group designs a mass timber cube structure for the University of Kansas
Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and executive architect BNIM have unveiled their design for a new mass timber cube structure called the Makers’ KUbe for the University of Kansas School of Architecture & Design. A six-story, 50,000-sf building for learning and collaboration, the light-filled KUbe will house studio and teaching space, 3D-printing and robotic labs, and a ground-level cafe, all organized around a central core.
Laboratories | Apr 22, 2024
Why lab designers should aim to ‘speak the language’ of scientists
Learning more about the scientific work being done in the lab gives designers of those spaces an edge, according to Adrian Walters, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Principal and Director of SMMA's Science & Technology team.
Codes and Standards | Apr 8, 2024
First federal blueprint to decarbonize U.S. buildings sector released
The Biden Administration recently released “Decarbonizing the U.S. Economy by 2050: A National Blueprint for the Buildings Sector,” a comprehensive plan to reduce greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions from buildings by 65% by 2035 and 90% by 2050.
