Östersund

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Östersund
Östersund seen from Storsjön
Coat of arms
Motto: Vinterstaden (Winter City)[1]
Östersund
Coordinates: 63°11′N 14°40′E / 63.183, 14.667
Country	Sweden
County	Jämtland County
Province	Jämtland
Municipality	Östersund Municipality and Krokom Municipality[2]
Charter	1786
Founder	Gustav III
Named for	Östersundet
Government
- Mayor	Jens Nilsson (s)
- City Council	List of Councilors AnnSofie Andersson (s) Catrine Allansdotter Sandberg (s) Katarina Nyberg Finn (s) Harriet Svaleryd (s) Abbe Elhachimi (s) Stefan Konradsson (v) Karin Thomasson (mp) Carina Zetterström (c) Nisse Svensson (c) Carina Asplund (c) Ulf Edström (c) Pär Jönsson (m) Jananders Mattsson (m) Kjell Ericsson (fp)
Area [3]
- Total	26.84 km² (10.4 sq mi)
Population (2006)[3]
- Total	43,796
- Density	1,632/km² (4,226.9/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Area code(s)	+46 063
Twin Cities
- Trondheim	Norway
- Kajana	Finland
- Odense	Denmark
- Sanok	Poland
- Jilin City	China

Östersund (pronounced [ˈœstəˌʂɵnː], abbreviated Ö-sund or Ösd) is an urban area (city) in Jämtland in the middle of Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is Storsjöbygden's and Jämtland's only city.

The city was the only Swedish city founded and chartered in the 18th century. Östersund was founded in order to create a trade monopoly over Jämtland whose inhabitants' lucrative trade annoyed Swedish officials. The intention was to pursue the local farmers to deliver merchandise to middlemen in Östersund, but the population opposed this economic philosophy, and Östersund long remained small. It took until the end of the 19th century for Östersund to truly become a city, after the arrival of the railroad and, ironically, the economic liberalization of that time.

Östersund is located in the middle of Sweden, in the middle of Jämtland County and in the middle of Östersund Municipality. As the most centrally located city in Sweden, the city credit itself as the centre of Sweden^[4][5].

Östersund is marketed as Vinterstaden — Winter City^[6][7] . Winter City as a project is run by the Municipality together with city enterprises. Östersund has had a long history as a centre of out-door activities with a modern cross-country ski stadium and an actual piste in the city itself. Östersund has also hosted several World Championships in various sports such as biathlon, speed skating and ski orienteering along with Swedish National Championships in cross country skiing and snocross. The city has been the applicant city of Sweden for several Winter Olympic Games, but has yet to host one.

[edit] Geography

Östersund is the only city in the province and it is located on the shore of the fifth largest lake in Sweden, Storsjön.

The bridge to Frösön and Östersundet

The city sprawls along the eastern slopes of the lake and most of the city and the city core itself is located on the mainland, facing the non mainland part of the city, the island of Frösön. Today, a sizeable part of the city's population live on the slopes of the island that face the city centre. Östersund is a bimunicipal town due to the fact that a minor part of it with roughly 400 inhabitants is actually situated in Krokom Municipality.

The city spans across Östersundet and Östersund is named after this strait. Östersund can be directly translated from Swedish to English as "eastern sound". The strait's name derives from an older Jamtlandic name.

[edit] Climate

Östersund has a temperate climate and is located in the far north of the north temperate climate zone.

Though the winter climate is much warmer than most locations at a similar latitude. This is due to the gulf stream and the many passages in the mountain range, bringing warmer Atlantic winds to the city during winters. This somewhat maritime character also makes the summers in the city rather cool, in comparison to other towns in inland Scandinavia, which all have a more continental climate with cold winters and warm summers.

Though Östersund is in fact affected by the gulf stream it lacks the high frequency of rain following the currents. This is due to the Scandinavian Mountain Range acting as a natural barrier, receiving most of the precipitation, giving Östersund and the surrounding area a rain deficit.

Östersund has a high exposition of sunlight and was the most sunny city in Sweden in the summer of 2007 (July 1 - August 9) with 654 hours of sun.

[edit] Cityscape

Arctura

Östersund was lain out with roads spanning from north to south, countered by several alleys from east to west, which is why an alley in Östersund is synonymous with a road leading down towards Storsjön. From the inner city one may gaze upon Storsjön, Frösön and the Jamtish fell region with snow-clad mountains. This was made possible due to the topography and the grid plan.

The regularity in Östersund's road system and the slanting alleys leading from higher altitudes down towards Storsjön have created the "windows to the west" characteristic to Östersund as a city. The alleys, often seen as rather steep have created the illusion that the houses in the city core are climbing to higher grounds. These houses were conformed upon their construction to fit with the slopes.

