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Initial Survey

The Big PictureOur group is ore group, we made some investigation about the ore in global scope. It is include the production statistic of several kinds of ore, the numbers of ore export/inport in several most important countries, the reason of ore form and the ore distribution in five continents. It is really interesting things that the ore distribute is closed to the geological transformation. So, people could predict and discover different ore located in different type of geological ground.Following the other groups, I noticed that the flow of the ore is an attract aspect. In the global shipping map, there is a younger but more efficient route across the arctic ocean. Shipping from this route may save a lot of money, time and security. This is also a challenge for the northern countries, both in the economic development and the landscape plan.

The Perforated LandscapesIn this section, our group focused on the Svalbard Island. Svalbard is not only a tourist area, but also a important coal production zone. In the last 100 years, Store Norsk company launched 8 coal mining. Most of located in Longyearbyen. These mining activity influenced the expend of the city, although this is a very tiny city. I fell a strong force of relationship between mining and urban development. It is like a magnet affection that the urban expend was contraled by the mining update. I was also attracted by the Kiruna survey. Iron ore extraction is a key industry of the area, and the town is very dependent on the mining company LKAB. The iron mine was located under the urban area, so the foundation of urban is not safe. In 2004, it was decided that the present centre of the municipality would have to be relocated to counter mining related subsidence. The relocation would be made gradually over the coming decade. The mining is taking place and replace the Kiruna city.

THEME:THE MINING TAKING PLACE IN THE CITY & THE CITY RELOCATING FOR THE MINEING SO, WHAT IS THE NEXT?

A Story of the Kiruna City --- The City Grown With The Iron Mining

History

Ancient remains show that the first people arrived more than 6,000 years ago, after the inland ice cap retreated. This means there were functioning communities in the Kiruna area when the nation’s capital, Stockholm, was still on the sea bed.The Sámi culture and the Finnish-speaking culture have lived side by side here for all recorded history. Settlers, and the very first miners, came at the beginning of the 17th century, during the first mining era.

The first “Swedish” arrivals came to the Kiruna area from the southeast, near Masugnsbyn, where the first iron ore mining was opened in 1647. At that time, nobody knew anything about the dormant riches of Kiirunavaara, where the town of Kiruna was to be founded. It was not until the mid-1880s that the first test drilling took place on Kiirunavaara Mountain. A watershed moment for the whole of Sweden was when in the late 19th century discussions took place in Parliament on whether to build the Ofoten Line, also called the Ore Line, from Luleå via Gällivare and Kiruna to Narvik in Norway.

Kiruna counts 1900 as its birth year, when the Crown approved the town plan. In that year, most of the newly arrived settlers spent the winter in the new community. After that, the population increased dramatically, and by 1910 Kiruna already had 7,500 inhabitants. Kiruna's population was at its greatest in the mid-1970s, with just over 31,000 inhabitants. After a couple of decades of substantial outward migration, a stable level of around 23,000 has been reached.

Mining activity affects the city

Since the mining company continues to extract the ore that slants underneath the city, deformations, mainly cracks, will develop and evolve towards the built areas. That the ground cracks and collapses is nothing new. The residential area of Ön (the Island) and the now-drained part of the lake Luossajärvi have already disappeared to become a part of Kiruna’s history. The cracks are caused by the mining method itself and the slant of the ore body. When the

ore is mined and removed, the remaining bedrock collapses into the cavities. This in turn results in settling, which at the surface makes the ground crack.

In 2008 LKAB, the operator of the world’s largest underground mine: Kirunavaara-Luossavaara iron mine decided to extend their operations down to a deeper level at 1,365 meters. The mine is located adjacent to the City of Kiruna with an estimated population of 19,000.

Around 2013, the first families living in flats at Ullspiran must also find another homes. Somewhere around 2023 the city centre, a couple of schools, the fire station and additional flats and houses will be affected. By the year 2033, the municipality is looking at having to relocate about 1900 people away from the cracking zones.

In general no one perceives the move as directly negative. It's never fun to move from your home, but there is a lot of understanding for what is happening. Kiruna is a mining town. It can't survive without the mine," So they have decided to move the city.

Relocated the city

New city center: The comprehensive plan is being revised and the new plan is expected to be completed by 2012. The municipal council has decided that the new Kiruna city centre should be situated east of today’s city centre. A new preliminary sketch showing possible solutions for the new city center was introduced. Final design of a new city center will be determined by one or more architectural competitions.

