Building Urban Climate Change Adaptation Strategies: The Case of Russian Arctic Cities

• Published in: Weather, Climate, and Society
• Main Authors: Bobylev, Nikolai, Gadal, Sébastien, Konyshev, Valery, Lagutina, Maria, Sergunin, Alexander
• Other Authors: St Petersburg State University (SPbU), North-Eastern Federal University, Études des Structures, des Processus d’Adaptation et des Changements de l’Espace (ESPACE), Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (1965 - 2019) (UNS), COMUE Université Côte d'Azur (2015-2019) (COMUE UCA)-COMUE Université Côte d'Azur (2015-2019) (COMUE UCA)-Avignon Université (AU)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Côte d'Azur (UCA), FMSH-RBSF OSAMA (development Of an optimal human Security Model for The Arctic)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2021
• Subjects: Climate change adaptation; Arctic cities; Territorial adapatation; Planning policies; Russian Arctic; Comparative analysis; Industrial centers; Arctic; [SDE.ES]Environmental Sciences/Environmental and Society; [SHS.GEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Geography; [INFO.INFO-MO]Computer Science [cs]/Modeling and Simulation; [INFO.INFO-TI]Computer Science [cs]/Image Processing [eess.IV]; [SHS.STAT]Humanities and Social Sciences/Methods and statistics; Apatity; Monchegorsk; Murmansk; Norilsk; Salekhard; Severodvinsk; Arkhangelsk; Climate change; norilsk; Vorkuta
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03313126; https://hal.science/hal-03313126/document; https://hal.science/hal-03313126/file/WCAS-S-21-00004%20submission.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-21-0004.1

International audience The Russian Arctic is a highly urbanized region, with most towns built in the Soviet era to facilitate extraction industries as well as provide and maintain military facilities. Global environmental and developmental changes, as well as national political decisions, open up Russia’s the Arctic to massive investment, industrial and socio-economic development. How do Russian Arctic cities, towns, and municipalities reflect on new opportunities in terms of designing their climate change adaptation strategies at a local level? Starting with a theoretical discourse on urban climate change adaptation strategy, this research examines state-of-the-art, challenges and trends in planning for adaptation measures in Russia’s Arctic industrial centers. Special attention is given to a comparative analysis of the cities’ climate change adaptation strategies. The role of civil society institutions and the business communities in the adaptation strategy planning process is explored. Moreover, conflict-sensitive approaches to ensure participatory processes for designing and implementing adaptation measures are discussed. The field component of research is based on cities of Apatity, Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, Norilsk, Salekhard, Severodvinsk, and towns of Monchegorsk, Nickel, and Vorkuta. The study concludes that in spite of significant challenges identified, the total “balance sheet” of the Arctic cities’ efforts to enhance their adaptive capacities is quite positive: Russian northern urban settlements do their best in addressing existing challenges via a planning for sustainability approach. However, there is more to do and municipalities should learn from one another’s experiences, as the different approaches can be helpful in developing adequate climate change adaptation strategies at the local level.