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PRESENTED BY BUSINESS REGION ÖREBRO

​​The fast-growing Swedish city where international families feel at home

“People ask me whether I’m getting restless about staying in the same city for so long,” says Amy Loutfi, Professor in Information Technology at Örebro University. “But I tell them it’s not the same city – so much has changed.”

Published: 1 September 2021 20:17 CEST
​​The fast-growing Swedish city where international families feel at home
Photo: Getty

As an expert in AI and robotics, she knows more than most about rapid changes. Nonetheless, she says the transformation in Örebro since she arrived from her native Canada 20 years ago has been profound.

Firstly, Örebro University itself has been a huge catalyst for the city’s development since opening in 1999. Then there’s the exciting part that a city known for its magnificent 13th century castle is playing in Sweden’s 21st century startup scene, thanks to the entrepreneurial hub Creative House. 

Furthermore, parents say it’s an ideal place to raise a family for a host of reasons. The Local spoke to Professor Loutfi, and another even longer-standing international resident of the city, to find out more.

Can’t pronounce Örebro or place it on a map? Discover the opportunities for internationals in this exciting city

A region of young talent

Maybe you’ve seen the name Örebro but have no idea how to say it? Or where to locate it on the map? The city is the sixth largest in Sweden and has an enviable location in the heart of the country, just a little closer to Stockholm than Gothenburg. But anyone thinking of it as simply a stopping point between bigger cities is sorely mistaken. Professor Loutfi says the sense of opportunity in Örebro today is palpable. 

“I came from a town on Canada’s east coast that was in decline with a shrinking population,” she says. “The city of Örebro, on the other hand, has a pulse and you feel it in the bone marrow of the place. There are people coming, new restaurants opening and new initiatives starting.”

The university offers Sweden’s most modern medical training programme, ranks third nationally for scientific excellence, and is an important node in the national AI network. Professor Loutfi has a strategic role in developing the university’s role in Swedish and European AI initiatives through the Wallenberg Foundation’s WASP programme.

“We have a strong university and that means a fantastic pool of young people,” she says. “If you’re interested in establishing a startup or relocating your current business, you’ll get access to a generation with solid knowledge who are often interested in staying and contributing to the region’s growth.” 

Little wonder that local startups making innovative use of technology are flourishing. “It was all about skor [shoes] and kex [cookies] when I arrived,” recalls Professor Loutfi. “Now, a wide diversity of businesses keep the city vibrant.” 

Want to make a smart move? Find out about the opportunities for international people in Örebro

Professor Amy Loutfi. Photo: Supplied

Location and lifestyle: ‘everything is possible here’ 

Richard Kennett, who grew up in Brighton in England, moved to Örebro in 1987 as a love-struck teenager who had fallen for a Swedish au pair. The city now has an international appeal and level of self-confidence he could not have imagined in the early days after his move. 

“At first, Swedes would ask me ‘Are you mad?’” he remembers. “The entire personality of the city has been transformed. I’ve seen a metamorphosis over 15 or 20 years – and today everything is possible here.”

Having raised three children who were born in the city, he says: “I think Örebro has been the perfect place for them to grow up. We’ve had a great system from kindergarten through school and all their sports clubs and activities. It doesn’t take long to get anywhere.

“The geographic location of this city is phenomenal – and so is the choice of lifestyle. You can live in the middle of nowhere, in a country village close to the city, or in the city itself.” 

Following the university’s opening, Richard cites the local hospital becoming involved in research as another key milestone (it’s now rated Sweden’s best university hospital). He credits “a generation of politicians who focused on vision and possibility”, as well as the city’s location, which means over 70 percent of Sweden’s population lives within a radius of 300km.


 Photo: Business Region Örebro

A home for families

Professor Loutfi, who has two daughters aged 11 and nine, also greatly values the family-friendly environment. As well as a sense of security and community, local residents enjoy easy access to outdoor activities and unspoilt nature.

“It’s beautiful here. You can hop on your bike and after 20 minutes you’re really out in nature and I think that’s different from Stockholm,” she says. “There are fantastic hiking trails nearby, like the Bergslagen hill range, where you can just go for a couple of hours or for a day.”

With the pace of developments in AI, has she ever thought about leaving? Even after a spell as a researcher in Spain, she knew she wanted to return to her adopted home. “I turn every stone and weigh all the pros and cons, which is what Canadians do,” she says. “I always come up with more pros [for staying].” 

In Örebro, the list of pros for talented international people and their families keeps on growing.

Looking for a vibrant smaller city with a high quality of life? Find out more about opportunities for international people in Örebro

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WEATHER

Why are temperatures of 25C considered a heatwave in Sweden?

