Stockholm

Stockholm
Capital city
Gamla stan Stockholm City Hall Kastellet Kista Science Tower Avicii Arena Stockholm Palace
UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	100 00-199 99
Area code	+46-8
Website	start.stockholm

Stockholm (Swedish:

After the Ice Age, around 8000 BC, there were already many people living in what is today the Stockholm area, but as temperatures dropped, inhabitants moved south. Thousands of years later, as the ground thawed, the climate became tolerable and the lands became fertile, people began to migrate back to the North. At the intersection of the Baltic Sea and lake Mälaren is an archipelago site where the Old Town of Stockholm was first built from about 1000 CE by Vikings. They had a positive trade impact on the area because of the trade routes they created.

Stockholm's location appears in

The strategic and economic importance of the city made Stockholm an important factor in relations between the Danish Kings of the Kalmar Union and the national independence movement in the 15th century. The Danish King Christian II was able to enter the city in 1520. On 8 November 1520, a massacre of opposition figures called the Stockholm Bloodbath took place and set off further uprisings that eventually led to the breakup of the Kalmar Union. With the accession of Gustav Vasa in 1523 and the establishment of royal power, the population of Stockholm began to grow, reaching 10,000 by 1600.

The 17th century saw Sweden grow into a major European power, reflected in the development of the city of Stockholm. From 1610 to 1680 the population multiplied sixfold. In 1634, Stockholm became the official capital of the Swedish empire. Trading rules were also created that gave Stockholm an essential monopoly over trade between foreign merchants and other Swedish and Scandinavian territories. In 1697, Tre Kronor (castle) burned and was replaced by Stockholm Palace.

Throughout Sweden's history, walls were created in Stockholm to defend the city from attacks. These defensive walls were modified throughout the 13th to the 16th century. In 1625, the Great Stockholm Fire of 1625 destroyed the southwestern section of Stadsholmen, an island in the centre of Stockholm.^[32] The amount of destruction led to the beginning of the demolition of the Stockholm walls. Today, most of the younger city walls cannot be found anywhere above ground. However, parts of the northern city walls are preserved in the Museum of Medieval Stockholm.

In 1710, a

By the second half of the 19th century, Stockholm had regained its leading economic role. New industries emerged and Stockholm was transformed into an important trade and service centre as well as a key gateway point within Sweden. The population also grew dramatically during this time, mainly through

Stockholm became a modern, technologically advanced, and ethnically diverse city in the latter half of the 20th century. Many historical buildings were torn down during the modernist era, including substantial parts of the historical district of Klara, and replaced with modern architecture. However, in many other parts of Stockholm (such as in Gamla stan, Södermalm, Östermalm, Kungsholmen and Vasastan), many "old" buildings, blocks and streets built before the modernism and functionalism movements took off in Sweden (around 1930–35) survived this era of demolition. Throughout the century, many industries shifted away from industrial activities into more high-tech and service industry areas.

Stockholm's metropolitan area is one of the fastest-growing regions in Europe, and its population is expected to number 2.5 million by 2024. In 2020 alone, Stockholm's population increased by 1,477.^[34] As a result of this massive population growth, there has been a proposal to build densely packed high-rise buildings in the city centre connected by elevated walkways.^[35]

Geography

Stockholm is located on Sweden's east coast, where the freshwater

Positioned at the eastern end of the Central Swedish lowland, the city's location reflects the early orientation of Swedish trade toward the Baltic region.^[36]

Stockholm belongs to the Temperate deciduous forest biome, which means the climate is very similar to that of the far northeastern area of the United States and coastal Nova Scotia in Canada. The average annual temperature is 7.9 °C (46 °F). The average rainfall is 531 mm (21 in) per year. The deciduous forest has four distinct seasons, spring, summer, autumn, and winter. In the autumn the leaves change color. During the winter months, the trees lose their leaves.

For details about the other municipalities in the Stockholm area, see the pertinent articles. North of Stockholm Municipality: Järfälla, Solna, Täby, Sollentuna, Lidingö, Upplands Väsby, Österåker, Sigtuna, Sundbyberg, Danderyd, Vallentuna, Ekerö, Upplands-Bro, Vaxholm, and Norrtälje. South of Stockholm: Huddinge, Nacka, Botkyrka, Haninge, Tyresö, Värmdö, Södertälje, Salem, Nykvarn and Nynäshamn.

