Over the next decade, most of the world’s population will live in cities, spaces of urban development that provide a core of centralized services expected by city-dwellers including but not limited to efficient and affordable public transportation, high-tech service options, diverse meeting spaces for social engagement, etc. By all accounts, as the Arctic becomes more industrialized and as populations from the global South migrate northwards and as Northerners themselves choose to live in central regions in the High North, the Arctic will also experience such dramatic shifts in population growth and development.
(Yakutsk City, Winter 2015 (Photo: Espiritu)
Thus, the next decade will mean exciting transformations and deep challenges for Arctic cities:
- how will municipalities provide jobs for increased populations?;
- how will they provide services for multicultural newcomers who may demand other cultural and religious provisions within a metropolitan framework?;
- how will cities answer citizens’ demands for sustainability, environmentally responsible practices, and energy efficiency even in the midst of growing resource extractive industries in Arctic regions?
- What are the strategies of cities to diversify economies to promote entrepreneurship and innovation in order to attract and keep people dedicated to the development and success of the cities in which they live?
- How do mayors intend to make their cities attractive for both residents and visitors alike in order for communities, economies, and polities to thrive sustainably?
The 2015 Thorvald Stoltenberg Conference on Arctic Urban Sustainability in Russia -- in comparative perspective attempts to answer these central questions facing the Arctic and the High North. The proceedings of this conference are the results of the NORRUS Norwegian Research Council project ARCSUS Arctic Urban Sustainabiliby in Russia 2012-2015.
Starter: 24.09.15 kl 00.00
Slutter: 26.09.15 kl 00.00
Slutter: 26.09.15 kl 00.00
Hvor: The Barents House and Thon Hotel, Kirkenes
Sted: Kirkenes
Målgruppe: alle
E-post: aileen.a.espiritu@uit.no
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