Every design for Umeå

Inside the Västerbotten museum a landscape of memories spreads out, from the prehistoric world to the town's own history – and that says something about what Umeå actually is: a town that tends what has been while constantly growing. On the Umeälven, some fifteen kilometres from the coast, lies Norrland's largest urban area, the residence town of Västerbotten County and a university town since 1965.

The many birches planted in the inner town after the fire of 1888 gave the place the nickname the Town of Birches, and they still mark the streets. Here you find the Museum of Women's History, the statue of Gustav II Adolf and the unexpected Guitars – details that give the town character. Since the 1980s Umeå has made a name as a cultural centre and was European Capital of Culture in 2014, with sporting successes that have made it one of the country's best sporting towns.

It is often in the small landmarks that a feeling of home lives: the birches along a familiar street, the way down to the river, a place you cycled past a thousand times. On this map you find them again – a piece of Umeå to carry with you wherever in the world you end up.