Stockholm Municipality

Stockholm Municipality is an administrative unit defined by geographical borders. The semi-official name for the municipality is City of Stockholm (Stockholms stad in Swedish).^[37] As a municipality, the City of Stockholm is subdivided into district councils, which carry responsibility for primary schools, social, leisure and cultural services within their respective areas. The municipality is usually described in terms of its three main parts: Innerstaden (Stockholm City Centre), Söderort (Southern Stockholm) and Västerort (Western Stockholm). The districts of these parts are:

Stockholm City Centre

Söderort

Västerort

The modern centre

Stockholm has a humid continental climate in the 0 °C isotherm (Köppen: Dfb)^[39][40] and an oceanic climate (Cfb) in the -3 °C isotherm. Although winters are cold, average temperatures generally remain above 0 °C for much of the year. Summers are pleasantly warm, and precipitation occurs throughout the year.^[41]

Due to the city's high northerly latitude, the length of the day varies widely from more than 18 hours around midsummer to only around 6 hours in late December. The nights from late May until mid-July are bright even when cloudy. Stockholm has relatively mild weather compared to other locations at a similar latitude, or even farther south. With an average of 1900 hours of sunshine per year, it is also one of the sunniest cities in Northern Europe, receiving more sunshine than Paris, London and a few other major European cities of a more southerly latitude. Because of the urban heat island effect and the prevailing wind travelling overland rather than sea during summer months, Stockholm has the warmest July months of the Nordic capitals. Stockholm has an annual average snow cover between 75 and 100 days.^[42]

Despite its mild climate, Stockholm is located further north than parts of Canada that are above the Arctic tree line at sea level.^[43]

Summers average daytime high temperatures of 20–25 °C (68–77 °F) and lows of around 13 °C (55 °F), but temperatures can reach 30 °C (86 °F) on some days. Days above 30 °C (86 °F) occur on average 1.55 days per year (1992–2011).^[44] Days between 25 °C (77 °F) and 30 °C (86 °F) are relatively common especially in July and August. Night-time lows of above 20 °C (68 °F) are rare, and hot summer nights vary from 17 to 18 °C (63 to 64 °F). Winters generally bring cloudy weather with the most precipitation falling in December and January (as either rain or snow). The average winter temperatures range from −3 to −1 °C (27 to 30 °F), and occasionally drop below −20 °C (−4 °F) in the outskirts of the city. Spring and autumn are generally cool to mild.

The climate table below presents weather data from the years 1991–2020. According to ongoing measurements, the temperature has increased during the years 1991–2020 as compared with the last series, from 1961 to 1990. This increase averages about 1.0 °C (1.8 °F) over all months. Warming is most pronounced during the winter months, with an increase of more than 2.0 °C (3.6 °F) in January.^[45] For the 2002–2014 measurements some further increases have been found, although some months such as June have been relatively flat.

The highest temperature ever recorded in Stockholm was 36 °C (97 °F) on 3 July 1811; the lowest was −32 °C (−26 °F) on 20 January 1814.^[46] The temperature has not dropped to below −25.1 °C (−13.2 °F) since 10 January 1987.^[47][48]

The warmest month ever recorded was July 2018 with a mean temperature of 22.5 °C (72.5 °F) which is also the nationwide record.

Annual precipitation is 546.4 mm (21.51 in) with around 170 wet days and light to moderate rainfall throughout the year. The precipitation is not uniformly distributed throughout the year. The second half of the year receives 50% more than the first half. Snowfall occurs mainly from December through March. Snowfall may occasionally occur in late October as well as in April.

In Stockholm, the

Daylight hours

Stockholm's location just south of the 60th parallel north means that the number of daylight hours is relatively small during winter – about six hours – while in June and the first half of July, the nights are relatively short, with about 18 hours of daylight. Around the

The Stockholm

The elected majority has a Mayor and eight Vice Mayors. The Mayor and each majority Vice Mayor is the head of a department, with responsibility for a particular area of operation, such as City Planning. The opposition also has four Vice Mayors, but they hold no executive power. Together the Mayor and the 12 Vice Mayors form the Council of Mayors, and they prepare matters for the City Executive Board. The Mayor holds a special position among the Vice Mayors, chairing both the Council of Mayors and the City Executive Board.[57]

The City Executive Board (Swedish: Kommunstyrelsen) is elected by the City Council and is equivalent to a cabinet. The City Executive Board renders an opinion in all matters decided by the council and bears the overall responsibility for follow-up, evaluation and execution of its decisions. The Board is also responsible for financial administration and long-term development. The City Executive Board consists of 13 members, who represent both the majority and the opposition. Its meetings are not open to the public.^[57]

Following the

The vast majority of Stockholm residents work in the service industry, which accounts for roughly 85% of jobs in Stockholm. The almost total absence of heavy industry (and fossil fuel power plants) makes Stockholm one of the world's cleanest metropolises. The last decade has seen a significant number of jobs created in high technology companies. Large employers include IBM, Ericsson, and Electrolux. A major IT centre is located in Kista, in northern Stockholm.

