Umeå

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Umeå (IPA: [ʉːməʊ] listen (help·info)) is a city and municipality in the county of Västerbotten, Sweden. Founded in 1622, Umeå is today a centre of education, technical and medical research, with one university and over 30,000 students, and is the largest city in northern Sweden, with 80,545 inhabitants (2005). Administratively it is the seat of Umeå Municipality, with 110,222 inhabitants (June 2006).

Umeå is one of Sweden's fastest growing cities. The average age of the 110 000 people who live in Umeå municipality is 37. Efforts are also made to develop Umeå even more - the goal is to pass the 150,000 figure before 2050. The city is a centre of research, art, and culture. It aims at being elected the European Cultural Capital for 2014.

Umeå has been expanding for several decades. Growth sped up in 1965, the same year that the university was established. In the last 30 years, housing in Umeå has doubled and this rate of growth continues. 700 to 800 new apartments are at present constructed each year.

1 Geography
2 Concise history
3 Modern Umeå
- 3.1 Institutions
- 3.2 Sports
4 Education and research
- 4.1 Universities
5 Economy
6 People
7 Sister cities
8 Gallery
9 Famous people
10 See also
11 External links

[edit] Geography

Umeå situated on an inlet of the Gulf of Bothnia at the mouth of the Ume River, in the south of Västerbotten. Umeå is about 600 km north of Stockholm at 63°50′N 20°15′E and about 500 km south of the Arctic Circle. It is the largest city north of the Stockholm-Uppsala region, and is sometimes referred to as the regional centre of northern Sweden. The nearby community of Holmsund serves as its port. From here a ferry line connects it with the neighbouring city of Vaasa (Swedish: Vasa) in Finland.

The infrastructure is well equipped with two European highways (E4 and E12) passing Umeå. Near the city centre (4 km) lies the Umeå Airport (742,591 passengers, 2004) with destinations such as Stockholm, Gothenburg, Östersund and charter destinations including Canary Islands, Turkey and Bulgaria. The largest operators are SAS, Malmö Aviation , and Flynordic. It is the 7th largest airport in Sweden, and the number of passengers is steadily increasing.

The biggest railway project of modern times in Sweden is being built from the High Coast via Örnsköldsvik to Umeå. This new railway will be 190 km long, with 140 bridges and 25 km of tunnels. The Bothnia Line (or Botniabanan) will be able to cope with speeds of up to 250 km/hour. The line will give Umeå a fast train connection with Stockholm and the rest of Europe.

[edit] Concise history

The first mention of Umeå is in the 14th century. The northern parts of Sweden, including Umeå, were largely unexplored at that time, but Umeå did form a parish with a wooden church. Umeå functioned as an outpost to the Norrland wilderness. Partly this was due to its location on the coast.

For the next couple of centuries Umeå was a place consisting of scattered parishes, where merchandise originating with the Sami people was traded, and was the last inhabited place before the northern wilderness took over. This made it an important centre, and King John III of Sweden granted it a charter in 1588, requiring the consolidation of the parishes into a single city. However, no real city was built at the location selected by the king, and Umeå's city rights were lost in the 1590s.

In 1621 a new city charter was granted, and this time a town was actually built. In 1638 it had about 40 houses. It suffered from Russian attacks: in May 1720 it was burnt down, and at the close of the Finnish War in 1809 the Russian army under Barclay de Tolly took Umeå.

On 25 June 1888 a fire devastated the eastern parts of Umeå and at least 2,300 of the 3,000 inhabitants became homeless. In the restoration following the fire, silver birch trees where planted along wide avenues to prevent future fires from spreading. For this reason Umeå is sometimes known as the 'City of Silver Birches' and the Umeå ice-hockey team, Björklöven, means 'The Birch Leaves'.

[edit] Modern Umeå

Umeå is a young (the average age of its 110,750 inhabitants is 36 years) and dynamic city with an industrial sector consisting of major industries (Volvo) as well as many smaller firms representing information technology, biotechnology, and other industrial products. Umeå is a centre for cultural activities, with annual film, jazz and chamber music festivals, and is home of the world's northernmost opera house (NorrlandsOperan). Umeå is a multi-cultural city with over 100 different nationalities, and construction work on the northernmost Mosque of Sweden is projected to begin in 2006.

[edit] Institutions

Norrlandsoperan

Government of Västerbotten

Västerbotten's Museum

The Image Museum

Umeå mosque

[edit] Sports

Umeå is home to Umeå IK, one of the best women's football teams in the world, with several national and international championship titles in recent years. The top men's football team is Umeå FC, currently playing in the Superettan, which is the second highest league for men in Sweden. IF Björklöven is the main ice hockey team, currently playing in the Swedish second-tier league Allsvenskan. Umeå is also the host of the annual Brännbollscupen.

[edit] Education and research

[edit] Universities

Umeå University has about 29,000 students and 4,200 staff. The establishment of the university in the mid 1960s led to a population expansion from about 50,000 inhabitants to today's 110,750. The expansion continues, with about 1000 new inhabitants every year, and has made Umeå a modern, somewhat intellectual city in contrast to the traditional basis on heavy industry for cities along the coast of northern Sweden (Norrland). The university has seven campus schools:

Umeå School of Business
Umeå Institute of Design
Umeå School of Fine Arts
Umeå Institute of Technology
Umeå School of Environmental Studies
Umeå School of Sports Pedagogies
University School of Restaurant and Culinary Arts

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Norrland's University hospital, (Norrlands Universitetssjukhus) serves the entire region of northern Sweden.

[edit] Economy

Key research fields of the University are life sciences (especially medical and cell and the molecular biology of plants), human technology interaction, social welfare, ecology and gender perspectives.

The Umeå University works collaboratively with companies such as ABB, Volvo, Skanska, Ericsson, and Ohrlings PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences SLU in Umeå, with Umeå Plant Science Center, is another major site of research and education.

Umeå has a high level of education, few traffic jams (but an increasing urban sprawl and increase in car traffic), relatively short intra-urban distances, a large network of bicycle tracks, and a wide variety of leisure opportunities. The airport is located close to the city and a new railway line is being constructed.

List of Companies based in Umeå:

Baltica Group, HQ
Duroc AB, HQ
Norrmejerier, HQ
Ålö, HQ
Komatsu Forest, European HQ
Siemens Financial servies, Scandinavian HQ
Handelsbanken, HQ in the northern region of Sweden

[edit] People

Umeå Municipality and the Greater Umeå Region has 142,305 inhabitants

Umeå in total: 110,750

Districts:

Umeå 80,000
Holmsund 10,000
Ersboda 10,000
Hörnefors 4,000
Sävar 4,500
Röbäck 3,000

Surrounding municipalities:

Nordmaling in total 7 536
Vännäs in total 8,504
Bjurholm in total 2 579
Vindeln in total 5,800
Robertsfors in total 7,136

Total in the Umeå Region: 142,305

[edit] Sister cities

In the Park of the Sister Cities (Vänortsparken) is the artwork Tellus - a map of the world, with each sister city's location. Each sister city also has a designated area in the park showing something that is typical for it.