Storsjöodjuret (the Great lake monster) is a cryptid said to inhabit lake Storsjön. This figure has often been used as a symbol for Östersund, along with the moose (see above). The city core is seen in the background.

The first city plan of Östersund was made with several large segments in the core being reserved as green areas. Östersund was thus planned as a green city and special lots, e.g. kryddgårdstomter "spice garden lots" were created along with construction lots. These lots shifted with a construction lot alternating with a spice garden lot and so on. The garden lots are no longer existent since they too have been constructed upon. Many of the fences that separated each lot from another with trees and verdure were left intact. The large green areas are still present, with parks such as Kyrkparken, Österängsparken and Badhusparken being the most prominent. Badhusparken was once the location of a large bath house (hence the name Badhus-) though it was torn down in 1881 when the railway was constructed. A new larger two-storey pompous bath house was later built on poles a few metres from the shore, enabling the population to bathe in the waters of Storsjön during summers. This house was also torn down, when a new bath house with heated water was founded in 1938^[9].

When Östersund started to grow as a city in the late 19th century the houses consisted predominately of wood, though stone had become popular in the central parts. These houses were heavily characterized by Neo-Gothicism and Neo-Renaissance^[10]. A very common feature of these houses were towers, some even resembling those on old castles like the one on Hotell Grand at the main square. In the early 20th century a new age had come and in the main road, Prästgatan, the new age came fiercely. The wooden houses were replaced by stone buildings, due to the fact that a city's well being was measured in how many stone buildings it had. At the same time military barracks were constructed in connection to the older settlement^[11].

The city hall is the greatest constructional symbol of the National Romantic architecture in Östersund. The city hall looks almost like a fortress and affiliates especially to the local art of Jämtland. The bell tower is of typical Jamtish design shaped like an onion, the local sculpture Olof Ahlberg made most of the sculpture details and the ornaments are made from Jamtish limestone. Frans Bertil Wallberg's city hall was seen by contemporary colleagues as the best of modern Swedish architecture^[12]. The girl school used to be located to the right of the city hall.

Jugendstil also became popular as an addition to the National Romantic style architecture.

In the 1930s the functionalistic style made itself apparent in Östersund's outskirts, which were growing. In the 1940s the city was made more car-friendly and the city was first and foremost planned for cars, rather than men. Later the sanitarian issues was brought up, which resulted in the construction of a sewage treatment works and the wastewater was no longer flushed directly into Storsjön. Östersund was also affected by the Million Programme, though to a lesser extent than other cities. During the same period older buildings such as Hotell Grand (to make room for Storsjöteatern), Cellfängelset (a jail located at the beginning of Prästgatan), Flickskolan (the girl school next to the city hall, where the current county library is located) and Västra stationen (at Badhusparken) were torn down. The local media described it all as e.g. "demolishing madness"^[13]. When the Good Templar house was threatened in order to widen Rådhusgatan the city's inhabitants had had enough and the building was saved.

Stortorget — the main town square in central Östersund is one of six "closed squares" built in Sweden, the others being the ones in Uppsala, Karlstad, Vimmerby, Piteå and Haparanda. It was created through indentation in four different blocks to deliberately create an open air room with openings to every direction. A style deriving from how cities were planned during the the Renaissance. However the town square lost its original shape when it was "opened up" and expanded towards the lake. Stortorget has long been the city's main market place and core, it is also here that the thousand year old market Gregorie market is held each year in March. The city festival Storsjöyran has Stortorget as its main centre.

Tourist Agency

The buildings along Storgatan (literally: "the great road") with entire segments intact since the 1880s are considered one of the best preserved city settlements in Sweden. The wooden façades are rich with details and the house are relatively low, short and slim. A great amount of work was put down on creating a balance between details and entirety. Parallel with Storgatan lies Prästgatan — "the priest road", Östersund's main shopping street. The buildings between the two roads are often connected and the roads create small rooms mostly unaccessible for keen winds. These so called rooms also stimulate the social life on the streets.

The newest project that will affect the cityscape is Björntanden — "the bear tooth", a large facility and project planned on the mountain Östberget on Frösön, not far from the Gustavsberg slope. Behind the project are mainly two prominent locals, investor Bert Sjödin and the magnate Maths O. Sundqvist. Östersund Municipality is also planning on building a gondola lift to the top of Östberget from Badhusparken across Storsjön. The facility will focus on conference and various hotel activities. It will be shaped as a silver bear tooth designed by architect Gert Wingårdh under the South Sami name Biesse Baeinie — "bear tooth". The project's theme is "Breath of Life" with focus on climate, health and environment.