In other parts of the world, 25C (77F) is an average summer’s day, so why do Swedes feel the heat more, and what can be done to mitigate the effect of heatwaves in the future?

Published: 26 June 2024 15:07 CEST
Why are temperatures of 25C considered a heatwave in Sweden?

Sweden’s meteorological institute SMHI has issued heatwave warnings for this week, bringing with it a fire risk as temperatures are expected to hit 25-30 degrees Celsius across much of the country.

For readers from a lot of other countries, this might not feel like a big deal, but in Sweden, it’s warm.

There is no standard international definition of a heatwave, with each country deciding how to define it.

In Sweden, the national meteorological institute SMHI defines “high temperatures” as a maximum of 26C three days in a row and “very high temperatures” as a maximum of 30C three days in a row.

If temperatures hit 30C for five days in a row, or reach 33C for three days in a row, this qualifies as “very high temperatures”.

“Extreme heat is a new problem in Sweden,” Martina Söderström, from engineering consultancy company Sweco, told The Local. “It’s only really become an issue in the last ten years, with 2018 a bit of a wake-up call, with very high temperatures and a long heatwave.”

Summer 2018 saw a record number of wildfires ravage the country, Sweden’s hottest July in over 250 years, and the warmest summer since records began across most of southern and central Sweden.

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Not only are Swedes in general more used to cold temperatures, but the country’s infrastructure is built with cold temperatures in mind.

“It’s how we’ve built our buildings and our society. Buildings aren’t designed to protect people from heat and sunlight, rather they are designed to be insulated,” Söderström said.

Swedish buildings are also unlikely to feature ceiling fans or air conditioning, which, coupled with the fact that many of them are well-insulated, means that it can be difficult to cool them down once they’re already hot.

‘Natural solutions are an important piece of the puzzle’

Sweco recently investigated how a number of different European cities, including Stockholm, could build heatwave resilience as climate change looks likely to increase their frequency. In Stockholm, the number of heatwave days per year is expected to increase by 150 percent by 2100, with similar figures for the other Scandinavian capitals Copenhagen (160 percent) and Oslo (140 percent).

“The increase in temperature is greater here [in the Nordic countries] and we have probably come the least far in planning for it. We’ve been more focused on protecting ourselves from the cold,” Söderström said. “If you look at Rotterdam and Brussels, for example, they’re further ahead both in measuring the heat and maybe also have a clearer plan of the measures they’re going to take to mitigate it.”

Sweden also has a lot of sunlight during the summer – Stockholm gets over 18.5 hours of sunshine around midsummer, Malmö in the south gets 17.5 hours, while in the far north of the country the sun doesn’t set for months. This means that temperatures often stay high during the night, providing fewer opportunities for people to recuperate from the heat and putting more stress on vulnerable individuals.

Cities are not designed with heat in mind, either, meaning that they often lack shade or trees, which contribute towards keeping temperatures low.

“Natural solutions are an important piece of the puzzle,” Söderström said.

“It’s important to get green and blue infrastructure into city planning. Trees are great, as they give shade and also they release water vapour into the air which has a cooling effect, and bodies of water can have the same cooling effect – when it’s cooler than the surrounding air, it helps to cool it down. So water, green solutions, proximity to parks and shade, all of those things are important to have in a city environment.”

People in cities are also more affected by heatwaves, Söderström added, as hard surfaces like asphalt, concrete and metal roofs absorb heat, further warming the air as this heat is emitted.

“It’s important to think about this when planning areas. Think about getting plants and water into urban areas, but also the materials being used.”

Sweden can learn a lot from hotter countries

Sweden has “a lot to learn” from countries which are used to warmer temperatures already, she added, saying that there’s no need to “reinvent the wheel”.

“Things like how to plan buildings and cities, lighter materials, how to place buildings to allow the wind to move through them, building covered verandas, providing shade, for example.”

Although children, the elderly and people with underlying health conditions are more susceptible to high temperatures, they are by no means the only groups to feel the consequences of prolonged heatwaves.

“These types of temperatures put stress on all aspects of society,” Söderström said. “It’s not just individuals who are particularly sensitive to heat, but it has consequences for the entire population. It affects agriculture, forestry and our ability to secure a steady supply of water.”

“We need to start thinking about how to protect society [against heatwaves] and plan ahead. Measure, get an idea of where risk areas are or how they come about, and make a long-term plan for them,” she added.

“It’s time to act now. This is going to continue for at least another eighty years and if we act now, we can adapt so our society and our cities are more resilient in the future.”

Do you come from somewhere with a warmer climate than Sweden? How do you find the heat here? Does it affect you more or less than it did back home? Let us know in the comments below.

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