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The three waves of Arctic urbanisation. Drivers, evolutions, prospects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2019

Marlene Laruelle Open the ORCID record for Marlene Laruelle [Opens in a new window]
Marlene Laruelle*
Affiliation:
Elliott School of International Affairs, Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, The George Washington University, 1957 E St. NW, Suite 412, Washington, DC, 20052, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Marlene Laruelle, Email: laruelle@gwu.edu
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Abstract

The 2014 Arctic Human Development Report identified “Arctic settlements, cities, and communities” as one of the main gaps in knowledge of the region. This article looks at circumpolar urbanisation trends. It dissociates three historical waves of Arctic urbanisation: from the sixteenth century to the early twentieth century (the “colonial” wave), from the 1920s to the 1980s in the specific case of the Soviet urbanisation of the Arctic (the “Soviet” wave), and from the 1960s−70s to the present as a circumpolar trend (the “globalized” wave). It then discusses the three drivers of the latest urbanisation wave (resources, militarisation, and public services) and the prospects for Arctic cities’ sustainability in the near future.

Keywords

ArcticurbanisationsustainabilityglobalisationRussia
Type
Research Article
Information
Polar Record , Volume 55 , Issue 1 , January 2019 , pp. 1 - 12
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019 

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Footnotes

†

The online version of this article has been updated since original publication. A notice detailing the changes has also been published at https://doi.org/10.1017/S0032247419000305.

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