2015 Thorvald Stoltenberg Conference on Arctic Urban Sustainability in Russia

The 2015 Thorvald Stoltenberg Conference on Arctic Urban Sustainability in Russia was organized by the Barents Institute at The University of Tromsø and the Arctic University of Norway and took place on September 24-26 in Kirkenes, Norway. The event was dedicated to sustainable development of Arctic urban settlements and addressed issues ranging from the analysis and assessment of natural and climatic processes to socio-economic and geopolitical factors and the models of development. Leading researchers from the universities of the USA, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Finland and Poland took part in the conference. The Research School of Regional Arctic Studies, organized by the Institute of Regional Studies and Urban Planning and the Department for Spatial Development and Regional Studies represented HSE at the event.

Carol S. Leonard, Leading Research Fellow of the Institute of Regional Studies and Urban Planning presented the report on the features of government in remote Northern towns such as urban-type settlement Beryozovo. Evgenij Pliseckij, Deputy Director of the Institute spoke on ‘Problems of the Development of Public Infrastructure in Cities of the Russian Arctic’. Ekaterina Mikhailova, doctoral student presented the report ‘Scenarios of Regulating Russian Arctic Zone through the Lenses of Public Discourse’. Olga Talovskaia spoke on ‘Isolation VS Globalization: Prospects of Urban Development in the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation in Modern Conditions’.