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On the waterfront
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Malm, Sweden’s third largest city, is a mix of old and new
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global city Malmo is an interesting combination of industry and tourism
It’s a sunny Sunday afternoon, and hundreds are gathered at the waterfront: picnickers, tourists like me and residents walking their dogs outside their expensive houses near the harbour. The sky is a riot of colour, changing from brilliant blue to magenta in minutes as clouds float past obscuring the sun; the colours are reflected in the waters below. Hundreds of yachts and little boats dot the horizon, bobbing in the light swell.
I am at Malmö, Sweden’s third largest city, located in the south-west of Sweden, some 300 kilometres from Stockholm and 45 km from Copenhagen.
Malmö is gradually metamorphosing into a global city with its focus on art, culture and education, its world class infrastructure, industries and excellent living conditions. The local university, Malmö University, today attracts thousands of students from the world over.
The western harbour was primarily industrial till early 2000; soon after, it started catering to the residential needs of the rich by offering exclusivity in a corner near the sea. Some distance away stands the marvellous step bridge, the Oresund Bridge, which connects Malmö to the capital of Denmark, Copenhagen, leading to greater economic integration with the economy across the sea.
Interesting mix
Malmö is unique because of its interesting mix of industry and tourism. The western harbour of the Oresund Strait is proof in itself – apart from possessing natural beauty, it also houses Scandinavia’s architectural wonder, the Turning Torso. HSB Turning Torso, called so because the top-most segment is twisted 90 degrees clockwise with respect to the ground floor, was designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and opened in 2005. This partial residential complex catering to the richest of the rich extends well over 600 feet. The tallest building in Scandinavia, it overlooks over the Oresund Bridge.
Malmö’s developmental stages are, in a sense, clearly delineated. The architecture of the city is not a product of gradual expansion and development. Rather, the city grew in intervals with the oldest buildings, including Malmöhus, dating as far back as 1300.
The Malmöhus, a fortified castle, is now a museum. The city, as it stands now, derives its architectural character from the brick revolution of the 19th Century. The presence of the cosmopolitan Turning Torso only a few km from the ancient Malmö Castle highlights the discontinuity, though subtly, of the old and new in this city.
Malmö was one the most fortified cities of medieval times when it was still a part of Denmark, as well as being its most populated and largest city. It was only in the 17th Century that possession of Malmö was handed over to Sweden. Thereafter began the rapid development of the city. Signs of the crisis of the post-industrial welfare state are visible beneath the surface of everyday life and in the divide between the ultra-rich and the unemployed. However, the city, which is closer to Denmark than the more northern parts of Sweden is striving to retain the title of a global city, as it was in the medieval times, by accepting the fruits of globalisation with open hands.
NITIN CHAUDHARY
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