White Arkitekter Unveils Plans to Move an Entire Swedish City

Although some architects may be known for moving the masses with their jaw dropping designs, few can say they have literally moved entire cities. Sweden-based <a href="http://www.white.se/en/" target="_blank">White Arkitekter</a> recently triumphed over 10 other firms to win an international competition to move the city of Kiruna, Sweden. Over a century of iron mining has caused numerous underground cracks to destabilize the ground underneath the small town, and the architects' amazing Kiruna 4-Ever plan will gradually relocate it over the course of many decades.

The Kiruna 4-Ever Plan will first create a new central strip that will run west to east through the current city center.

Gradually, the density to the east will be incrementally expanded while the buildings on the west side will be progressively dismantled.

rchitect Mikael Stenqvist explains: "Literally relocating an entire city, Kiruna will be a bit like a walking millipede with its house and feet – moving, crawling slowly a couple of kilometers towards the east."

Although the process will be inconvenient for Kiruna residents (to say the least), there are some major advantages to the massive relocation project.

As the town rapidly expanded due to its dependence on mining, the city lacked modern infrastructure elements that kept the town fairly isolated.

As part of the relocation project, Kiruna will receive a new <a href="http://inhabitat.com/som-unveils-miami-multimodal-hub-for-all-aboard-floridas-new-rail-network/" target="_blank">transport system</a>, including cable cars and freight trains, that will provide better connections to neighboring towns.

There are also high hopes that the move will bring new businesses to the area, making it less dependent on iron mining.