With a 400th birthday under its belt, Gothenburg is getting back to work. The plan for its fifth century? Build, build, build. Sweden’s leading port city is entering a construction boom, with €93 billion expected in investment into 2035. A new rail station in the city centre should open in late 2026, and no fewer than three innovation districts are set to expand in the coming years: Lindholmen Innovation District, focused on tech and research; GoCo Health Innovation City, focused on life sciences; and Näst Innovation Destination Torslanda, focused on mobility. Expect the already strong #39 Business Ecosystem ranking – thanks in part to the mighty presence of Volvo – to only climb higher as more global companies flock to this well-skilled city that ranks #30 in Europe for Educational Attainment.
New housing is on the docket, too, a must for a city centre that expects to double in size by 2050. The Älvstaden (literally, “River City”) development project aims to tackle shelter challenges, laying out plans to bolster the city centre housing, manage climate change, and more closely connect the city with the Göta River upon which it sits. Watch the already meteoric Green Space (#2) and Climate Risk (#3) rankings closely.