Malmö, round two.

I just had an interview with Bertil Johansson, a city planner who has worked for Malmö city for over 30 years.  He was very helpful and answered my questions with a very educated perspective. 

Malmö was industrialized very early by Swedish standards due to its location on the Oresund.  In the 70’s and 80’s, many of the ship building industries upon which the city was built began to fail and close down and there was an economic crisis.  Many people lost their jobs and the city faced a serious decline.  The city had to make dynamic changes and decided to plan for the future.  Following the suggestions of city planners, Malmö’s politicians pursued sustainability as a way to help define Malmö and to make it interesting.

The success of the Malmö University has helped to shift the image of the city and bring people back to Malmö instead of leaving for nearby Lund, a university town. 


Malmö’s relationship with Copenhagen is viewed differently by people on each side.  Copenhagen is realistically much larger, in area and population, more urban.  Malmö seems like it’s always trying catch up, however Malmö is happy with its comfortable walkable city.  The Öresund Bridge has opened the city up to a larger market and larger economy that create more possibilities for the people.  Mr. Johansson expects to see more effects from the connection to Copenhagen in the next 50 years.


Västra Hamnen, the new sustainable district of Malmö, began as an experiment.  Following the loss of its industries, Malmö was stuck with many old industrial sites that were a blight on the city.  Västra Hamnen was one such site.  The intention of developing the area beginning with an expo of competing architects was to spark interest in Malmö, create an icon of the city that would put it on the international scale.  And Calatrava’s Turning Torso is quite the icon.

What is it about the people in Malmö that makes this possible?

While a city like Stockholm has a lot to offer, it is very tied up by its traditions and cannot change as quickly.  Malmö is small but dense and on the rise.  It is a city of contrasts.  Like many cities, there are some very nice and tidy places and then there are some rough areas.  They are very proud of how diverse they are as a Swedish city; they have the highest proportion of immigrants and 36% of its inhabitants are first or second generation.  Of course, there are some social tensions with so many ethnicities within the city.  However, having such a mixed population there is a lot of acceptance of differences.  From these differences, rises also creativity.  This is one of the factors that Mr. Johansson believes is important in understanding why the people of Malmö are so open to new ideas and willing to adapt. 

Another aspect is as a budding university town, the growing student population is also an early adapter of new and positive changes.  However, most of the general public in Malmö is not really interested in or aware of the role of sustainability in the city.  This is slowly changing as they see more and more people coming to the city and recognizing Malmö for its ecological achievements.

The Swedes are very fond of nature, as exhibited by Malmö’s many parks and preserved natural areas.  Only two generations ago, most people still lived on farms or in rural areas.  A couple minutes outside of Malmö, you are surrounded by farmland rolling fields of green.  Natural land and parks are very important to the people of Malmö, and they take the time to appreciate it. 



What’s next for Malmö?

Densify.  Malmö is desperately trying to fight urban sprawl.  With the goal of reducing the daily use of the car, they do not want to spread the city out anymore unless they can develop and build the infrastructure for fast public transit to connect people to the city center.  They are adopting a dual development plan, where they will further densify and grow inwards while also developing limited area outwards. There are many brownfield and old industrial sites within the city that need redeveloping.  Condensing the city is also important because of the surrounding valuable arable land for which the southern region of Sweden, Skåne, is known. 

Improve Public Transportation Even More.  Opening in December this year, the City Tunnel is a huge project for Malmö.  Basically, it will connect people through Malmö via underground train system.  While there are only three stops being built, these stops will help commuters come to and through the city with less changes in transportation, making it more convenient and faster.  Because the buses are reaching capacity, Malmö plans to also develop an electric tram system throughout the city in the near future.  This system will make transportation in the city more reliable and more sustainable.

Goals.  Climate neutral by 2020.  Have the entire city run on 100% renewable energy by 2030.

Malmo, a city in transition.

Malmo is the third largest city in Sweden.  It is located in the south-western coast of Sweden directly across from Copenhagen, Denmark.

Once an industrial city, Malmo has completely reinvented itself especially with development within the last ten years.  Beginning in the late 1970's, the industries began shutting down in Malmo because they were no longer profitable.  Approaching next century, Malmo needed to decide what the future of the city was going to be.  They needed to develop some sense of identity of the city so that it would not just seem like a suburb of Copenhagen.  The city politicians decided that it was important that Malmo be seen as a place of knowledge and a city ready for the future.  They headed the city towards information technologies, understanding that their failing industries were a symbol of the past. 

When Malmö University was opened in 1998, it reinvented the city. The University brought in a large number of young people and students from Sweden as well as from other countries.  The huge change in the demographic composition of the city changed its character.