[edit] Districts and housing estates

Before Östersund was established the population in the area was very scarce. In Odensala and Torvalla older settlements existed, the name Odensala can be derived from the Viking age and the Halls of Odin (though Torvalla means "dry wealds" with no reference to Thor). These two villages were later incorporated into Östersund and are today two major urban districts. Besides them the urban districts of Odenskog, Odensvik, Odenslund, Karlslund, Erikslund, Lugnvik, Lillänge and Söder along with the new district Stadsdel Norr are found on the mainland. On Frösön, recently included into the city are the three urban districts Hornsberg, Mjälle and Valla.

The central parts of Östersund are a part of the urban district Staden — "the city", has become synonymous with Östersund for many people living in the nearby villages and towns.

[edit] History

[edit] Older history

The Frösö church was built at the end of 12th century or in the beginning of the 13th century. Frösön is considered by many as the city's cradle, since the island was Jämtlands centre for centuries.

Since the 16th century when Sweden became a sovereign state, its leadership has sought to expand Sweden's influence over Jämtland, which at the time still was a part of Norway, or more precisely Denmark-Norway. First politically, with no substantial result, later economically. Cities were established along the Norrlandic coast in order to control trade, Jämtland's faring trade included. Härnösand was the first city established in 1585, later followed by Sundsvall 1621. These cities were tiny and had little success dealing with the deeply rooted resistance towards States' interest in controlling trade and the connection between Trøndelag and Jämtland^[14].

Plans regarding the foundation of a Swedish city or köping (market town, "chipping") in Jämtland existed amongst governmental officials already after the province was ceded from Denmark-Norway in 1645. Queen Christina demanded the establishment of a sconce on Andersön shortly after the province became Swedish, this sconce would together with Frösö sconce secure the Swedish control over Jämtland^[15]. Christina's intention was to locate the "Jamts' city" within this fortification. In order to construct the sconce the local inhabitants were coerced into forced labour 1651 but after protests and lack of capital the project was ended in 1654. Shortly afterwards there was a major revolt against the Swedish governance of Jämtland in Storsjöbygden and after the Dano-Norwegian reconquest of Jämtland in 1677 where the Jamts actively aided their "real" countrymen, saw them as liberators and fought the Swedes, all plans were regarding a Swedish city in Jämtland were put on ice.

In 1758 the plans were brought back up through an initiative from a civilian, though the authority saw no need for a city in Jämtland. The proposition did however initiate a new debate whether or not a city was to be established in Jämtland. The already mentioned Norrlandic cities demanded it so that the faring traditions and the lucrative cross country border trade conducted by Jamts in Norway across Kölen was ended. The Jamts were known to neglect the agriculture and instead take on long trading journeys all over Scandinavia to various markets. With a city in Jämtland this could finally end and the city would be able to secure the goods transportation, which usually was very scarce, to the coast. From a military point a foundation of a city in Jämtland was favorable, given that Sweden no longer was power to be reckon with in Northern Europe.

[edit] Foundation of Östersund

Kyrkparken next to Gamla Kyrkan "the old church" in central Östersund, this church was the first church in Östersund. When the houses were smaller it dominated the citscape.

Östersund was founded and given its charter by King Gustav III of Sweden in 1786, shortly after the outskirt of the Odensala farmers' lands were bought for the purpose.

The only thing actually located in the area at the time was the main road and the bridge to Frösön, the then mercantile and administrative centre of Jämtland. The trade in Jämtland couldn't be prevented from the Norrlandic coast, all trade restrictions such as border controls, punishments, trade prohibition and tariffs were unsatisfying for the Swedish authority. The Jamts were too cunning and some people claim that the Jamtish signature mark bällt du luur'n (were you able to trick him) derives from the Jamtish attempts to trick the Swedish border guard in order to avoid paying customs on merchandises brought back from Norway. This development wasn't unique for Sweden, it occurred throughout the Nordic countries, in today's Finland the cities Tampere, Kuopio and Kaskinen were founded. Though Östersund is, as stated in the beginning, the only city in today's Sweden founded and chartered in the 18th century. In Denmark-Norway Reykjavik was founded the very same year as Östersund on Iceland. Östersund was upon foundation freed from taxes during a 20 years timespan and completely liberated from trade regulations and guild order.