Stockholm is Sweden's financial centre. Major Swedish banks, such as

The largest companies in Stockholm, by number of employees (2017):[60]

Fibre-optic network

In 1994, the city-owned company Stokab [sv] started to build a fibre-optic network throughout the municipality as a level playing field for all operators. Around a decade later, the network was 1.2 million kilometres (0.7 million miles) long, making it the longest optical fibre network in the world and as of 2011 has over 90 operators and 450 enterprises as customers. 2011 was the final year of a three-year project which brought fibre to 100% of public housing, meaning an extra 95,000 houses were added. (City of Stockholm, 2011)^{[importance?]}

Education

Research and higher education in the sciences started in Stockholm in the 18th century, with education in medicine and various research institutions such as the Stockholm Observatory. The medical education was eventually formalized in 1811 as Karolinska Institutet. KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Swedish: Kungliga Tekniska högskolan) was founded in 1827 and is Scandinavia's largest higher education institute of technology with 13,000 students. Stockholm University, founded in 1878 with university status granted in 1960, has 52,000 students as of 2008^[update]. It also incorporates historical institutions, such as the Observatory, the Swedish Museum of Natural History, and the botanical garden Bergianska trädgården. The Stockholm School of Economics, founded in 1909, is one of the few private institutions of higher education in Sweden.

In the

The

Other institutes of higher education are:

• Military Academy Karlberg, the world's oldest military academy to remain in its original location, inaugurated in 1792 and housed in Karlberg Palace.
• Ersta Sköndal University College
• University College Stockholm (Enskilda Högskolan Stockholm)
• Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences
• Swedish Defence University

The biggest complaints from students of higher education in Stockholm are the lack of student accommodations, the difficulty in finding other accommodations and the high rent.^[61][62]

Demographics

The Stockholm region is home to around 22% of Sweden's total population, and accounts for about 29% of its gross domestic product.^[63] The geographical notion of "Stockholm" has changed over time. By the turn of the 19th century, Stockholm largely consisted of the area today known as City Centre, roughly 35 km² (14 sq mi) or one-fifth of the current municipal area. In the ensuing decades several other areas were incorporated (such as Brännkyrka Municipality in 1913, at which time it had 25,000 inhabitants, and Spånga in 1949). The municipal border was established in 1971; with the exception of Hansta, in 1982 purchased by Stockholm Municipality from Sollentuna Municipality and today a nature reserve.^[64]

Population by country of birth (2021)[65]
Country	Population
Total residents	978,770
Sweden	726,020
Foreign-born	252,750 (25.8%)
Iraq	16,004
Finland	15,289
Iran	12,557
Poland	11,613
Yugoslavia	10,066
India	8,659
Somalia	8,447
Turkey	7,743
Syria	7,193
China	6,892
Eritrea	6,577
United Kingdom	6,035
Germany	5,388
Ethiopia	5,253
United States	5,232
Chile	5,204
Afghanistan	4,898
Greece	4,867
Russia	4,151
Thailand	4,052

The population was 975,551 in 2020 and is projected to reach 1,079,213 by 2030. Of the inhabitants, 482,982 were men and 492,569 women. The average age is 39 years; 40.1% of the population is between 20 and 44 years. The marimonial statistics are that 411,273 people, or 42.2% of the population, over the age 15 were unmarried; 268,291 people, or 27.5% of the population, were married; and 104,099 or 10.7% of the population, had been married but divorced.^[66]

As of December 2021, there were 252,750 foreign-born people in Stockholm, making up 25.8% of the population. Around 57.5% of them (143,167) immigrated to Sweden when they were at least 10 years old, and 109,213 (43.9%) of them were foreign citizens. The largest nationality groups among the foreign-born people were the Iraqis (16,137), followed by Finns (15,693), Iranians (12,329) and Poles (11,569). Of the population, 336,275 residents (34.4%) of Stockholm had a foreign-background.^[67]

Residents of Stockholm are known as Stockholmers ("stockholmare"). Languages spoken in Greater Stockholm outside of Swedish include Finnish, one of the official minority languages of Sweden; and English, as well as Albanian, Bosnian, Syriac, Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish, Persian, Somali, Dutch, Spanish, Serbian and Croatian.

