The heterogneity of the Arctic

Abstract

New forms of urbanization are unfolding around the world that challenge inherited conceptions of the urban as a fixed and universally generalizable settlement type. The Arctic is a region where urbanization is a strong and powerful process. Inspired by Neil Brenner`s concept of planetary urbanism, this chapter seeks to challenge dominant paradigms that locate Arctic space and place outside urban bounds. Urban space in the Arctic is produced in geographically quite isolated locations with harsh climatic conditions and with long distances to other cities, but still interconnected to global flows. Arctic cites offer an “urban way of life” compared to their sparsely populated surroundings. Populated by an increasing number of Indigenous peoples as well as immigrants from all over the world, it makes Arctic cities into diverse ethnic fabrics. Intimate relationship with nature is one of the elements that makes Arctic cities livable. Meta-narratives such as the glorification of a pure and white wilderness is contrasted with the land-grabbing related to the exploitation and extraction of natural resources closer and closer to the polar area with the cities as service spots as well as promoting this industrial development in that sense participate in the destruction of the Arctic landscape. This chapter is organized as a comparative literature study of cities in three different Arctic Regions: Scandinavia, Canada and Greenland.