Just like any other city founded by state officials miles away the city developed extremely poorly and had to struggle in its infancy. The State tried to pursue the Jamtish traders on Frösön to migrate to the new city but they had no intentions of leaving such a rich parish with fertile soils Frösön consisted of in favor of the swamp and marches across the strait. During its first 50 years the city's population only grew (on average) with eight people per year. The city did become the capital of the newly founded county consisting of the provinces Jämtland and Härjedalen in 1810, meaning that a county residence was built and a county administrative board was located to the city. Though Östersund remained as a de facto farmer village with less than 400 inhabitants 1820. The 1840s were slightly better when Jemtlands Tidning (Jämtland's first newspaper) was established, the first church was inaugurated, Frösö Trivial School was located to the city and a general hospital was built. The city grew a little more when the full scale logging process was initiated in the 1850s and the 1860s.

[edit] The city of Good Templars

It took till the construction of the railroad in 1879 before Östersund became a real city and actually gained the status as Jämtland's centre, at Frösön's expense. Thanks to the "farmer chieftain" Nils Larson i Tullus the railroad came to pass through the city itself instead of outside it, as planned. The railway from coast to coast across the then union between Sweden and Norway was finished 1882, connecting Östersund closer to Trondheim and Sundsvall. Östersund then came to grow faster than any other Swedish city. After ten years it had passed 20 Swedish cities in population. The city attracted immigrants, a majority from the Jamtish countryside though still with a high number of settlers from Southern Sweden.

Without the railroad from coast to coast Östersund probably wouldn't have been much of a city today. This railway station was built in 1879.

Along with the settlers came new influences to Jämtland and the province entered the popular movement age forcefully. In comparison with the rest of Sweden the popular movements in Östersund were unusually dynamical. In Jämtland and Härjedalen the free minded Good Templar movement (a part of the temperance movement) came to dominate completely. It was preceded by the free church movement that challened the city's establishment with the creation of a missionary house and a baptist chapel.

The third large popular movement, the labour movement was greatly hampered by the free minded temperance movement but also become somewhat prominent in the city, given that first of May demonstrations were held as early as 1890.

The first temperance lounge in Östersund was established in 1882, after half a year the numbers of lounges had grown to six. In 1883 700 of the city's total population of 3 000 were organized Good Templars. The rapid success the movement had created a unique enthusiasm and the movement came to encompass every part of the society. The movement arranged its own weddings, Christmas markets, entertainment establishments and coffeehouses were started, banks, a social insurance agency, library etc. were founded by the movement. Though the greatest symbol of the movements grandeur was the Order House constructed 1885 in the city, Östersunds-Goodtemplars-Ordenshus. When one of the most prominent leaders, Joseph Malins, visited the city he announced that it was the world's largest order house. There was no doubt about it, Östersund was the Good Templar city. The year afterwards, when the city celebrated its 100th anniversary the Good Templar and newspaper proprietor Johan Lindström Saxon looked forward and prophesied the fast-growing city as the new capital in Sweden-Norway till the city's 200th anniversary (Östersund did not achieve this status, as the union was abolished in 1905).

Jämtland with Östersund as its centre became the temperance movements, in relation to the population, strongest foothold in the entire World. At the same time Östersund became the trading centre of Jämtland with the ancient market Gregorie market as highlight. Sweden received its freedom of trade in 1864 and the city's trade exploded and grew sevenfold from the early 1870s till 1910. In 1886 30 per cent of the population in Östersund were tradesmen (twice as high as the national average), remarkably, 45 per cent of the tradesmen at the time were females. Ironically it wasn't until the establishment of the railroad and with the liberalization of trade the city actually fulfilled its purpose and the faring traditions in Jämtland ended.

A Jamtish house behind a traditional split-rail fence at Jamtli History Land in Östersund

Jamtli was a result of the native district movement.

Östersund was a city in symbiosis with the countryside surrounding it, both economically and culturally and the extremely unique "native district movement" broke ground in the beginning of the 20th century. In 1908 the organization Jämtslöjd was founded joining the ancient monument association and together they started planning an open air museum — Jamtli. The museum was later followed by a county museum and the Regional Archive. An important element in the culture was Jämtland's library, which was moved from Frösön to Östersund in 1912. Östersund thus came to inhabit one of the most valuable libraries in northern Scandinavia.

The time preceding the First World War was a very important time for Östersund due to the fact that most of what's characterized Östersund as a city was established then. The idealistic views among the population had expressed itself through the popular movements, and continued to do so. "If it had come to moving Åreskutan rock by rock we'd have deemed it possible" an older Good Templar later said. When the population constantly grew new constructions were made. It was now that the great city hall was built 1912 after the drawings of Frans Bertil Wallberg.

