Luleå

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Luleå
Storgatan in Luleå

Coat of arms
Luleå is located in Sweden
Luleå
Coordinates: 65°36′N 22°9′E / 65.6°N 22.15°E / 65.6; 22.15Coordinates: 65°36′N 22°9′E / 65.6°N 22.15°E / 65.6; 22.15
Country Sweden
Province Norrbotten
County Norrbotten County
Municipality Luleå Municipality
Charter 17th Century
Area[1]
 • Total 29.09 km2 (11.23 sq mi)
Population (31 December 2010)[1]
 • Total 46,607
 • Density 1,602/km2 (4,150/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Website www.lulea.se

Luleå (Swedish: [ˈlʉːlɛo] ( listen), Lule sami Luleju, Finnish Luulaja) is a city on the coast of northern Sweden with 46,607 inhabitants in 2010.[1] It is the seat of Luleå Municipality and the capital of Norrbotten County.

Contents

[edit] Geography

The town of Luleå is situated on a peninsula where Lule Bay meets the Gulf of Bothnia; the bay stretches northwest and becomes the Lule River, allowing sea-based transportation across the county. The town's location on the peninsula of Svartöstaden required expansion, and therefore much of its ground area of 2110 square kilometres is human-made. Luleå also has urban areas built on the island of Hertsön which, thanks to Luleå's location, is Sweden's seventh most populated.

The harbour of Luleå — Sweden's fifth-largest port, which transports over seven million tons of cargo each year — is of particular significance for iron ore from LKAB's mining in Kiruna and Gällivare/Malmberget. During the winter, sea traffic continues at a virtually unchanged rate with the assistance of icebreakers; Luleå is the home port of the Swedish icebreaker armada.

[edit] Archipelago

Luleå archipelago contains over 700 islands. Its area extends to the county limit of Norrbotten/Västerbotten and to Sweden's national border with Finland. Archaeological expeditions have discovered many mazes which are widely believed to have been used for fertility and agricultural rituals. There are an estimated 300 mazes worldwide which share this distinct pattern, 100 of which are found on the islands of Luleå.

[edit] History

Luleå Old Town around 1700, from Suecia antiqua et hodierna.
Luleå New Town from same book. The most prominent buildings are the church and the town hall.

Luleå was already an important harbour in the 13-15th centuries.

The Royal charter was granted in 1621 by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. The original town was situated where Gammelstad (Old Town) is situated today. The town had to be moved in 1649 to the current site, due to the land elevation that had made the bay too shallow for ships to enter.

The Gammelstad Church Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In 1887, a devastating fire destroyed most of the town, sparing only a few buildings. The Neo-Gothic Cathedral (originally the Oscar Fredrik church), dedicated in 1893, is at 67 meters (220 ft) the tallest building in town.

[edit] Economy

Luleå University of Technology
Industrial district of Luleå

Luleå's commerce and industry is a mix of industry, research, education, trade, and services. The university's educational programmes have attracted new businesses as well as local offices for multinational corporations.[citation needed]

Major employers in the city are the SSAB steelworks and Luleå University of Technology. A Swedish Air Force wing, F 21 (or Norrbotten Air Force Wing), are stationed near Luleå at the neighbouring Luleå Airport. Other major employers include Ferruform (a subsidiary of Scania AB) and Gestamp HardTech (acquired from SSAB 2005-01-01).

[edit] IT industry

The information technology industry in Luleå has about 2000 employees (2008).

Luleå is the home of several major innovations and technological milestones.[2]

  • The First GSM Call (1989)[citation needed]
  • The VDSL standard (2000–2007)
  • Broadcast Radio – RDS[who?], DAB[clarification needed], DARC (1992–1997)
  • The Luleå algorithm for routing (1997)
  • Living Labs – leading European service testbed with 6000 users (2001-)
  • HDTV transport layer for telephony cabling (1996)
  • Software GPS in mobile phones (2005-)
  • OFDM – the basis for 4G (1990–2006)
  • Marratech - pioneers in Internet-based E-meetings (1998-) - acquired by Google, releasing in November 2008 video-chat support in Gmail
  • Arena project, IT in Sports – sensors, handheld wireless video (1999–2002)
  • Estreet project - First large-scale mobile marketing experiment (2000)
  • On October 27, 2011, Facebook announced it will locate its first data center outside of the United States in Luleå. The whole facility, a set of three 300,000 square foot buildings is scheduled to be operational by 2014. The first building will be operational 2012. [3] The establishment will help turn the Luleå region into a major node for European data traffic. The northern position and the fact that Luleå will become a hub for data traffic in Europe has generated a new epithet for the Luleå region – The Node Pole. [4] The Node Pole region provides stable, low-cost electricity that is 100-percent derived from renewable sources. In addition, they cite the benefits of low cooling expenses, given that the region is one of the coolest in Sweden. Sweden is also known for its political stability, which is cited as another long-term benefit of the Node Pole.[5]

[edit] Climate

Luleå has a subarctic climate with short, mild summers and long, cold, and snowy winters.

