Kiruna is in the middle of an unprecedented urban project: the entire city centre is being moved three kilometres to the east because the iron ore mine has undermined the ground beneath the old town. The decision was taken in the 2000s after LKAB's geological surveys showed that continued mining — essential for the mine's viability — would cause subsidence severe enough to make the old centre uninhabitable.
The new city centre, designed by White Arkitekter, is architecturally ambitious. The new town hall (Stadshuset), completed in 2018, won the Kasper Salin Prize — Sweden's most prestigious architecture award. It is a striking crystalline structure in steel and glass, deliberately designed to feel like part of the landscape rather than imposed upon it. The building is open to the public and worth a visit.
Walking around both the old and new areas gives a striking picture of a city in transition. The old centre still has occupied buildings alongside demolished lots and boarded-up streets; the new centre has the slightly too-clean feeling of a place that was planned rather than grown. In between, a number of historic buildings are being moved on heavy-lift vehicles — an occasional spectacle when it happens, always slow, always extraordinary.
The Kiruna visitor centre (near the new town hall) has an exhibition on the relocation project with maps, scale models, and timelines. Entry is free.