Lidingö Municipality
Lidingö Municipality, is a Swedish municipality just east of Stockholm in southeast central Sweden and a part of the Stockholm metropolitan area. It is chiefly located on the island Lidingö, but also incorporates few smaller islands in the surroundings, most notably the islets Fjäderholmarna within the Stockholm archipelago.
Geography
The island Lidingö is connected to the city of Stockholm by two bridges. One is for cars and one for the Lidingöbanan suburban tramway and pedestrians. The bridges lead directly to Ropsten, a station of the Stockholm Metro.
Lidingö is for statistical purposes divided into the three localities Lidingö, Brevik and Sticklinge Udde. Because of the strait separating the island Lidingö from central Stockholm Lidingö statiscally is not counted as a part of the contigous Stockholm urban area.
History
Lidingö traces its history to at least 600 BC, from when remains have been found. According to legend, Lidingö was a place where the Vikings would gather before setting sails to eastern areas. Therefore when the city arms was to be chosen in 1928 a Viking ship became the motif, in the colors of the Swedish flag.
Industry
The island itself hosts very few industries, a relatively well-known one being AGA AB, which established production on the island in 1912. Much of the populated land area is built with one-family houses; a total of 36% of the population, or 7 020 people (2006), live in such houses [1] and, to a large extent, commute to work in Stockholm or other municipalities of Greater Stockholm.
There are also quite a number conference mansions in the northern parts of the island, providing a part of the industry of Lidingö.
Lidingö is one of the wealthiest municipalities in Sweden.
The members of the famous Swedish pop group ABBA used to reside on Lidingo.
Politics
The island's politics has traditionally been dominated by the centre-right Moderate Party. They currently run the municipality in coalition with the Liberal People's Party.
Chairman of the municipal executive board is Paul Lindquist from the Moderate Party.
Election results
| Election results 2006 | |
|---|---|
| Moderate Party | 43,24% |
| Liberal People's Party | 13,31% |
| Social Democrats | 12,97% |
| Lidingö Party | 12,06% |
| Centre Party | 6,14% |
| Christian Democrats | 4,66% |
| Green Party | 4,00% |
| Left Party | 2,77% |
Sister cities
In 1942, Lidingö created a committee to provide support for the people in Lojo in the southern part of Finland who suffered badly during World War II. An orphanage was opened in Lidingö and money was collected and sent to Lojo. The orphanage was closed in 1943 as most of the children then had returned to Finland. The money that was left over was used to provide food for the children in Lojo. Lidingö and Lojo still maintain a close relationship.
Another sister city is Alameda, California. The initiatve came from Alameda in 1959 and was part of President Eisenhower's people-to-people-movement. The purpose was to develop better understanding between people from different countries after World War II. Both Alameda and Lidingö are islands with a bridge connecting them to a big city.
As the Baltic states were liberated from the Soviet Union in 1990-91, Lidingö looked for a new sister city in the area. Saldus in Latvia was selected. During the years, a number of environmental, cultural and other projects have been accomplished.
References
- Much fact has been incorporated from the corresponding article on Swedish wikipedia
See also
External links
- Lidingö - Official site
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