Stockholm has been home to a significant

Stockholm urban area municipalities Municipality Population (Year) Stockholm 987,661 (2023)  Botkyrka 95,617 (2023)  Danderyd 32,655 (2023)  Haninge 98,882 (2023)  Huddinge 114,379 (2023)  Järfälla 86,062 (2023)  Nacka 110,434 (2023)  Sollentuna 76,665 (2023)  Solna 85,274 (2023)  Sundbyberg 55,102 (2023)  Tyresö 49,376 (2023)

Religion

The Swedish church consists of 27 parishes in Stockholm with almost 50 churches, but also a large number of churches belonging to the free church.

Stockholm has six mosques.^[74]

There are three active synagogues and a community of 4,300 members in Stockholm, which corresponds to 0.4% of Stockholm's population.^[75] It is the largest Jewish community in Scandinavia.

Culture

Apart from being Sweden's capital, Stockholm houses many national cultural institutions. The Stockholm region is home to three of Sweden's World Heritage Sites – spots judged as invaluable places that belong to all of humanity: The Drottningholm Palace, Skogskyrkogården (The Woodland Cemetery) and Birka.^[29][76][77] In 1998, Stockholm was named European Capital of Culture.

Literature

Authors connected to Stockholm include the poet and songwriter Carl Michael Bellman (1740–1795), novelist and dramatist August Strindberg (1849–1912), and novelist Hjalmar Söderberg (1869–1941), all of whom made Stockholm part of their works.

Martin Beck is a fictional Swedish police detective from Stockholm, who is the main character in a series of 10 novels by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, collectively titled The Story of a Crime, and often based in Stockholm.

Other authors with notable heritage in Stockholm were the Nobel Prize laureate Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976) and the popular poet and composer Evert Taube (1890–1976). The novelist Per Anders Fogelström (1917–1998) wrote a popular series of historical novels depicting life in Stockholm from the mid-18th to the mid-20th century.

Astrid Lindgren lived and worked in Stockholm. Her work Karlson on the Roof is situated close to where she lived in Vasastan, near Vasaparken.

Architecture

The city's oldest section is Gamla stan (Old Town), located on the original small islands of the city's earliest settlements and still featuring the

As early as the 15th century, the city had expanded outside of its original borders. Some pre-industrial, small-scale buildings from this era can still be found in Södermalm. Norrmalm, now the central part of the shopping district of Stockholm, was originally a separate city but was incorporated in Stockholm (now Old Town) during the early 17th century.

Stockholm has had a tradition of applying for building permits in order to erect a building from the early 18th century, with the oldest building permit from 1713. The building permit application tradition is still ongoing; as a consequence, it is possible to trace the continuous history of a newly built house three centuries into the past. Today the Stockholm City Building committee is in charge of the building permit process and their old archive, from 1713-1978, is maintained by Stockholm City Archives. All drawings of old buildings from 1713-1874 are digitized and available through the website of Stockholms City Archives.

At the age of industrialization and at the end of the 19th century and Stockholm grew rapidly, with plans and architecture inspired by the large cities of the continent such as Berlin and Vienna. Notable works of this time period include public buildings such as the Royal Swedish Opera and private developments such as the luxury housing developments on Strandvägen.

In the 20th century, a nationalistic push spurred a new architectural style inspired by medieval and renaissance ancestry as well as influences of the Jugend/Art Nouveau style. A key landmark of Stockholm, the Stockholm City Hall, was erected 1911–1923 by architect Ragnar Östberg. Other notable works of these times are the Stockholm Public Library by Gunnar Asplund and the World Heritage Site Skogskyrkogården by Asplund and celebrated architect Sigurd Lewerentz.^[77]

In the 1930s modernism characterized the development of the city as it grew. New residential areas sprang up such as the development on

.

In the 1980s, the planning ideas of modernism were starting to be questioned, resulting in suburbs with denser planning, such as Skarpnäck. In the 1990s this idea was taken further with the development of an old industrial area close to the inner city, resulting in a sort of mix of modernistic and urban planning^{[clarification needed]} in the new area of Hammarby Sjöstad.