Rework the lake: Kiruna's known iron ore reserves run some 2,500 metres (8,200 feet) deep, with the latest main level at just 1,045 metres.To be able to extend the mining operations from the current level at 1,045 meters down to the new level at 1,365 meters, approximately 0.8 km2 of the 2.2 km2 large Lake Luossajärvi must be drained. Additionally, a new outlet from Lake Luossajärvi must be constructed to the north of the lake connecting with Pahtajoki creek, replacing the current outlet to the south into Luossajoki creek. A major engineering challenge will be the draining of Lake Luossajärvi, where a 12 m high and 1,800 m long earthfill dam (till) will be constructed across the southern portion of the lake. About four million m3 of water will be pumped out on the south side of the dam facing the mine.

Mine city park: The reason why we have to relocate/tear down buildings in the first place is because the electricity lines, water and sewage pipes under

ground will be damaged first. It is not because the buildings in them selves will be dangerous / unstable.

Kiruna Municipality and LKAB are working together creating a Gruvstadspark (Mine City Park) in the first area to be affected by the deformations due to mining. The park is to function as a buffer zone between the city and the mine so that no one will be forced to live immediately adjacent the industrial fencing. The park will become a year-round recreational area. This way the public will have access to the area even after the houses are gone and no one will have to live next to the industrial fence. As the mine area are growing the park will move closer towards the city.The first part of the Mine City Park (in Iggesundsparken) was inaugurated on Sep, 14, 2011.

New Roads and Realway: The Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) continues planning on a new highway E10 and road 870. Kiruna Municipality has made clear that the new highway E10 has to be finished by 2015.

The railway will be affected by the deformations and has to be relocated. The construction work is in progress and planned to be finished in 2012.

Sami community: There are two Sami communities, Gabna and Laevas, in the immediate vicinity of Kiruna. They make use of trails in the terrain outside the town for the migration of their reindeer to summer and winter grazing. Reindeer herding is still a livelihood for many Sami in the area. Kiruna is the main town for the Sami Parliament, an administration for Sami affairs under the Swedish government that was founded in 1993. Kiruna Town is also situated in the middle of an area where a number of Saami reindeer herding communities have grazing lands and vital moving paths. Kiruna Iron's planned exploitation would violate fundamental human rights of the local Saami reindeer herders.

A Story of the Shiyan City --- The City Grown With The Track Factory

Shiyan was one of the most normal villages with few hundreds of people before the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. At the beginning of 1950, Chinese army took place in the Korean War. With the bombing of the U.S.military, lots of Chinese military tracks were destroyed. In order to solve this emergency, Chairman Mao commanded to build a new track factory. At the same time, the political environment of China was not safe and more than 70% industrial factories were built in the coastal area. So, they are very easy to destroyed if the missiles came. According to these impacts, the politicians chosen the Shiyan area to build the new track factory because there is surrounding by mountains and they could act as a barrier against foreign attacks. The construction began from 1959 and more than 100 000 workers and engineers moved to Shiyan. After several years constructed, the surprising thing is not only the initial track factory was built, but also the village has expanded became a new city. Today, Shiyan is middle scale city with in China with a population of 3 000 000 and the track factory is a high-tech institute with a production of 150 000 heavy tracks every year.

After 21st century，with the more and more peaceful political environment and forceful business competition, the Shiyan track institute is no longer confined in the mountains, they had developed several important companys in the flat area of China, such as Wuhan and Guangzhou. Because the most important demand of the development is change to the convenient transportation.

The new challenge is coming with the change of the development. In Shiyan City, more and more old industrial buildings were empty and then destroyed. The core industry here is more and more unclear, because the track has gone. The government is finding some other ways to make the economy grow, such as mining and tourism. But all of these are no longer activate the economy as intensive as the tracks.

What is the Next?After studied the two citys development, I think it is could be worth to compare Shiyan City with Kiruna City. Their way of development are similar. One was appeared with track industry and the other is developing with mining. One is extending to the industrial heritage, the other one is submerged by the mining expand. We could get some useful predict from Shiyan. Maybe after several years exploited, the underground of kiruna will be empty and the city will be no longer rely on the mining for economic growth. What is the direction of the city after that? Do we need to relocate the city again after several years? How the mining infrastructure could be used for the future city? Maybe the infrastructure could be used for the modern art which is like the 798 area in Beijing. But is there any artists or visitors want to go such a backland just for art? I believe this is a valuable discussion, we need to talk about the propose of the future city, not only the relocation program. If we have a very clear plan for the after - mining period, we can bring it into effect at once. This can be make the development more sustainable.