Ideology, environment and forced relocation: Kiruna - a town on the move

• Published in: European Urban and Regional Studies
• Main Author: Nilsson, Bo
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 2010
• Subjects: Urban Studies; Environmental Science (miscellaneous); Kiruna; Luossavaara; Kiruna Kommun
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0969776410369045; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0969776410369045

Kiruna, a small town in the north of Sweden, is facing a major change because an expanding mining industry is threatening the town. The iron ore body runs under the central parts of the town and continued mining will cause that area to collapse. Therefore, the municipality of Kiruna (Kiruna kommun) has, under the influence of the mining company LKAB (Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag), decided to relocate parts of the town a few miles to the north-west. The relocation plans have attracted a great deal of attention in both national and international media. This article examines the ideological bias that characterizes various opinions in relation to the relocation plans, and especially the views of those in favour of the move, the mining company and the majority of the municipality of Kiruna. ‘Ideology’, both as a concept and as a perspective, is used in an analysis of how some specific ‘truths’ regarding the relocation are produced. Furthermore, I argue that the relocation plans are part of an ideological fantasy rooted in the social structure, of which the mining company has historically been a creator. On a more general level, the article deals with democratic processes in the context of an urban transformation.