Among the Good Templars local history become extremely popular and the temperance movement and the native district movement were joint. The Good Templars saw industrialization as a significant threat towards the native districts and the old village and farmer community. Due to most of Östersund's population having their roots in the Jamtish countryside the city was spared from city-village tensions. The work from the movements made the city and its centre-right (Swedish: borgerlig, see burgh and bourgeoisie) governance extremely rejective towards industries. Instead they wanted to portray Östersund as a centre of out-door activities, culture, education and tourism. Industries were not allowed to threaten the good environment, the fresh air, the nature and the social history traditions.

[edit] War and crisis

Östersund's city map of 1922

However everything wasn't positive in the city. Signs of harsher times were evident. The labour market conflict of 1909 (the Swedish General Strike) was the culmination of growing tension between workers and employers. No larger encounters occurred though the strike was a huge setback for the labour movement in Sweden and even more so in Östersund.

In 1917 when the Great War was fought on the continent and with the February revolution in Russia, starting the Russian Revolution also affected Östersund. Rationing led to lack of supplies and a revolution was feared. Some of the citizens, primarily soldiers, went on hunger strikes and at the first of May that year 4 000 demonstrators gathered in front of the city hall demanding lower prices on milk and wood.

The year after the Spanish flu spread like wildfire across the world. The city doctor in Östersund notified that "Östersund ought without objection have been more haunted by the flu than any other Swedish city", which is why Östersund has been referred to as the "Spanish flu's capital". The old school (today the tourist agency) became a temporary hospital and when no crisis centre existed several organizations stepped in to help the population. Even the authority did what they could and banned public gatherings, in addition to the closing of theaters and cinemas.

[edit] Interwar period

One of Östersund's city buses outside of the shopping mall Mittpunkten.

Despite the great depression and several crisis resulting in a very high unemployment rate Östersund continued to grow in the interwar period. The municipal community Odenslund was incorporated into Östersund in 1918. The business world remained largely unaffected and Östersund continued being one of the least industrialized cities in Sweden. Instead Östersund continued to focus on wholesale trade and became a centre of this in northern and north central Sweden. The city's central position was strengthened when Inlandsbanan was constructed through Jämtland from the north to the south.

During the interwar period the car and the bus became common. The first scheduled bus route was created in the 1920s between Östersund and the nearby town of Brunflo. In the next decade well over 40 bus routes were functioning in Östersund. The buses were of the skvader-type, a cross between a bus and a truck carrying both people and milk bottles. The dairy was located west of the bus square, Gustav III:s torg, at the shopping mall Kärnan's current whereabout. This square naturally become a central part of the city.

The social life changed, Östersunds Rundradiostation started its radio broadcast in 1927 and the cinemas became an obvious entertainment. The sport received its first large facilities. In 1917 Hofvallen was inaugurated and in the 1930s a bath house, a harness racing coarse and the tennis hall were built.

The Good Templar movement won the Swedish prohibition referendum of 1922 by a landslide in Jämtland County, 72,2 per cent of the population supported a prohibition (63,5 per cent of the males and 83,2 per cent of the females). No prohibition was introduced though when Sweden as a whole voted against a prohibition. Despite the massive amount of support regionally the movement began declining. The movement did however affect the city largely. It was like the dawn of a new age when the Good Templar house's sign was changed in 1947 into "teater" (theater) in what's now Gamla Teatern "the old theater".

The large brick church was built in front of Österängsparken 1940, during WW2.

[edit] Post War period

Östersund continued to grow after the Second World War. Lugnvik was incorporated into the city in 1954 and Östersund was just like the rest of Jämtland affected by the Rehn-Meidner-model, though not in the same way. The Swedish Keynesian politic was launched in order to improve the mobility of the labour force. Jämtland was struck hard by this when the people moved from the countryside to cities, from inland to coast and from the north to the south. As an urban area Östersund was affected by the Million Programme and urban districts like Körfältet were created.

Östersund became the capital of the Republic of Jamtland. Its flag can be seen throughout the year at the main town square.

The negative view towards industries were changed when the Social Democrats came to power for the first time in the city's history in 1952. Industries were enticed to Östersund through the national localization politic and industrial areas were created in Odenskog and Lugnvik.

The development wasn't, as already mentioned, as good in the rest of Jämtland as it was in Östersund and as a counter act towards the governmental politic the Republic of Jamtland was established in 1963. Östersund became the republic's "capital" and the home to the freedom festival Storsjöyran.

