#HTE

How To Move An Entire City Without Losing Its Heart

The remote Swedish city of Kiruna is endangered by sinkholes, but no one is leaving. Not exactly. The sinkholes are caused by iron ore extraction at a nearby mine. The mine is massive, publicly owned, and it has been the sole reason Kiruna exists for around a century. Despite the extreme disturbances and danger the sinkholes can cause, the mine is too huge (a.k.a. too economically important) to close, so the Swedish government has proposed an equally drastic measure: they’re moving Kiruna’s entire city piece by piece. 

Though it’s the farthest northern city in Sweden, a full 20km past the Arctic Circle, the area is one of the biggest municipal areas in the world, and home to over 18,000 people. So while the population isn’t dense, moving the town is no simple barn raising. 

This official short documentary covers the dilemma, the questions it raises, and a few of the solutions they’re finding. 

While having your whole hometown condemned as hazardous is a pretty big blow, this plan makes the transition seem at least logistically manageable. Planning began back in 2004, and will be carried out over a few decades. For now, the city is already moving people out of unstable neighborhoods by buying residents’ property at market price plus 25%, and providing space in newly developed safer areas. 

The city re-planning effort is also considering what it means to transplant a community. In doing so, their efforts have identified examples of socially crucial architecture, like the beloved historic church which will be moved intact to the new city center. Meanwhile, construction on replacements for other civic buildings has begun. 

The short film only talks to a few locals, largely two who own a business and have bought a new house, but their interests are representative of long term residents in many cities experiencing change. Their business has been in the family for generations, and while the new house is nice (and safe), they rely on the promise that the new business district will feel as familiar and inviting as before.

This 10 minute doc understandably leaves you with more questions than answers, since the range of people affected must be quite huge, the methods of the planners were only lightly discussed, and the economic and environmental impacts of the mine were utterly unmentioned. How does a city on the move support renters? How would this process differ if the LKAB mine were privately owned?

What would would the community need to save if your city had to move?