Malmö is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Skåne. It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in Scandinavia, with a population of 316,588. The Malmö Metropolitan Region is home to over 700,000 people, and the Öresund region, which includes Malmö as well as Copenhagen, is home to 4 million people.
Malmö was one of the earliest and most industrialised towns in Scandinavia, but it struggled to adapt to post-industrialism. Since the 2000 completion of the Öresund Bridge, Malmö has undergone a major transformation, producing new architectural developments, supporting new biotech and IT companies, and attracting students through Malmö University and other higher education facilities. Over time, Malmö’s demographics have changed and by the turn of the 2020’s almost half the municipal population had a foreign background. The city contains many historic buildings and parks, and is also a commercial center for the western part of Skåne County. It is also home to Malmö FF, the Swedish football club with the most national championships and the only Nordic club to have reached the European Cup final.
Malmö has a very mild climate for the latitude and normally remains above freezing in winter, with prolonged snow cover being rare.
Economy
The economy of Malmö was traditionally based on shipbuilding (Kockums) and construction-related industries, such as concrete factories. The region’s leading university, along with its associated hi-tech and pharmaceutical industries, is located in Lund about 16 kilometres (10 miles) to the north-east.
Malmö had a troubled economic situation following the mid-1970s. Between 1990–1995, 27,000 jobs were lost, and the budget deficit was more than one billion Swedish krona (SEK). In 1995, Malmö had Sweden’s highest unemployment rate.
However, during the last two decades, there has been a revival. One contributing factor has been the economic integration with Denmark brought about by the Öresund Bridge, which opened in July 2000. Also the university founded in 1998 and the effects of integration into the European Union have contributed. In 2017 the unemployment rate is still high but Malmö has, in the last 20 years, had one of the strongest employment growth rates in Sweden. But a lot of those jobs are taken by workers outside the neighboring municipalities.
As of 2016, the largest companies were:
- Skanska – heavy construction
- Nobina – transport
- PostNord – postal services
- Pågen – bakery
- IKEA – furniture
Almost 30 companies have moved their headquarters to Malmö during the last seven years, generating around 2,300 jobs. Among them are IKEA who has most of its headquarter functions based in Malmö.
The number of start-up companies is high in Malmö. Around 7 new companies are started every day in Malmö. In 2010, the renewal of the number of companies amounted to 13.9%, which exceeds both Stockholm and Gothenburg. Especially strong growth is in the gaming area with Massive entertainment and King being the flagship companies for the industry. Among the industries that continue to increase their share of companies in Malmö are transport, financial and business services, entertainment, leisure and construction.
Education
Malmö has the country’s ninth-largest school of higher education, Malmö University, established in 1998. It has 1,600 employees and 24,000 students (2014).
In addition nearby Lund University (established in 1666) has some education located in Malmö:
- Malmö Art Academy (Konsthögskolan i Malmö)
- Malmö Academy of Music (Musikhögskolan i Malmö)
- Malmö Theatre Academy (Teaterhögskolan i Malmö)
- The Faculty of Medicine, which is located in both Malmö and Lund.
The United Nations World Maritime University is also located in Malmö. The World Maritime University (WMU) operates under the auspices of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a specialized agency of the United Nations. WMU thus enjoys the status, privileges and immunities of a UN institution in Sweden.
Culture
Film and television
A striking depiction of Malmö (in the 1930s) was made by Bo Widerberg in his debut film Kvarteret Korpen (Raven’s End) (1963), largely shot in the shabby Korpen working-class district in Malmö. With humour and tenderness, it depicts the tensions between classes and generations. The movie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1965. In 2017, the film Medan Vi Lever (While We Live) was awarded the prize for best film by an African living abroad at the Africa Movie Academy Awards. It was filmed in Malmö and Gambia, and deals with identity, integration and everyday racism.
The cities of Malmö and Copenhagen are, with the Öresund Bridge, the main locations in the television series The Bridge (Bron/Broen).
Theatre
In 1944, Malmö Stadsteater (Malmö Municipal Theatre) was established with a repertoire comprising stage theatre, opera, musical, ballet, musical recitals and experimental theatre. In 1993 it was split into three units, Dramatiska Teater (Dramatical Theatre), Malmö Musikteater (Music Theatre) and Skånes Dansteater (Skåne Dance Theatre) and the name was abandoned. The ownership of the last two were transferred to Region Skåne in 2006 Dramatiska Teatern regained its old name. In the 1950s Ingmar Bergman was the Director and Chief Stage Director of Malmö Stadsteater and many of his actors, like Max von Sydow and Ingrid Thulin became known through his films. Later stage directors include Staffan Valdemar Holm and Göran Stangertz. Malmö Musikteater were renamed Malmö Operan and plays operas and musicals, classics as newly composed, on one of Scandinavia’s large opera scenes with 1,511 seats. Skånes dansteater is active and plays contemporary dance repertory and present works by Swedish and international choreographers in their house in Malmö harbor.
