Biography of a polar city: population flows and urban identity in Norilsk. (2nd October 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Laruelle, Marlene; Hohmann, Sophie
• Is Part Of: Polar geography. Volume 40:Number 4(2017)
• Page Start: 306
• Page End: 323
• Publication Date: 2017-10-02
• Subjects: Russian Far North -- demography -- urbanization -- GULAG -- migration; Geology -- Periodicals; Polar regions -- Periodicals; 910.91105
• DOI: 10.1080/1088937X.2017.1387822
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1088-937X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This paper aims to contribute to the discussion on Arctic migration and urban sustainability by exploring the case of Norilsk, the first sizeable circumpolar city in the world entirely built on permafrost. Norilsk represents an archetypal model of mobility flows managed by a 'big business' firm. Indeed, between the 1960s and 1980s, the city's metallurgical complex promoted massive in-migration, followed by massive out-migration in the post-Soviet decades, with several projects of 'managed decline'. The rich research done on mobility patterns in Russia's North still lacks detailed case studies of demographic evolutions at the urban level, a gap in knowledge that this paper hopes to address by looking at the evolution of Norilsk's population over the longue durée, from the Soviet era to contemporary in-migration flows. This paper also aims to enrich the literature on Arctic identities by investigating the paradoxes of Norilsk urban identity as it is lived by several generations of inhabitants.