Östersund continued to grow and in 1970 Frösö köping was made apart of Östersund. In the year of 1971 a major reform occurred in Sweden creating large municipalities replacing all the older institutions and the new large municipality was named after the city. Just like in the rest of Sweden the public sector greatly expanded at this time. In 1960 the public sector of Sweden constituted about 30 per cent of Sweden's total gross domestic product, in the middle of the 1980s the number had grown to 65 per cent. At the time it was here the jobs were, in the county board, the state and in the new municipality. The main reason for the large expansion were the expanded transfer payment to the households that occurred, along with growing interest and public consummation. Everything was founded by large tax raises. The entire 1970s was an expansion period. Besides the new industrial complex the Frösö bridge was constructed, a new police house, Z-kupolen (burned to the ground in 1989), Storsjöteatern, Folkets hus, urban district churches, shopping malls etc. The County Administration board and the hospital expanded and large housing estates were constructed in Körfältet, Lugnvik and Odensala.

The city tried to acquire a "humanistic college of higher learning" on Frösön already in the 1940s. A large tension existed between the cities in Norrland and Umeå left the struggle victorious 1962. Östersund however required a "social college of higher learning" in 1971.

Östersund is since 2005 one of the main campus sites of the Mid Sweden University (Mittuniversitetet). A number of governmental offices have also been located to the city in recent years.

[edit] Garrison town

Östersund in a map of the theoretical Swedish central defense system discussed and planned in the later part of the 19th century. Östersund is one of the three proposed main fortresses and thus marked with a star. The arrows indicate probable Russian directions of attack.

Östersund became a garrison town when the Norrland Artillery Regiment A 4 was founded in the city 1892, followed by the upgrading of Jämtlands fältjägarkår to Jämtlands fältjägarregemente I 23. This was done with the growing fear of a Russian assault whereas Jämtland-Trøndelag and Norrbotten became the most prioritized defense-regions. The dissolution of the union contributed with enhancing Östersund as a military city strengthening its presence, the Field Ranger Regiment I 5 was located in the city 1910 and the Jämtland Air Force Wing F 4 came to Frösön 1926.

Östersund's importance as a garrison town grew when the city was connected to the Boden Fortress, following the construction of Inlandsbanan.

After the fall of the Iron Curtain, the destruction of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the Dissolution of the USSR in 1991 Sweden had lost its national threat and the demand for a strong defense organization was deemed unnecessary. The issue was debated throughout the 1990s and the final decision came in 2004 where all military presence in Östersund was ended. Upon delivering the message the Swedish Minister for Defence Leni Björklund was publicly booed by the city's inhabitants.

The ending of Östersund's status as a garrison town has however created a larger enthusiasm regarding the city's future as the private sector has grown larger and more companies are being established, much of which is due to the financial compensation the State offered. The older areas reserved for military activities have been opened up and two more urban districts were made available.

[edit] Politics and governance

Östersund Municipality is governed from the city hall.

Main article: Östersund Municipality

Östersund is the capital of Jämtland County and thus, the county governor Maggi Mikaelsson reside in the city. Mikaelsson is the head of Jämtland County Administrative Board (Länsstyrelsen i Jämtlands län), an administrative entity appointed by the Swedish Government.

Östersund is also the seat of Jämtland County Council (Jämtlands läns landsting, located on Frösön). The County Council is the elected assembly of Jämtland County. The County Council's responsibilities lie primarily within the public health care system and transportation between the municipalities.

Östersund is the seat of Östersund Municipality (Östersunds kommun). The legislative body of the municipality is the 67-member municipal assembly (kommunfullmäktige), elected by proportional representation for a four-year term. The assembly appoints the municipality's main governing body, the 15-member executive committee (kommunstyrelsen). The executive committee is headed by the Mayor (kommunstyrelsens ordförande). Östersund has historically been dominated by the the conservatives, the freeminded (later on Liberal People's Party)and the social democrats. Though contrary to Sweden on a national level Östersund's centre-right parties long remained in majority. The situation changed first in 1952 when the social democrats were included and they received an own majority in 1962. In 1966 the agrian and rural Centre Party entered the scene, along with the minor Christian Democrat and Communist Parties. A new centre-right government was appointed and the Centre Party became the largest party in that coalition 1970. However since the 1980s the Social Democratic Party has been in power (excluding a term in the 1990s) supported by the communists (now simply Left Party) and occasionally the Green Party (entered in 1982). Jens Nilsson from the Social Democratic Party is the mayor of Östersund and has been so since 1997.

[edit] Transportation

Åre was recently included in the airport's name in order to make it more appealing to tourists.

The airport is situated 11 kilometres outside the city core, on Frösön. Åre Östersund Airport (previously named Östersunds flygplats) is an international airport and the ninth biggest in Sweden with roughly 390 000 passengers 2005. The airport is one of few Swedish airport with incoming foreign charter traffic and the only one with considerable economic growth in that sector.

The European route E14 runs through Östersund from Trondheim to Sundsvall and briefly merges with the European route E45 (referred to as Inlandsvägen locally) coming from the north. The two roads are later split in Brunflo where E14 continues heading east and E45 turns south again.