Since the 1970s the city has also been home to independent theatre groups and show/musical companies. It also hosts a rock/dance/dub culture; in the 1960s The Rolling Stones played the Klubb Bongo, and in recent years stars like Morrissey, Nick Cave, B.B. King and Pat Metheny have made repeated visits.
The Cardigans debuted in Malmö and recorded their albums there. On 7 January 2009 CNN Travel broadcast a segment called “MyCity_MyLife” featuring Nina Persson taking the camera to some of the sites in Malmö that she enjoys.
The Rooseum Center for Contemporary Art, founded in 1988 by the Swedish art collector and financier Fredrik Roos and housed in a former power station which had been built in 1900, was one of the foremost centers for contemporary art in Europe during the 1980s and 1990s. By 2006, most of the collection had been sold off and the museum was on a time-out; by 2010 Rooseum had been dismantled and a subsidiary of the National Museum of Modern Art inaugurated in its place.
Museums
Malmö Museum (Malmö Museer) is a municipal and regional museum. The museum features exhibitions on technology, shipping, natural history and history. Malmö Museum has an aquarium and an art museum. Malmöhus Castle is also operated as a part of the museum. Exhibitions are primarily shown at Slottsholmen and at the Technology and Maritime Museum (Teknikens och sjöfartens hus).
Malmö Konsthall is one of the largest exhibition halls in Europe for contemporary art, opened in 1975.
Architecture
Malmö’s oldest building is St. Peter’s Church (Swedish: Sankt Petri). It was built in the early 14th century in Baltic Brick Gothic probably after St Mary’s Church in Lübeck. The church is built with a nave, two aisles, a transept and a tower. Its exterior is characterized above all by the flying buttresses spanning its airy arches over the aisles and ambulatory. The tower, which fell down twice during the 15th century, got its current look in 1890.[65] Another major church of significance is the Church of Our Saviour, Malmö, which was founded in 1870.
Another old building is Tunneln, 300 metres (1,000 ft) to the west of Sankt Petri Church, which also dates back to around 1300.
The oldest parts of Malmö were built between 1300–1600 during its first major period of expansion. The central city’s layout, as well as some of its oldest buildings, are from this time. Many of the smaller buildings from this time are typical Scanian: two-story urban houses that show a strong Danish influence.
Recession followed in the ensuing centuries. The next expansion period was in the mid 19th century and led to the modern stone and brick city. This expansion lasted into the 20th century and can be seen by a number of Art Nouveau buildings, among those in the Malmö synagogue. Malmö was relatively late to be influenced by modern ideas of functionalist tenement architecture in the 1930s.
Around 1965, the government initiated the so-called Million Programme, intending to offer affordable apartments in the outskirts of major Swedish cities. But this period also saw the reconstruction (and razing) of much of the historical city center.
Since the late 1990s, Malmö has seen a more cosmopolitan architecture. Västra Hamnen (The Western Harbor), like most of the harbor to the north of the city center, was industrial. In 2001 its reconstruction began as an urban residential neighbourhood, with 500 residential units, most were part of the exhibition Bo01. The exhibition had two main objectives: develop self-sufficient housing units in terms of energy and greatly diminish phosphorus emissions. Among the new building’s towers were the Turning Torso, a skyscraper with a twisting design, 190 metres (620 ft) tall, the majority of which is residential. It became Malmö’s new landmark. The most recent addition (2015) is the new development of Malmö Live. This new building features a hotel, a concert hall, congress hall and a sky bar in the center of Malmö. Point Hyllie is a new 110 m commercial tower that is under construction as of 2018.
Other sights
The beach Ribersborg, by locals usually called Ribban, south-west of the harbor area, is a man-made shallow beach, stretching along Malmö’s coastline. Despite Malmö’s chilly climate, it is sometimes referred to as the “Copacabana of Malmö”. It is the site of Ribersborgs open-air bath, opened in the 1890s.
The long boardwalk at The Western Harbor, Scaniaparken and Daniaparken, has become a favorite summer hang-out for the people of Malmö and is a popular place for bathing. The harbor is particularly popular with Malmö’s vibrant student community and has been the scene of several impromptu outdoor parties and gatherings.
Annual events
In the third week of August each year a festival, Malmöfestivalen, fills the streets of Malmö with different kinds of cuisines and events.
BUFF International Film Festival, an international children and young people’s film festival, is held in Malmö every year in March.
Nordisk Panorama – Nordic Short & Doc Film Festival, a film festival for short and documentary films by filmmakers from the Nordic countries, is held every year in September.
Malmö Arab Film Festival (MAFF), the largest Arabic film festival in Europe, is held in Malmö.
The Nordic Game conference takes place in Malmö every April/May. The event consists of conference itself, recruitment expo and game expo and attracts hundreds of gamedev professionals every year.
Malmö also hosts other 3rd party events that cater to all communities that reside in Malmö, including religious and political celebrations.