On July 2, 2000, the Ø̈resundsbron, the bridge that connects Malmo and Copenhagen, opened.  It marked a huge shift in the role of Malmo and Sweden by connecting it physically to the western European continent.  Before the bridge was built, the only way to get from one city to the other was by ferry which could take up to two hours, or not even be able to make it through when it's cold enough.  The bridge, which has a level for cars as well as one for trains, now takes 25 minutes to cross in any weather. 

Now Copenhagen and Malmo can be considered one metropolitan area as many people can now easily commute between the two.  However, Malmo still always seems like its trying to catch up to Copenhagen as a growing urban zone.  Many new iconic modern buildings are being constructed in Malmo such as the Stadsbibliotek (City Library) designed by Danish architect, Henning Larsen.  

Surrounded by picturesque pastoral farms, Malmo is constantly expanding its borders.  It feels like they actually have more land just outside the main city than they know what to do with yet. Many of Malmo's new housing developments are meant for higher income people who want to live close to but outside of the city.

Like many cities, Malmo is trying to learn from its failures with the unappealing and crime-inducing urban housing developed after WWII for the influx of immigrants and refugees that would continue to come to the country through today.  

Malmo is a diverse city that is growing into a major metropolitan area.  It is learning from its neighbors and developing responsibly while trying to make its mark on the global scene.

This is what I've learned so far in a few days about the city where I'm living.  I still plan to talk to the planning department and learn more.



An interesting fact: Malmo and the south-western coast of Sweden once belonged to Denmark.  In the late 17th century, Sweden took these territories back and gave the people 20 years to become Swedes again... meaning assimilating into Swedish culture and adopting Swedish language. This is not an issue now as the people of Malmo think of themselves very much as Swedes, but it's interesting to think what it would be like if there were still a cultural clash...

Malmo and an orange museum.

I explored Malmo on my own today.  It took me a while to orient myself to the city so that I could navigate myself with my handy map.  It's smaller than I expected and easy to just wander around by foot.  I especially like Sudra Forestadgatan which is a walking street.  It is lined with shops and cafes and goes straight through the inner city connecting the main squares and plazas.

I also visited their Modern Museum. It's awesomely orange.  To be honest, I was more interested in the architecture than the art.

Finally here.

I landed in Copenhagen, Denmark on Wednesday tired but excited and nervous.  My uncle picked me up from the airport and we drove over the Oresund Bridge to Malmo, Sweden where he and some of my family live.  Driving through the city was a great first impression because I was able to look out at all the buildings as we passed by them.  I’m staying with my uncle who has an apartment very close to the city center.

My cousin took me biking through the city today and it was awesome.  She took me to some interesting modern libraries and older, more traditional buildings.  Malmo is small compared to Copenhagen, but it seems like a great city to live in.  Everything is accessible by walking, biking, or bus.  A lot of people bike in Malmo, a theme I think will continue in many of the cities I will visit.  One thing I’ve learned: don’t walk in the bike lane otherwise you will get run over.  One small detail that I think is great is that only bike lanes on the street are marked with a bike symbol on the ground.  Most of the bike lanes on the sidewalk are only distinguished with a difference in the pavement from small pavers to asphalt.  So it’s just understood by everyone where they can or cannot bike or walk.

We also visited Vastra Hamnen (Western Harbor) which is a district on the coast known for its sustainable qualities.  It is an area made up mainly of housing, some commercial, and also really great public waterfront areas.  It also has the tallest building in Malmo: Santiago Calatrava’s Turning Torso.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to go up there sometime while I’m here.  The housing in Vastra Hamnen is really expensive so living there is not for everyone, but unlike some sustainable districts in other cities, Vastra Hamnen’s developed public program like its waterfront and public baths attract people from the city to come and spend time there.  It then adds to the city culture rather than isolating itself from it.

I plan to explore the city a bit more on the coming days and make a couple trips to Copenhagen. BIG projects, here I come!

Also, a random fact I learned today:  the original Vikings from Sweden did not have horns on their helmets.

My schedule for the summer:
01Jun - 13Jun---Malmo/Copenhagen
14Jun - 16Jun---Zurich
17Jun - 18Jun---Freiburg
19Jun – 20Jun---Zurich
21Jun- 25Jun---Berlin
26Jun - 29Jun---Malmo
30Jun - 03Jul---Stockholm
04Jul - 06Jul---Malmo
07Jul - 10Jul---Amsterdam
11Jul - 30Jul---Malmo/Copenhagen
01Aug---Head Home to Chicago