Luleå
| Luleå | |
|---|---|
|
Storgatan in Luleå city | |
  Luleå | |
| Coordinates: 65°35′4″N 22°9′14″E / 65.58444°N 22.15389°ECoordinates: 65°35′4″N 22°9′14″E / 65.58444°N 22.15389°E | |
| 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 | 75,383 |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) |
| Postal code | 971 00 - 978 20 |
| Area code(s) | (+46) 920 |
| Website |
www |
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
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
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.
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,[3] 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–)
- 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 m2 (300,000 ft2) buildings is scheduled to be operational by 2014. The first building was to be operational in 2012.[4] The establishment will help turn the Luleå region into a major node for European data traffic. The town's northern location and that it will become a hub for data traffic in Europe has generated a new epithet for the Luleå region – The Node Pole.[5] 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.[6]
Climate
Luleå has a subarctic climate (Köppen: Dfc), which borders on a continental climate (Köppen: Dfb) with short, mild to warm summers and long, cold, snowy winters.
| Climate data for Luleå, Sweden, 2002-2014 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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) | −5.1 (22.8) |
−5.0 (23) |
−0.1 (31.8) |
5.5 (41.9) |
12.4 (54.3) |
17.3 (63.1) |
20.7 (69.3) |
18.7 (65.7) |
13.4 (56.1) |
5.7 (42.3) |
0.2 (32.4) |
−2.7 (27.1) |
6.7 (44.1) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −12.9 (8.8) |
−13.6 (7.5) |
−8.9 (16) |
−2.7 (27.1) |
3.2 (37.8) |
9.1 (48.4) |
12.8 (55) |
11.3 (52.3) |
6.0 (42.8) |
−0.3 (31.5) |
−5.9 (21.4) |
−9.9 (14.2) |
−0.9 (30.4) |
| 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) |
| Average 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) |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 19 | 69 | 136 | 194 | 269 | 315 | 304 | 213 | 131 | 82 | 34 | 5 | 1,771 |
| Source #1: SMHI[7] | |||||||||||||
| 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, power metal band Machinae Supremacy and death 'n' roll band Helltrain.
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
- Maud Adams, Swedish actress best known for appearing in two James Bond films[9]
- Karin Mamma Andersson, Swedish artist
- Breach, Swedish Hardcore-band
- Niklas Bäckström, Swedish fighter competing in the UFC
- Emilia de Poret, Swedish musician
- Adam Dunkels, computer scientist
- The Duskfall, Swedish Death metal band
- Lena Granhagen, Swedish actress
- Per Ledin, Swedish ice hockey player
- Martin Ljung, Actor
- Machinae Supremacy, Swedish Metal band
- Movits!, Swedish Hip-Hop band
- John W. Nordstrom, founder of department store chain Nordstrom
- Leif Östling, CEO of Scania AB
- Raised Fist, Swedish Hardcore-band
- Peter Skoggard, Professional Hockey Player
- The Bear Quartet, Swedish Rockband
- Marita Ulvskog, Politician
- Ingvar Wixell, Swedish baritone opera singer
- Lars Petrus, Rubik's Cube expert, former Swedish National speedcubing champion, fewest moves champion from the World Championships 2005
- Jonas Eriksson, FIFA referee.
- Rui Santos, Wisdom according to Rui Blogger.
- Anders Nilsson, Goaltender for the NY Islanders of the NHL.
See also
References
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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
- ↑ http://www.ltu.se/ltu/media/news/Digitalradio-kraver-hog-datahastighet-1.111164?l=en
- ↑ "Facebook on Ice: New Data Center to Be Built Near Arctic Circle". Fox News. 27 October 2011.
- ↑ Orange, Richard; Lass, Julian (January 2013). "Node Pole". Geographical Magazine. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
- ↑ Janssen, Cory. "What is the Node Pole? – Definition from". Techopedia.com. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Statistik från väder och vatten - Månads och årsstatistik (Swedish)". Svenska Metereologiska och Hydrologiska Institutet. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
- ↑ www.swedavia.se/lulea/
- ↑
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Luleå. |
 |
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Luleå. |
- Official website
- (Swedish) article Luleå from Nordisk Familjebok (1912)
- Luleå university of technology
- Current temperature in Luleå and archive of the last years
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