The municipality appointed an official "board of beauty" called "Skönhetsrådet" in 1919 to protect and preserve the beauty of the city, still an active part of the city planning, and architecture debate in the city.^[78]

Stockholm's architecture (along with Visby, Gotland^[79]) provided the inspiration for Japanese anime director Hayao Miyazaki as he sought to evoke an idealized city untouched by World War. His creation called Koriko, draws directly from what Miyazaki felt was Stockholm's sense of well-established architectural unity, vibrancy, independence, and safety.^[80]

Museums

Main article: List of museums in Stockholm

Stockholm is one of the most crowded museum-cities in the world with around 100 museums, visited by millions of people every year.^[81]

The Vasa Museum (Swedish: Vasamuseet) is a maritime museum on Djurgården which displays the only almost fully intact 17th century ship that has ever been salvaged, the 64-gun warship Vasa that sank on her maiden voyage in 1628.

The

Antoine Watteau, as well as constituting a main part of Sweden's art heritage, manifested in the works of Alexander Roslin, Anders Zorn, Johan Tobias Sergel, Carl Larsson, Carl Fredrik Hill and Ernst Josephson. From the year 2013 to 2018 the museum was closed due to a restoration of the building.^[82]

Moderna Museet (Museum of Modern Art) is Sweden's national museum of modern art. It has works by noted modern artists such as Picasso and Salvador Dalí.

Skansen (in English: the Sconce) is a combined open-air museum and zoo, located on the island of Djurgården. It was founded in 1891 by Artur Hazelius (1833–1901) to show the way of life in the different parts of Sweden before the industrial era.

Other notable museums (in alphabetical order):

• ABBA: The Museum, an interactive exhibit about the pop-group ABBA
• Swedish Army Museum, Swedish history, from 1500 to the present day with historical objects and realistic scenes
• Fotografiska, museum of photography
• Birka, The Viking City of Birka Swedish sites on the World Heritage List
• Livrustkammaren, the royal armoury, located at Stockholm Palace
• Maritime Museum (Stockholm), museum for naval history, merchant shipping and shipbuilding.
• Medelhavsmuseet, focused on the ancient cultures around the Mediterranean
• Millesgården, home of the sculptor Carl Milles and now a museum of his works
• Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities
  , exciting mix of art and culture from China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia
• Swedish National Museum of Science and Technology
• Nobel Museum, devoted to the Nobel Prize, Nobel laureates, and the founder of the prize, Alfred Nobel
  (1833–1896)
• Nordic Museum, dedicated to the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden
• Royal Coin Cabinet, dedicated to the history of money and economic history
  in general
• Skansen, The world’s first open-air museum with 150 historic buildings, zoo with Nordic wild and domestic animals
• Stockholm City Museum
• Swedish History Museum magnificent medieval art and The History of Sweden exhibition which offers encounters
• Swedish Museum of Natural History
• Toy Museum Stockholm a museum of toys and collectables

Art galleries

Stockholm has a vibrant art scene with a number of internationally recognized art centres and commercial galleries. Amongst others, privately sponsored initiatives such as Bonniers Konsthall, Magasin 3, and state-supported institutions such as Tensta Konsthall and Index all show leading international and national artists. In the last few years, a gallery district has emerged around Hudiksvallsgatan where leading galleries such as Andréhn-Schiptjenko, Brändström & Stene have located. Other important commercial galleries include Nordenhake, Milliken Gallery and Galleri Magnus Karlsson.

The City of Stockholm also has their own art gallery and museum, Liljevalchs konsthall, with a well visited spring salon every year with works of art from professionals and amateurs. The art showed every spring is sent in anonymously and picked by a committee.

Suburbs

The Stockholm suburbs are places with diverse cultural background. Some areas in the inner suburbs, including those of Skärholmen, Tensta, Jordbro, Fittja, Husby, Brandbergen, Rinkeby, Rissne, Kista, Hagsätra, Hässelby, Farsta, Rågsved, Flemingsberg, and the outer suburb of Södertälje, have high percentages of immigrants or second generation immigrants. These mainly come from the Middle East (Assyrians, Syriacs, Turks and Kurds) also Bosnians and Serbs, but there are also immigrants from Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America.^[83][84] Other parts of the inner suburbs, such as Täby, Danderyd, Lidingö, Solna, Nacka and, as well as some of the suburbs mentioned above, have a majority of ethnic Swedes.

Theatre and music

Distinguished among Stockholm's many theatres are the Royal Dramatic Theatre (Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern), one of Europe's most renowned theatres, and the Royal Swedish Opera, inaugurated in 1773.

