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Capital City: Stockholm
Population: 8,986,400
Languages: Swedish
Currency: Swedish
krona (SEK)
Useful links:
The City of
Lycksele
Lycksele Airport
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 Lycksele,
or the “Stockholm of Lapland”, as the town is sometimes called, was
granted its town charter in 1946. However, by the beginning of the 17th
century Lycksele was already the natural trading centre for southern
Lapland.
The town has a strategic location at the Ume River in Västerbotten county,
about 120 km northwest of Umeå. With its geographical location Lycksele is
still an important centre for communications in the area. The E12 European
Road (the Blue Route between Petrosavodsk in Russia and Mo in Norway) that
passes through the municipality is a main link between the coast and the
mountains. Lycksele has direct daily air links with Stockholm, and the
town houses the administrative centre for bus traffic in the county.
The municipality has some 13 200 inhabitants, 9 000 of whom live in the
central town. The economy is well developed and differentiated with a core
consisting of small and medium-sized enterprises, mainly in the timber and
engineering industries. Natural resources like ore, forest and hydropower
are important for employment. Lycksele has now been transformed from a
traditional agriculture and forestry area into a modern industrial town
with several successful export companies, mainly in the timber and
engineering industries. The mining industry is also developing favourably,
due to the several new finds. New computer-intensive companies have been
established round this core, and in service production the following
companies can be mentioned: Boliden Mineral, Assi Domän Texor, Hedlunda
Snickeri and Hotell Lappland.
Until the middle of the 20th century the built environment in the centre
of Lycksele consisted almost entirely of wooden buildings. They were
timber-frame structures or sometimes plank buildings with cover boarding,
and they had seldom more than two storeys. Post-war architecture has,
however, abandoned this traditional design language, adapting to
characteristic national fashions of the period.
The Lapland identity
Sustainable development in Lycksele municipality is mainly about trying to
stop out-migration and depopulation. To counteract this the municipality
must draw attention to the almost unique environmental qualities the area
can offer.
As the last part of Sweden to be colonised Lapland has left interesting
traces in the cultural environment such as a mix of Swedish and Sami
influences in the built environment. Distinctive values in the cultural
environment in combination with unexploited natural values are an
important part of a marketing strategy that aims to advance reasons both
for in-migration and for staying on. In-migration to the area is necessary
to retain and develop the existing economy and infrastructure.
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