Gothenburg Municipality

Gothenburg Municipality Göteborgs kommun
—  Municipality  —
Coat of arms
Country	Sweden
County	Västra Götaland County
Seat	Gothenburg
Government
– Mayor	Anneli Hulthén (S)
Area[1]
– Total	1,029.08 km2 (397.3 sq mi)
– Land	450.71 km2 (174 sq mi)
– Water	578.37 km2 (223.3 sq mi)
	Area as of January 1, 2010.
Population (June 30, 2010)[2]
– Total	509,847
– Density	495.4/km2 (1,283.2/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
– Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code
ISO 3166 code	SE
Province	Västergötland and Bohuslän
Municipal code	1480
Website	www.goteborg.se

Börsen, Gothenburg's City Hall

Gothenburg Municipality (Göteborgs kommun or Göteborgs stad) is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Gothenburg.

The major part of the Gothenburg urban area (Göteborgs tätort) is situated within the municipality, but there are also some other localities as well as rural areas.

When the first Swedish local government acts were implemented in 1863 the City of Gothenburg, founded and chartered in 1621, became a city municipality with an elected city council (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^[3]), whenever legally possible.

Localities

• Billdal (part of)
• Brännö
• Donsö
• Gothenburg (seat)
• Hjuvik
• Nolvik
• Olofstorp
• Styrsö
• Säve
• Torslanda
• Vrångö

Politics and government

The municipality has a municipal assembly (kommunfullmäktige), consisting of 81 members, elected for four years. There are eight political parties represented in the council elected in 2010:

• Socialdemokraterna (Social Democratic Party), 25
• Moderaterna (Moderate Party), 23
• Miljöpartiet (Green Party), 9
• Folkpartiet (Liberal People's Party), 7
• Vänsterpariet (Left Party), 7
• Vägvalet, 5
• Sverigedemokraterna (Sweden Democrats), 3
• Kristdemokraterna (Christian Democrats), 2

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 chairman of the municipal assembly is Rolf Lindén and the chairman of the municipal executive committee (sometimes titled mayor) is Anneli Hulthén from the Social Democratic Party.

Boroughs

Further information: Boroughs and Districts of Gothenburg

In 1990 the municipality was subdivided into 21 stadsdelsnämnder (district boards), sometimes translated to boroughs, 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, social, leisure, and cultural services within their respective areas. In the election of 1998 three boroughs (Askim, Torslanda and Älvsborg) held local referendums on forming their own municipalities, but their petitions were rejected by the government of Sweden.

Boroughs:

Askim Angered Backa Bergsjön Biskopsgården Centrum Frölunda-Högsbo

Härlanda Kortedala Kärra-Rödbo Linnéstaden Lundby

Majorna Styrsö Torslanda Tuve-Säve Tynnered Älvsborg Örgryte

International cooperation

• Twin towns:
  • Bergen, Norway
  • Turku, Finland
  • Aarhus Municipality, Denmark

• Partner cities:
  • Shanghai, China
  • Port Elizabeth, South Africa
  • Lyon, France

The cooperation with the South African city of Port Elizabeth (established in 1998) is a partnership fostering development of common fields of interest such as solid waste management, public libraries, sport and tourism.

• Sister cities:
  • Chicago, United States (since 1987)
  • Kraków, Poland
  • Saint Petersburg, Russia
  • Tallinn, Estonia
  • Rostock, Germany

• Regional:
  • Oslo, Norway

See also

Gothenburg Law Court

References

Notes

1. ^ "Statistiska centralbyrån den 1 januari 2010" (in Swedish) (Microsoft Excel). Statistics Sweden. http://www.scb.se/Statistik/MI/MI0802/2010A01/mi0802tab3_2010.xls. Retrieved 2010-08-21. 
2. ^ "SCB, Befolkningsstatistik 30 juni 2010" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. http://www.scb.se/Pages/TableAndChart____244147.aspx. Retrieved 2010-08-19. 
3. ^ Göteborgs Stads designprogram (Swedish)

Coordinates: 57°42′N 11°56′E / 57.7°N 11.933°E / 57.7; 11.933