Other notable theatres are the Stockholm City Theatre (Stockholms stadsteater), the Peoples Opera (Folkoperan), the Modern Theatre of Dance (Moderna dansteatern), the China Theatre, the Göta Lejon Theatre, the Mosebacke Theatre, and the Oscar Theatre.

Premises for orchestral music and concerts include Stockholm Concert Hall where for example the yearly awarding ceremony for the Nobel prize is held, and The Berwald hall, home to the National Radio Orchestra.

Influential rappers Yung Lean and Bladee were born in and are currently based in Stockholm along with British-Swedish experimental artist & designer Ecco2K.

Stockholm has hosted the

Globe Arena.^[85][86][87]

Amusement park

Gröna Lund is an amusement park located on the island of Djurgården. This amusement park has over 30 attractions and many restaurants. It is a popular tourist attraction and visited by thousands of people every day. It is open from the end of April to the middle of September. Gröna Lund also serves as a concert venue.

Media

Stockholm is the media centre of Sweden. It has four nationwide daily newspapers and is also the central location of the publicly funded radio (

Mojang

is headquartered there.

Sports

See also: Football in Stockholm

The most popular spectator sports are

2017 UEFA Europa League Final

was played on 24 May between AFC Ajax and Manchester United at the Friends Arena. Manchester United won the trophy after a 2–0 victory.

Djurgårdens IF and Hammarby play at Tele2 Arena in Johanneshov, with a capacity of 30,000 spectators.

All three clubs are multi-sport clubs, which have ice hockey teams; AIK and Djurgårdens IF play in the second tier and Hammarby in the third tier, as well as teams in bandy, basketball, floorball and other sports, including individual sports.

Historically, the city was the host of the 1912 Summer Olympics. From those days stem the Stockholms Olympiastadion which has since hosted numerous sports events, notably football and athletics. Other major sports arenas are Friends Arena, the new national football stadium, Avicii Arena (colloquially called Globen), a multi-sport arena and one of the largest spherical buildings in the world and the nearby indoor arena Hovet.

Besides the 1912 Summer Olympics, Stockholm hosted the 1956 Summer Olympics Equestrian Games and the UEFA Euro 1992. The city was also second runner up in the 2004 Summer Olympics bids. Stockholm hosted the 1958 FIFA World Cup. Stockholm recently bid jointly with Åre for the 2026 Winter Olympics but lost out to the joint bid of Milan/Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, if awarded it would have been the second city to host both Summer and Winter Olympics after Beijing and for the 2026 Winter Paralympics and with Åre it would have also be to host all three winter event including Winter Olympic Games, Winter Paralympic Games and the Special Olympics World Winter Games in which Åre would have host in 2021 along with Östersund, however Sweden pulled out host the Special Olympic World Winter Games 2021 due to lack of funding instead it moved to Kazan, Russia and was delayed to 2022. Stockholm first bid for the Winter Olympics for 2022 Winter Olympics, but withdrew its bid in 2014 due to financial matters.

Stockholm also hosted all but one of the Nordic Games, a winter multi-sport event that predated the Winter Olympics.

In 2015, the Stockholms Kungar Rugby league club was formed. They are Stockholm's first Rugby league team and will play in Sweden's National Rugby league championship.

Every year Stockholm is host to the ÖTILLÖ Swimrun World Championship.^[88]

Stockholm has hosted the

ATP World Tour 250 series professional tennis tournament annually since 1969. Each year since 1995, the tournament has been hosted at the Kungliga tennishallen.^[89]

Cuisine

Dating back to at least the 1350s,

entertainer Carl Michael Bellman was a frequent visitor to the city's taverns, inns and wine cellars. In his poems, Bellman mentioned 113 taverns and inns in and around Stockholm, 30 of which were located in the Gamla Stan.^[91]

In 2016, there were 3,315 pubs, cafes and restaurants in the municipality of Stockholm.^[92] Among the most famous and acclaimed is the restaurant Operakällaren.

In Stockholm and its surroundings, only two historic

eateries remain operating in unbroken succession and in the same location: Stallmästaregården in Solna, dating back to the mid-17th century, and Den Gyldene Freden in Gamla stan, located at the same address

since 1722. "Freden" may thus be the world's oldest continuously existing city pub in the same location.

