Luleå

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Luleå
Storgatan in Luleå city

Coat of arms
Luleå
Coordinates: 65°35′4″N 22°9′14″E / 65.58444°N 22.15389°E / 65.58444; 22.15389Coordinates: 65°35′4″N 22°9′14″E / 65.58444°N 22.15389°E / 65.58444; 22.15389
Country Sweden
Province Norrbotten
County Norrbotten County
Municipality Luleå Municipality
Charter 17th century
Area[1]
  City 29.09 km2 (11.23 sq mi)
Elevation 6 m (20 ft)
Population (31 December 2010)[1]
  City 46,607
  Density 1,600/km2 (4,100/sq mi)
  Metro 73,146
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
  Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 971 00 - 978 20
Area code(s) (+46) 920
Website www.lulea.se

Luleå (Swedish: [ˈlʉːlɛo] ( ), Lule Sami Luleju, Finnish Luulaja) is a city on the coast of northern Sweden with 46,607 inhabitants and is the capital of Norrbotten County.

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.

The town's 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 post-glacial rebound 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, standing at 67 meters (220 ft), is the tallest building in town.

Economy

Industrial district of Luleå

Luleå's commerce and industry are 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), is 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).

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]

  • Broadcast Radio – RDS, DAB, 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)[citation needed]
  • Software GPS in mobile phones (2005–)[citation needed]
  • 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 27 October 2011 Facebook announced it would locate its first data center outside of the United States in Luleå. The whole facility, a set of three 28,000 square meter (300,000 square foot) buildings is scheduled to be operational by 2014. The first building was to be operational in 2012.[3] The establishment will help turn the Luleå region into a major node for European data traffic. The town's northern location 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's long political stability is cited as another long-term benefit of the Node Pole's location.[5]

Climate

Luleå has a subarctic climate (Köppen: Dfc) with short, mild summers and long, cold, snowy winters.

Climate data for Luleå, Sweden, 2010-2012
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 10.3
(50.5)
9.5
(49.1)
12.9
(55.2)
18.1
(64.6)
28.4
(83.1)
32.2
(90)
32.1
(89.8)
29.2
(84.6)
22.5
(72.5)
16.9
(62.4)
13.0
(55.4)
8.2
(46.8)
32.2
(90)
Average high °C (°F) −6.5
(20.3)
−10.1
(13.8)
0.6
(33.1)
5.7
(42.3)
12.4
(54.3)
16.9
(62.4)
20.3
(68.5)
17.6
(63.7)
13.0
(55.4)
6.6
(43.9)
0.7
(33.3)
−5.6
(21.9)
5.97
(42.74)
Daily mean °C (°F) −10.0
(14)
−14.5
(5.9)
−3.6
(25.5)
1.8
(35.2)
7.9
(46.2)
12.9
(55.2)
16.5
(61.7)
14.0
(57.2)
9.7
(49.5)
3.7
(38.7)
−2.0
(28.4)
−8.5
(16.7)
2.33
(36.18)
Average low °C (°F) −14.1
(6.6)
−19.6
(−3.3)
−8.3
(17.1)
−2.3
(27.9)
3.8
(38.8)
9.0
(48.2)
13.0
(55.4)
10.7
(51.3)
6.3
(43.3)
0.6
(33.1)
−5.3
(22.5)
−12.0
(10.4)
−1.52
(29.28)
Record low °C (°F) −41.0
(−41.8)
−38.2
(−36.8)
−32.3
(−26.1)
−20.4
(−4.7)
−8.8
(16.2)
−1.2
(29.8)
3.2
(37.8)
−0.2
(31.6)
−8.4
(16.9)
−20.7
(−5.3)
−30.3
(−22.5)
−33.7
(−28.7)
−41.0
(−41.8)
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 #1: World Climate Guide[6]
Source #2: SMHI[7]

Media

Newspapers

Transportation

Local buses are run by Luleå LLT.

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

Luleå Airport has the longest runway in Sweden and serves about one million passengers annually.[8]

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, melodic death metal band The Duskfall and power metal band Machinae Supremacy.

Sports

Luleå has many teams competing in a variety of sports, including the following.

Football

Ice hockey

  • Luleå HF, who play in the Swedish Hockey League,

Basketball

  • LF Basket Norrbotten, formerly Plannja, for men and Luleå Basket for women; Plannja has won Basketligan 7 times, which is a record.

American football

In Luleå there is also an American football team, the Luleå Eskimos.

Yukigassen

The Swedish Championship in Yukigassen is held in Luleå annually.

Cricket

Cricket Association of Luleå consists of few graduates from Luleå University of Technology. The association conducts occasional indoor and outdoor cricket matches in Luleå.

UNESCO World heritage

Notable people

International relations

Twin towns, Sister cities & Partnership cities

Luleå has a partnership relationship with:

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "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. 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
  3. "Facebook on Ice: New Data Center to Be Built Near Arctic Circle". Fox News. 27 October 2011. 
  4. Orange, Richard (26 October 2011). "Facebook to build server farm on edge of Arctic Circle". The Daily Telegraph. 
  5. Janssen, Cory. "What is the Node Pole? – Definition from". Techopedia.com. Retrieved 2012-10-22. 
  6. "World Climate Guide". Institute of Meteorology and Water Management. Retrieved August 2010. 
  7. "Hur var vädret? Rekord för Luleå 1945–2011". Svenska Meteorologiska och Hydrologiska Institutet. Retrieved 2013-02-24. 
  8. www.swedavia.se/lulea/
  9. "Partneri- ja kummikaupungit (Partnership and twinning cities)". Oulun kaupunki (City of Oulu) (in Finnish). Retrieved 2013-07-27. 

External links

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