Climate data for Luleå, Sweden
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) −8
(18)		 −8
(18)		 −2
(28)		 3
(37)		 10
(50)		 17
(63)		 19
(66)		 17
(63)		 12
(54)		 6
(43)		 −1
(30)		 −5
(23)		 5.0
(41.0)
Average low °C (°F) −16
(3)		 −16
(3)		 −11
(12)		 −4
(25)		 2
(36)		 8
(46)		 11
(52)		 10
(50)		 5
(41)		 1
(34)		 −7
(19)		 −13
(9)		 −2.5
(27.5)
Precipitation mm (inches) 34
(1.34)		 30
(1.18)		 31
(1.22)		 29
(1.14)		 32
(1.26)		 37
(1.46)		 46
(1.81)		 64
(2.52)		 63
(2.48)		 46
(1.81)		 51
(2.01)		 45
(1.77)		 508
(20)
Source: [6]

[edit] Media

[edit] Newspapers

[edit] Transportation

Local buses are run by Luleå LLT.

A passenger train service is available from Luleå Central Station on Sweden's national SJ railway service northbound to Narvik on the Norwegian coast, or southbound to Stockholm. See Rail transport in Sweden.

Luleå Airport has the longest runway in Sweden and serves about 1,000,000 passengers annually. [7]

[edit] Culture

Luleå has a variety of cultural institutions, among them Norrbottensteatern, Norrbottens museum, and Norrbotten big band led by Tim Hagans. In January 2007 the Cultural house (Kulturens Hus) was opened. A library, concerts, and art exhibitions are all hosted here. Luleå is also home to the hardcore punk band Raised Fist and melodic death metal band The Duskfall.

[edit] Sports

Luleå has many teams competing in a variety of sports including

[edit] Football

[edit] Ice hockey

[edit] Basketball

[edit] American football

In Luleå there is also an American football team, the Luleå Eskimos. The Swedish Championship in Yukigassen is held in Luleå annually.

[edit] Shopping

Luleå is home to one of the oldest indoor shopping centres in the world, "Shopping," designed by British born architect Ralph Erskine, and opened in 1955. More recent additions to the cityscape are the shopping centres "Strand, Smedjan, Folksamhuset" and the first "youth-galleria" in Sweden, "Storgatan 61", located in the city centre. There are two main shopping streets in the city centre: Storgatan and Kungsgatan.

A new shopping area in the industrial area of Storheden outside the city was built more recently; it houses several large stores.

[edit] UNESCO World heritage

[edit] Notable people

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c "Tätorternas landareal, folkmängd och invånare per km2 2005 och 2010" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. 14 December 2011. Archived from the original on 10 January 2012. http://www.scb.se/Statistik/MI/MI0810/2010A01/Tatorternami0810tab1_4.xls. Retrieved 10 January 2012. 
  2. ^ World-class Innovations in ICT, Luleå university of Technology, 2007, http://www.cdt.ltu.se/main.php/LTU237%206-sid%20Folder%20ICT_lo.pdf?fileitem=2365519[dead link]
  3. ^ http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/10/27/facebook-on-ice-new-data-center-to-be-built-near-arctic-circle/
  4. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/8850575/Facebook-to-build-server-farm-on-edge-of-Arctic-Circle.html
  5. ^ http://www.techopedia.com/definition/27792/node-pole
  6. ^ (English) "Institute of Meteorology and Water Management". www.worldclimateguide.co.uk. http://www.worldclimateguide.co.uk/climateguides/sweden/lulea.php#. 
  7. ^ http://www.swedavia.se/sv/Lulea/Resenar/
  8. ^ [1]

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Luleå
Murkrona.svg Luleå is one of 133 places with the historical city status in Sweden.
Localities:
Alvik · Antnäs · Avan · Bälinge · Bensbyn · Bergnäset · Brändön · Ersnäs · Gammelstaden · Jämtön · Kallax · Karlsvik · Klöverträsk · Luleå (seat) · Måttsund · Persön · Råneå · Rutvik · Södra Sunderbyn
Municipalities
Coat of Arms of Norrbotten County
Municipal seats
Administrative seats of Swedish counties (län)
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as of 2005, according to Statistics Sweden [2]
1. Stockholm 1,252,000
2. Gothenburg 510,500
3. Malmö 258,000
4. Uppsala 144,839
5. Västerås 107,000
6. Örebro 98,200
7. Linköping 97,400
8. Helsingborg 91,500
9. Jönköping 84,400
10. Norrköping 83,600
11. Lund 76,200
12. Umeå 75,600
13. Gävle 68,700
14. Borås 63,400
15. Södertälje 60,300
16. Eskilstuna 60,200
17. Täby 58,600
18. Karlstad 58,500
19. Halmstad 55,700
20. Växjö 55,600
21. Sundsvall 49,300
22. Luleå 45,500
23. Trollhättan 44,500
24. Östersund 43,800
25. Borlänge 39,400
26. Falun 36,400
27. Upplands Väsby 36,000
28. Tumba 35,300
29. Kalmar 35,200
30. Skövde 33,100
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lule%C3%A5&oldid=474201975"
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