Gothenburg Municipality (''Göteborgs kommun'' or ''Göteborgs stad'') is a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
in
Västra Götaland County
Västra Götaland County ( sv, Västra Götalands län) is a county or '' län'' on the western coast of Sweden.
The county is the second most populous of Sweden's counties and it comprises 49 municipalities (''kommuner''). Its population of 1 ...
in western
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. Its seat is located in the
city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
of
Gothenburg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
.
When the first Swedish local government acts were implemented in 1863 the City of Gothenburg, founded and chartered in 1621, became a
city municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
with an elected
city council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...
(''stadsfullmäktige''). Its territory has since then been added through
amalgamations in 1868, 1906, 1922, 1931, 1945, 1948, 1967 and 1974. The local government reform of 1971 made the city a unitary municipality, like all others in the country. The municipality prefers, however, to style itself ''Göteborgs stad'' (''City of Göteborg''), whenever legally possible.
In March 2018 it was reported that the municipality and municipality-owned companies had 236 employees working with public relations (Swedish: kommunikation), more than Stockholm, to a cost of 400 000 SEK daily or 151 million SEK annually.
Localities
The major part of the
Gothenburg urban area
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a p ...
(''Göteborgs tätort'') is situated within the municipality, but there are also some other localities as well as rural areas.
*
Billdal
Billdal is a bimunicipal locality situated in Kungsbacka Municipality, Halland County, and Gothenburg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, in Sweden. It had 10,289 inhabitants in 2010. It mainly consists of villas and terraced houses, grouped ...
(part of)
*
Donsö
Donsö () is a small island in the Southern Göteborg Archipelago and a locality situated in Göteborg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 1,407 inhabitants in 2010. The local covenant church on Donsö has approximately 500 membe ...
*
Hjuvik
Hjuvik is a locality situated in Göteborg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 3,928 inhabitants in 2010 in an area of 279,01 hectares.
It is situated in the south west corner of Hisingen, north west of the oil refineries.
Hjuv ...
*
Nolvik
Nolvik is a locality situated in Göteborg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingd ...
*
Olofstorp
Olofstorp is a locality situated in Göteborg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It has 4,142 inhabitants (2020). There is an annual event held at the local farmyard, this event is called ''Bergumsdagen'' ("Bergum Day"). There is curre ...
*
Styrsö
Styrsö () is a small island and a locality situated in Göteborg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 1,304 inhabitants in 2010.
It lies in the Southern Göteborg Archipelago of Sweden with about 1,400 inhabitants. Regulaferries ...
*
Torslanda
Torslanda is an urban district situated in Gothenburg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 10,129 inhabitants in 2005.
Etymology
A Norse pagan place of sacrifice to the God Thor was once located here, which gave rise to the name ...
*
Vrångö
Vrångö is the southernmost inhabited island in the Southern Gothenburg Archipelago and it is also a locality situated in Gothenburg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Natio ...
Boroughs
In 1990 the municipality was subdivided into 21 ''stadsdelsnämnder'' (district boards), sometimes translated to
borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
s, which they really are not. In 2009 the two district boards of Frölunda and Högsbo were joined together. It has been decided that from the start of 2011 many more will be joined together leaving 10 new district boards.
The boards carry responsibility for
primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
, social, leisure, and cultural services within their respective areas. In the
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
of 1998 three boroughs (
Askim
Askim () is a town and a former municipality in (from January 1, 2020) Indre Østfold Kommune in the former county of Østfold county (from January 1, 2020 a part of Viken county), Norway.
The administrative centre of the Askim municipality wa ...
,
Torslanda
Torslanda is an urban district situated in Gothenburg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 10,129 inhabitants in 2005.
Etymology
A Norse pagan place of sacrifice to the God Thor was once located here, which gave rise to the name ...
and
Älvsborg) held local
referendum
A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...
s on forming their own municipalities, but their petitions were rejected by the
government of Sweden
The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden ( sv, Konungariket Sveriges regering) is the national cabinet of Sweden, and the country's executive authority.
