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Geography & Places
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Underground Riches, Unstable Ground: Why an Entire Swedish City Is on the Move
To save itself from collapsing into the world's largest iron-ore mine, the entire Swedish city of Kiruna is being relocated two miles east. This monumental project involves moving thousands of residents and painstakingly transporting historical landmarks to a new, stable location.
Imagine waking up one day to the news that your entire city needs to be moved. Not just your family, but your neighbors, your local grocery store, the town hall, and even the century-old church. This isn't the plot of a science fiction novel; it's the reality for the 18,000 residents of Kiruna, the northernmost city in Sweden. In one of the most ambitious urban relocation projects in history, the city is being systematically dismantled and rebuilt two miles to the east, all to make way for the very industry that gave it life.
The Ground Beneath Their Feet
Kiruna's existence is owed to Kiirunavaara, a mountain containing the world's largest and most modern underground iron-ore mine. Operated by the state-owned company Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB), this mine has been the town's economic engine for over a century. The iron it produces is crucial, accounting for around 80% of all iron ore within the European Union. However, decades of deep-earth mining have a profound consequence: subsidence. As miners extract the massive ore body, which slants down beneath the city, the ground above begins to crack, deform, and sink.
Faced with an existential choice—either stop mining and let the town's economy collapse, or continue and watch the city crumble into the earth—LKAB and the municipality chose a third, audacious option: move the city.
A Town on the Move
The urban transformation, which began in earnest in the early 2000s, is a multi-decade logistical marvel. The plan involves relocating 6,000 people from over 3,000 homes, along with commercial and public buildings. Some structures are simply demolished, with residents offered compensation or a new home in the newly constructed city center. But for buildings of historical or cultural significance, the process is far more delicate. Architects and engineers are faced with the challenge of either carefully deconstructing them piece by piece for reassembly or, in some cases, moving them whole.
This process has created a surreal landscape where old neighborhoods are fenced off, awaiting demolition, while a gleaming new city rises just a short distance away, complete with a new town hall, library, and hotel.
Preserving a Soul
The most symbolic part of this move is the preservation of Kiruna's identity. The project isn't just about providing new housing; it's about transplanting a community's soul. No building represents this more than the Kiruna Church. Voted Sweden's most beautiful public building in 2001, the iconic red wooden church, built in 1912, was inspired by the traditional Sami Goahti tent. Moving it was considered a non-negotiable part of the plan.
"Everyone has a relationship with the church. People have been baptised, confirmed, married and buried there. It carries the city’s identity, so it absolutely has to come with us."
In a painstaking operation completed in 2023, the 600-tonne structure was loaded onto specialized trailers and slowly driven to its new home. Other historical buildings, like the town clock tower, were also carefully preserved and relocated, serving as tangible links between Kiruna's past and its future.
The Human Cost and the New Kiruna
While an engineering triumph, the move is not without its social complexities. For many residents, it is an emotional and unsettling experience. Generations have lived in the same homes, creating memories on streets that will soon cease to exist. There have been debates and disagreements over compensation, the design of the new city, and the loss of a familiar environment. Planners are acutely aware of these challenges, focusing on "social sustainability" to ensure the community fabric isn't torn apart in the process.
The new Kiruna is designed to be more compact, walkable, and energy-efficient than the old one. Yet, as the old city slowly vanishes, its residents are left to navigate a strange new reality. It is a story of sacrifice and resilience, a community uprooting itself to secure its own economic future, proving that sometimes, to stay in the same place, you have to move everything.