Last week I attended an event hosted by the business community and the city of Linköping (the city where I live since august 2007).

My expectations were quite low; I mean middle ages men talking about how the city shall develop, what can one expect? … but man was I wrong. Lars Hågbrandt, head of development of the city completely blew me away. The visions and the ideas that the city/council has is amazing.

Lars talked about the importance of “unexpectedness”; that people visiting Linköping has to leave the city with a feeling of “Wow, I didn’t expect that!”. It was not said out loud but to me it was obvious that to reach that the city is being treated as a brand more than acres and buildings.

Lars spoke about the flow of people in the city has to be encouraged so that people will live the city not just live there, the tempo and dynamics of the city has to be rearranged so there is no dead spots, no passive areas. There must be, as he put it, content in the city that surprises its inhabitants. Parks has to be vital so that people are encouraged to meet each other, streets and squares has to suit the behaviours and needs of the people not the cars or transportation. Also the pace and avrage speed of the inner city has to be lowered so that people will see and feel the friendlyness of the city.

The mix of culture and business, local and international, old and new. Old buildings shall, respectfully, mix with modern architecture and technology inspired by Barcelona and the Jewis museeum in San Francisco. The city must combine communications so that the airport, railway and busses are brought together into one place. The physics apperance of the city has to give the visitors be inhabitants that “wow” experience and then spreading the word about Linköping. The city has to have distinct landmarks to be sticky and stay in the minds of people.

The most striking part is that the city council has adopted a “get stuff done culture” that is more common among entreprenours than politicians.

The purpose of this “get stuff done culture” is to turn the politicians mindset from “if things happend” to “when it happends”. Because of that culture it was not all talk Lars delivered, the city has gone from “waiting” to “preparing”, from “if” to “when”. A few examples:

• - 50 acres of land are ready and standing by so when corporations decide to move to Linköping everything is prepared and the city can just say “Welcome, everything has been taken care of, just bring your stuff”.
• - Permits and paperwork has been arranged for 6000 future apartment in the city and areas surrounding Linköping.
• - Permits, electricity, sewage and water is prepared and built by the river so that floating restaurants can get running in just a few days.
• - Building a business community and making extra efforts for the small business in the city, cos thats where the initial vitality of the city is.

And above all, the people working with the city knows that God is in the detalis;

• - Get the information to the people; taxi drivers has to know the city so that they are able to give recomendation and tips to the people visiting.
• - Keep the city clean and keep everything fresh - the broken windows theory in practice
• - Implement unexpected and modern architecture in the areas facing the main roads.
• - Get the people living here proud cos they are the best marketing of all.
• - The city has an accout for “unexpected visits” meaning that the city is willing to fund any idea or event that would benefit Linköping on the sole ground that it is something that noone would expect. This has resulted in the “City beach” (a beach was built downtown by the river, sand, palms, the lot) and the “November lights” (illuminating the city) projects.

“November lights” illuminated the majority of the city, and also projected art on public walls.

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