lsuter – Promoting Urban Sustainability in the Arctic

Developing Anew versus Maintaining the Old: Infrastructure Projects in Canada’s Arctic

November 15, 2017 Uncategorized No Comments

This week marks the opening of Canada’s first permanent road to the Arctic coast, linking the hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk and the town of Inuvik (Figure 1). This road represents decades of planning, years of construction, and significant financial investment by the Canadian government. Meanwhile, several thousand kilometres away on Hudson Bay,…

Student Perspectives on Fieldwork in Siberia

September 8, 2017 Uncategorized No Comments

During the Summer of 2017, the PIRE team made a research trip to the Russian cities of Salekhard and Vorkuta. Here we present some of the student descriptions of the trip. July 9: Anna Zhu Of the 11 glaciers that previously existed in the region, only 2.5 remain. Today, we…

Yakutsk and Mirnyi Fieldwork Report

August 5, 2017 Uncategorized No Comments

July 18-August 1, 2017 Marlene Laruelle (GWU) and Sophie Hohmann (INALCO, Paris) This PIRE fieldwork was devoted to the study of social urban sustainability in two cities of Sakha Republic (Yakutia): the capital city Yakutsk and the “diamond capital” Mirnyi. Our research focused on demographic, social and cultural changes in…

Reflections on Fieldwork in Yakutsk

June 30, 2017 Uncategorized No Comments

By Ksenia Mokrushina – SKOLKOVO Center for Urban Studies, Moscow The coldest city of its size or larger on the planet, Yakutsk is impressively vibrant and rich in cultural and urban life. Over the past 50 years it experienced an explosive population growth of 300% and is still actively attracting…

Arctic PIRE Students Prepare for Siberian Fieldcourse

June 29, 2017 Uncategorized No Comments

International Arctic Field Course on Permafrost and Northern Studies Blog 1 – Carlson Giddings On July 3rd, 2017, five professors and 20 students from the US, Russia, and European Union countries will gather in Moscow to begin a month-long field course on permafrost and northern studies. This field course presents…

Debating the Future Development of Arctic Resources

February 6, 2017 Uncategorized No Comments

Robert Orttung, Tromsø, Norway Should Norway continue to develop its Arctic oil and natural gas resources or would Arctic communities be better off focusing on renewable energy? This was the hot topic of debate at the opening session of the 2017 Arctic Frontiers conference in Tromsø, Norway in January. Columbia…

Arctic PIRE Logo Launch

December 5, 2016 Uncategorized No Comments

Last week the Arctic PIRE team was proud to reveal their official project logo! This logo will be used for visual branding and to increase recognition of project outputs related to the Arctic PIRE team both on social media platforms and on more traditional project returns.

Tundra to Table: Vertical Farming in the Arctic

December 1, 2016 Uncategorized 1 Comment

The vast Arctic territory is rich in resources including minerals, hydrocarbons, and wildlife. However, high latitudinal regions receive little sunlight for several months each year, which severely limits the region’s ability to grow fresh produce. Many Arctic urban centers rely on long, complex supply chains to receive shipments of fresh…

Polar Proxy: The Opportunities and Concerns of Increased Military Activity in the Arctic

November 14, 2016 Uncategorized No Comments

There has been a lot in the news over the past few months about Russia’s military activity in the Arctic, with many media channels portraying these actions as part of an aggressive geopolitical strategy, with a revived Cold War narrative from both the Western and Russian side. These sensationalist stories should…

Inaugural Arctic PIRE Meeting is a Resounding Success

October 25, 2016 Uncategorized No Comments

This past weekend, we were delighted to host the inaugural annual meeting of the Arctic PIRE: Promoting Urban Sustainability in the Arctic project. Roughly 30 members of our international research network were in attendance, discussing issues including the framework for our Arctic Urban Sustainability Index, the selection appropriate sustainability indicators, and…