Yearly events and festivals

• Stockholm Jazz Festival is one of Sweden's oldest festivals. The festival takes place at Skeppsholmen in July.^[93]
• Stockholm Early Music Festival, the largest international event for historical music in the Nordic countries. First week in June since 2002.^[94]
• The Stockholm Culture Festival (Swedish: Stockholms kulturfestival) is a free recurring cultural festival in August, which is held by the City of Stockholm. Runs in parallel with We Are Stockholm.^[95]
• We Are Stockholm is a free youth festival people between 13 and 19 years. Runs in parallel with the Stockholm Culture Festival in August and is held by the City of Stockholm. Between 2001–2013, the festival went by the name Ung08.
• LGBT Pride
  event in the Nordic countries and takes place in the last week of July every year. The Stockholm Pride festival always ends with a parade and in 2007, 50,000 people marched with the parade and about 500,000 watched.
• The Stockholm Marathon takes place on a Saturday in early June each year.
• The Nobel Banquet takes place at Stockholm City Hall every year on 10 December.
• The Stockholm Water Festival (Swedish: Vattenfestivalen) was a popular summer festival held annually in Stockholm between 1991 and 1999.
• Manifestation, a yearly ecumenical Christian festival with up to 25,000 participants.
• Summerburst Music festival
• The Stockholm International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Stockholm each year since 1990.

Environment

Green city with a national urban park

Stockholm is one of the cleanest capitals in the world.^[96] The city was granted the 2010 European Green Capital Award by the EU Commission; this was Europe's first "green capital".^[97] Applicant cities were evaluated in several ways: climate change, local transport, public green areas, air quality, noise, waste, water consumption, waste water treatment, sustainable utilisation of land, biodiversity and environmental management.^[98] Out of 35 participant cities, eight finalists were chosen: Stockholm, Amsterdam, Bristol, Copenhagen, Freiburg, Hamburg, Münster, and Oslo.^[99] Some of the reasons why Stockholm won the 2010 European Green Capital Award were: its integrated administrative system, which ensures that environmental aspects are considered in budgets, operational planning, reporting, and monitoring; its cut in carbon dioxide emissions by 25% per capita in ten years; and its decision towards being fossil fuel free by 2050.^[98] Stockholm has long demonstrated concern for the environment. The city's environmental program is the fifth since the first one was established in the mid-1970s.^[100] In 2011, Stockholm passed the title of European Green Capital to Hamburg, Germany.^[99]

Role model

At the beginning of 2010, Stockholm launched the program Professional Study Visits^[101] in order to share the city's green best practices. The program provides visitors with the opportunity to learn how to address issues such as waste management, urban planning, carbon dioxide emissions, and sustainable and efficient transportation system, among others.^[97]

According to the European Cities Monitor 2010,^[102] Stockholm is the best city in terms of freedom from pollution. Surrounded by 219 nature reserves, Stockholm has around 1,000 green spaces, which corresponds to 30% of the city's area.^[103] Founded in 1995, the Royal National City Park is the world's first legally protected "national urban park".^[104][105] For a description of the formation process, value assets and implementation of the legal protection of The Royal National Urban Park, see Schantz 2006 The water in Stockholm is so clean that people can dive and fish in the centre of the city.^[103] The waters of downtown Stockholm serve as spawning grounds for multiple fish species including trout and salmon, though human intervention is needed to keep populations up.^[106] Regarding CO₂ emissions, the government's target is that Stockholm will be CO₂ free before 2050.^[103]

Air quality

Stockholm used to have problematic levels of particulates (PM10) due to studded winter tires, but by the 2010s they were below limits, after street-specific bans.^[107] Nitrogen oxides emitted by diesel vehicles were a problem in the 2010s, but by 2021 they were again below limits, after electric cars had started to replace diesel-driven ones, and pollution regulations for lorries had tightened. As of 2021, the pollutant that exceeds limits is ozone, due to global pollution. In 2021 the average levels for urban background (roof of Torkel Knutssonsgatan on Södermalm) were: NO₂ 9.7 μg/m³, PM10 9.5 μg/m³, PM2.5 5.1 μg/m³, soot 0.36 μg/m³, ultrafine particles 6100/cm³, SO₂ 0.4 μg/m³, ozone 53 μg/m³. For urban street level (the densely trafficked Hornsgatan on Södermalm) the average levels were: NO₂ 23 μg/m³, PM10 17 μg/m³, PM2.5 6.0 μg/m³, soot 0.55 μg/m³.^[108]

Transport

Main article: Transport in Stockholm

Public transportation

C20 metrotrain departing from the Gamla stan station

Stockholm has an extensive

Stockholm County Council. Since the 1990s, the operation and maintenance of the SL public transport services are contracted out to independent companies bidding for contracts, such as MTR, which operate the Metro. The archipelago boat traffic is handled by Waxholmsbolaget

, which is also wholly owned by the County Council.

