Urbanisation of the Russian Arctic Flashcards
Arcticness and the urbanism of the North
Arcticness: the idea that there is something unique and distinctive about the Arctic North
* Hamelin (1980): theorised Nordicity as an expression of cultural, economic, infrastructural variations etc. This then became a central concern in C20 urbanism
* Tracks three phases of Arctic planning which shows how Arcticness has discursively shifted from the city beautiful model to critical regionalism movement
* The construction of Arctic cities has developed in a much more ad hoc fashion than the label would suggest
Hemmersam (2021)
Future North: changing Arctic landscapes
Landscapes of the Arctic all share an uncertain future: they are in the making
Larsen & Hemmersam (2020)
Three waves of Arctic urbanisation
Laruelle (2019)
From new socialist cities to thaw experimentation
Industrial Soviet campaign gave way to the thaw period, resulting in a new concpet of a ‘northern’ city.
Region was not fully integrated until the C20 and has always reflected broader context of economic development and social transformation due to its resource potential.
Kalemeneva (2019)
Mastering the Extreme North: Krushchev’s policies
Outlines post-Stalin era development policy.
Cities became symbolic of nature’s conquest through their homogeneity.
After gulags were abolished, northern benefits were established to attract migrants to Northern cities and work in resource industries.
Kalemeneva (2017)
Outmigration of the Russian North during the 1990s
Recent trend of outmigration out of the Russian North in the 1990s, that peaked in 1992 and has declined until the writing of article.
Heleniak (1999)
Red Arctic
A history of Russian exploration of the Arctic.
* Long tradition: over 4 centuries
* Russian push began with founding of Arkhangelsk in 1584
* Peter the Great initiated the Great Northern Expedition, the first state-sponsored endeavour of Imperial Russia
* Glavsevmorput (GUSMP) founded in 1932 by Stalin as the first centralisation of Arctic governance
This was premised on bloody terror.
McCannon (2012)
Ghosts of the gulag in Northeast Siberia, Eveny village.
Ulturgasheva (2017)
A truly Arctic city
Norilsk directly reflects changing Russian attitudes towards Arctic urbanisation.
‘Quintessentially’ Russian Arctic - location, population, isolation, infrastructure, climate
* Initially established as a gulag work camp to explore metals and later a laboratory for establishing urban development trends
* City is a legacy of changing Soviet design ideals
* Problematic legacy post USSR, after which depopulation occurred (population has dropped 37% between 1989-2010)
* Norislk Nickel exerts huge pressure on the fragile environment
Shiklomanov & Laruelle (2017)
The continental archipelago of Norilsk
Norilsk is situated on the Taimyr Peninsula, the traditional lands of the Nents, Nganasan and Dolgan peoples.
During the Russian empire, they were sovereign tribute-paying nationalities.
The city’s establishment hindered traditional ways of life such as reindeer migratory routes.
Dahlin (2021)
Adaptations of an Arctic metropolis
Paper demonstrates how Norilsk was an urban lab for Soviet Arctic expansion.
* Urban planning was a key political tool of newly formed USSR, used to reflect socialist ideals distinct from capitalist West
* From Stalinist ideals fo monumental grandeur to modernist urban planning
* 4 phases identified: original masterplan, changes due ot extreme demands, modernism, and concrete construction
* Relics can be seen in the city
Jull (2017)
Biography of a polar city: population and identity in Norilsk
Focusing on population management in Norilsk, a monogrod (company town)
* 1920s: coal and copper-nickel sulphide ores discovered
* 1935: official creation of GULAG
* 1950s: degulagisation after Stalin’s death
* 1955: became an official city. Manpower shoratgae supplemented by Komosol, Communist Youth
* Huge in migration throughout 1960s-80s
* Now depopulation and changing demographics
There is a strong urban identity shaping the different groups that have come to Norilsk. Severyane - people from the North - is a name that is melded to each individual.
Impossible to generalise how people feel about living in the Arctic.
Laruelle & Hohmann (2017)