Östersund has similar railway communications. Mittnabotåget operates both the Norwegian Meråkerbanen from Trondheim to Storlien and the Swedish Mittbanan from Storlien to Sundsvall. Inlandsbanan is also trafficated and runs in the same direction as Inlandsvägen. Östersund is connected to Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö through long distance X2000 (high speed trains), InterCity and night train.

Local company Stadsbussarna i Östersund (literally: the City Buses in Östersund) has nine routes in the city.

E14 at Torvalla

Aeroplane at the airport

Mittnabotåget

Airport terminal

[edit] Trade and commerce

Prästgatan

Like the rest of Jämtland Östersund is heavily dominated by many small businesses. The city is the centre of trade and commerce in Jämtland County and has well over 300 different shops. The retail trade's turnover is 30 per cent higher than it ought to be, given the number of inhabitants the city has. Trade in the central business district (Staden — the City) is mostly concentrated to the shopping and pedestrian street Prästgatan where large local shopping malls such as Kärnan and Mittpunkten along with department stores such as Åhléns are located. Large clothing companies such as H&M, Lindex and smaller like WESC etc, approximately 50 restaurants, shoe stores, sporting goods retailers like Stadium and Intersport, several super marketss (Östersund has rather few convenience stores) and much more. Storgatan, the street that runs parallel with Prästgatan is also lined with shops, restaurants and coffeehouses. Unlike Prästgatan this street is not a pedestrian street. Östersund is the city in Sweden with the most square metres of window display per capita^[16]. The most prominent figure in Östersund's business life throughout the 20th century was the car salesman (started out selling horses) Sven O. Persson, founder of Persson Invest, Byggelit and Bilbolaget. Nowadays the most distinguishing businessman is Maths O. Sundqvist, owner of several real estates in Östersund, including the entire urban district Stadsdel Norr through his real estate company Fabös (together with Peab).

Lillänge is an external shopping centre in the urban district Odenskog.

Östersund has had a long history as a marketplace with the already mentioned ancient Gregorie market, tracing its lineage back to the 11th century, in early March. However banned in 1914, it continued to be held a couple of years. In 1950 the market was reborn shortly and was completely resurrected in 1986, when the city celebrated its 200th anniversary, and has been held yearly since then. In 1948 when the markets were non-existent visions to restore Östersund's market traditions, in a modern version, were brought up. The result was the trade fair Expo Norr, initiated 1950 in order to strengthen Östersund as the leading the centre of trade in the northern parts of Sweden. The trade fair is an annual event just like Gregorie market, though Expo Norr is held during the summer and not during the winter. Expo Norr is usually attended by 30 000 individuals every year.

The Mid Sweden University is located in Östersund and the university sometimes act as a recruitment base for local companies. The university focus especially on subjects like business development, electronics production and software engineering. Just like many other County capitals in Sweden the County Council and the Municipality are among the largest employers.

Besides trading and public services Östersund has some larger companies such as Solectron, Cybercom, Svenska Dagbladet's customer service, Volex, Husqvarna AB, Swedbank's telephone bank and Telia. Companies such as the dairy cooperation Milko and Inlandsbanan AB have located their corporate headquarters in the city.

A national survey done by the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise show that out of every company in Östersund Municipality 52 per cent are "very positive towards globalization", thus ranking Östersund at number eight in Sweden as the most globalization friendly Municipality^[17].

[edit] Culture

Överhogdal tapestries

Old picture of S/S Östersund

Östersund is the cultural centre of Jämtland County and home to the museum Jamtli. The museum has both an enclosed exhibition area and an outdoor area which contains a number of old buildings from all over the county, depicting the old lives of farmers etc. The museum exhibition hosts an interesting set of tapestries, the Överhogdal tapestries, showing a rich imagery of both Norse and Christian origin from the Viking Age. The mythical Storsjöodjuret (Great Lake Monster) has an exhibit of its own. Another remnant from the Viking age is Frösöstenen, the world's most northerly rune stone located on Frösön.

The county library, Jämtlands läns bibliotek is located in the city. It is the oldest county library in Sweden, being founded in 1816 by the will of professor Carl Zetterström. As the library grew it was moved to a bigger facility. The older building is now located besides the old church in Kyrkparken.

Moose Garden

Lake Storsjön has been trafficked for a long time and the steamships S/S Thomée and S/S Östersund are still in operation every summer. Contrary to most boats, they are seen as males and not females. S/S Thomée is however the only one that sets sail from Östersund's harbour. S/S Östersund set sail from Arvesund, located at Storsjön's western shore but makes visits to Jamtli's steamboat jetty.