A34 tram on line 7 at Djurgårdsbron

SL has a common ticket system in the entire Stockholm County, which allows for easy travel between different modes of transport. The tickets are of two main types, single ticket and

travel cards, both allowing for unlimited travel with SL in the entire Stockholm County for the duration of the ticket validity. On 1 April 2007, a zone system (A, B, C) and price system was introduced. Single tickets were available in forms of cash ticket, individual unit pre-paid tickets, pre-paid ticket slips of 8, SMS-ticket and machine ticket. Cash tickets bought at the point of travel were the most expensive and pre-paid tickets slips of 8 are the cheapest. A single ticket costs SEK 32 with the card and SEK 45 without and is valid for 75 minutes. The duration of the travel card validity depended on the exact type; they were available from 24 hours up to a year. As of 2018, a 30-day card costs SEK 860. Tickets of all these types were available with reduced prices for students and persons under 20 and over 65 years of age. On 9 January 2017, the zone system was removed, and the cost of the tickets was increased.^[109]

The City Line Project

Main article: Stockholm City Line

With an estimated cost of SEK 16.8 billion (January 2007 price level), which equals 2.44 billion US dollars, the City Line, an environmentally certified project, comprises a 6 km (3.7 mi)-long commuter train tunnel (in rock and water) beneath Stockholm, with two new stations (Stockholm City and Stockholm Odenplan), and a 1.4 km (0.87 mi)-long railway bridge at Årsta. The City Line was built by the Swedish Transport Administration in co-operation with the City of Stockholm, Stockholm County Council, and Stockholm Transport, SL. As Stockholm Central Station is overloaded, the purpose of this project was to double the city's track capacity and improve service efficiency. Operations began in July 2017.^[110][111]

Between Riddarholmen and Söder Mälarstrand, the City Line runs through a submerged concrete tunnel.^[110] As a green project, the City Line includes the purification of waste water; noise reduction through sound-attenuating tracks; the use of synthetic diesel, which provides users with clean air; and the recycling of excavated rocks.^[110]

Roads

Stockholm is at the junction of the European routes E4, E18 and E20. A half-completed motorway ring road exists on the south, west and north sides of the City Centre. The northern section of the ring road, Norra Länken, opened for traffic in 2015 while the final subsea eastern section is being discussed as a future project. A bypass motorway for traffic between Northern and Southern Sweden, Förbifart Stockholm, is being built. The many islands and waterways make extensions of the road system both complicated and expensive, and new motorways are often built as systems of tunnels and bridges.

Congestion charges

Main article: Stockholm congestion tax

Stockholm has a

automatic number plate recognition. All vehicles entering or exiting the congestion tax affected area, with a few exceptions, have to pay 10–20 SEK (1.09–2.18 EUR, 1.49–2.98 USD) depending on the time of day between 06:30 and 18:29. The maximum tax amount per vehicle per day is SEK 60 (EUR 6.53).^[116] Payment is done by various means within 14 days after one has passed one of the control points; one cannot pay at the control points.^[117]

After the trial period was over, consultative referendums were held in Stockholm Municipality and several other municipalities in Stockholm County. The then-reigning government (

Reinfeldt Cabinet

) they announced that the congestion tax would be reintroduced in Stockholm, but that the revenue would go entirely to road construction in and around Stockholm. During the trial period and according to the agenda of the previous government the revenue went entirely to public transport.

Ferries

Stockholm has regular ferry lines to

Stockholm archipelago is served by the archipelago boats of Waxholmsbolaget

(owned and subsidized by Stockholm County Council). Additionally, there are many for-profit private companies offering tours and regular service in the archipelago.

City bikes

Between April and October, during the warmer months, it is possible to rent Stockholm City Bikes by purchasing a bike card online or through retailers.^[118] Cards allow users to rent bikes from any Stockholm City Bikes stand spread across the city and return them in any stand.^[119] There are two types of cards: the Season Card (valid from 1 April to 31 October) and the 3-day card. When their validity runs out they can be reactivated and are therefore reusable.^[120] Bikes can be used for up to three hours per loan and can be rented from Monday to Sunday from 6 am to 10 pm.^[119] These bikes have unfortunatley not been a huge success because of people throwing them into the water or destroying them. Although the city bikes are not the only victims of this, e-scooters get similar treatment.

Airports

VST

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Map showing the locations of airports around Stockholm