The Government consists of the Prime Ministerappointed and dismissed by the Speaker of the ...
.
Boroughs:
Politics and government
The municipality has a municipal assembly (''
kommunfullmäktige
A municipal council ( sv, Kommunfullmäktige) is the decision-making body governing each of the 290 municipalities of Sweden. Though the Swedish Local Government Act ( sv, Kommunallagen) uses the term "municipal assembly" in an English translatio ...
''), consisting of 81 members, elected for four years. There are ten political parties represented in the council elected in 2018:
Following the
2018 municipal elections, neither traditional coalition of parties (the
Alliance
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
and the
Red-Greens) was able to obtain a majority in the municipal assembly. The newly-formed Democrats party, whose primary campaign promise is to stop the construction of the
West Link
The West Link ( sv, Västlänken) is a railway tunnel under construction under central Gothenburg. The purpose of the project is to increase capacity and reduce travel times on the Gothenburg network by changing the Gothenburg Central Station fr ...
, obtained 14 seats in the assembly, making it the second-largest party. The Green Party and the Left Party announced on 6 November that they would draft their own municipal budget together, along with Feminist Initiative - thus abandoning their traditional cooperation with the Social Democrats. This has been recognized as the three parties forming a local political alliance which has been referred to as the ''Red-green-pink coalition''.
The municipal executive committee (''kommunstyrelsen'') has 13 members, representing the six parties from the two major political coalitions who have seats in the assembly.
The chairwoman of the municipal assembly is
Åse-Lill Törnquist (MP) and the chairman of the municipal executive committee (sometimes titled
mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
) is
Axel Josefson from the Moderate Party.
List of mayors
*
Sören Mannheimer, (Social Democrats) 1985-1988
*
Göran Johansson, (Social Democrats) 1988–1991
*
Johnny Magnusson
Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females.
Variant ...
(Moderate Party), 1991–1994
*
Göran Johansson (Social Democrats), 1994–2009
*
Anneli Hulthén
Anneli Maria Hulthén (born 27 July 1960) is a Swedish politician who has been the Governor of Skåne County since August 2016. She was a Member of the Swedish parliament (the Riksdag) from 1986 until 1996, and a Member of the European Parliam ...
(Social Democrats), 2009–2016
*
Ann-Sofie Hermansson
Britt ''Ann-Sofie'' Hermansson (born 2 October 1964) is a Swedish politician of the Social Democrats. She was chairman (Mayor) of the Gothenburg Municipality executive board from 18 January 2016 to 22 november 2018.
Career Early career
Born ...
(Social Democrats), 2016–2018
*
Axel Josefson (Moderate Party), 2018–
International cooperation
*
Twin towns
A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties.
While there are early examples of inter ...
:
**
Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...
, Norway
**
Turku
Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...
, Finland
**
Aarhus
Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Ã…rhus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...
, Denmark
*Partner cities:
**
Nelson Mandela Bay
Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality ( af, Nelson Mandelabaai Metropolitaanse Munisipaliteit; xh, uMasipala wase Nelson Mandela Bay or ''uMasipala waseBhayi'') is one of eight metropolitan municipalities (also called Category A municipalities) in So ...
, South Africa
**
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
, France
The cooperation with the South African Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality (established in 1998) is a partnership fostering development of common fields of interest such as solid waste management, public libraries, sport and tourism.
Gothenburg had signed an agreement with
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
in 1986 which was upgraded in 2003 to include exchanges in culture, economics, trade and sport. However, the agreement was allowed to lapse in 2020.
*Sister cities:
**
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, United States (since 1987)
**
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
, Poland
**
Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...
, Estonia
**
Rostock
Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, c ...
, Germany
*Regional:
**
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
, Norway
See also
*
Gothenburg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
*
Gothenburg Law Court
References
External links
goteborg.se- Official site for city of Gothenburg (in
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
)
goteborg.se/english- Official web page for short English description of the content in city of Gothenburg site
international.goteborg.se- Official international site for city of Gothenburg
{{authority control
Municipalities of Västra Götaland County
Gothenburg
Articles with dead external links from July 2017