Frösö Zoo is one of Sweden's largest zoological gardens with exotic animals. It has roughly 700 different animals like Siberian tigers, lions, polar wolves, monkeys etc. Frözö Zoo also has a tropic house, a biological museum and an amusement park. Outside of Östersund in the village Orrviken there's a Moose Zoo, called Moose Garden allowing close encounters with tame moose.

[edit] Events

Mando Diao performing at Storsjöyran

• The city is probably best known for hosting the city festival Storsjöyran (referred to as simply Yran, literally meaning: The Great Lake Giddy Festival), the oldest city festival in Scandinavia and with 55 000 visitors every year the largest in Sweden. Storsjöyran is held in the middle of Östersund the last weekend of July. Although the event starts the weekend before with the opening of "Krogstråket" when regional bars and restaurants gather near the lake.
• Jamtli Christmas Market is well attended market taking place the second weekend of Advent.
• Expo Norr
• Östersund Jazz Rhythm Fest
• Östersunds Blues Festival
• The Winter Park
• The Winter Festival is the name for all the events that will take place during the Biathlon World Championships 2008. It includes a festival of light, live music, new school skiing at the town square, a film and photo festival, a festival arena and more.

[edit] Local media

The largest daily newspaper in Östersund is Östersunds-Posten (ÖP) with a circulation of 30 000^[18] and the second largest is Länstidningen Östersund (LT) with a circulation of 15 000^[18] (2006 for both). Like most Swedish newspaper they each have a political editorial page, views of the Centre Party are expressed in ÖP and views of the Swedish Social Democratic Party are expressed in LT.

Östersund's campus site

[edit] Education

Östersund recently became a university city and the Mid Sweden University has its largest campus site in Östersund, student wise. The Mid Sweden University has several educational programmes in Östersund, mainly Health Sciences, Social Work and Social Sciences, but also to a lesser degree in the fields of Information Technology and Media along with Natural Sciences.

Östersund is the centre of gravity for Social Sciences (Business Administration, Psychology, Sociology and Political Science) and Social Work research.

[edit] Sports

Ski stadium

Östersund is marketed as the Winter City and when it comes to sports the city has a long history of winter sports. Many of Sweden's most prominent skiers are living and competing for Östersund.

Biathlon World Championships 2008

The cross-country ski stadium that is located two kilometres from the city centre is considered to be one of the finest ski stadiums in Sweden. The stadium is also internationally renowned due to the topography of its ski tracks, the compact track-system and the fact that Östersund is usually quite a reliable locality for snow during the winter months. A number of biathlon world cup races have been held at the stadium as well as several national championships in cross-country skiing.

Östersund seen from the piste Gustavsbergsbacken

Östersund hosted the 1970 Biathlon World Championship and has again been designated as the host city for the upcoming 2008 Championships.

Nationellt Vintersportcentrum (NVC, Swedish Winter Sports Research Centre) is a research and training project run by the sports movement, the university, the municipality and the county council. The Swedish Olympic Committee (SOC) use its lab for various tests.

Östersund, in association with the neighboring municipality of Åre, had plans to be the candidate of Sweden for the organization of the XXIInd Olympic Winter Games, the 2014 Winter Olympics, but the candidacy proposal was rejected by the government. It would have been the fourth attempt of this city (after 1994 where Östersund lost the bid with the score 45-39 to Lillehammer in the final round, 1998 and 2002).

Östersund has a basketball team in Sweden's highest division (Ligan), Jämtland Basket.

Östersund's Fallskärmsklubb is the oldest of Sweden's drop zones and was formed in 1958. The very first civilian parachute jump was done actually on the ice of Storsjön in February 1956. The jumpers were officers from the Swedish Parachute rangers regiment that also wanted to jump on their spare time. Östersund's Fallskärmsklubb is today localized to Optand's airfields, approximately 13 km south from Östersund where one carries out education of students and sky diving for the experienced jumpers all year around with the exception from late autumn until early winter.

[edit] References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Östersund

• Rumar, Lars (1998). Historia kring Kölen. Östersund: Jamtli/Jämtlands läns museum. 
• Björklund, Jörgen (editor); Gudrun Pentén, Bosse Sundin, Hans Wallentin (1986). Historia kring Kölen. Östersund: Jämtlands läns museum. 
• Rentzhog, Sten (editor); Hans Westlund, Håkan Larsson, Merete Røskaft, among others (1999). Jämten 2000. Östersund: Jamtli/Jämtlands läns museum. 

[edit] Notes

Östersunds Fallskärmsklubb

Östersund is one of 134 towns with the historical City status in Sweden.

Coordinates: 63°11′N, 14°40′E