The Russian Arctic cities: governance and coping strategies with contemporary challenges

The circumpolar regions worldwide are facing new challenges and are developing themselves on the background of a turbulent present, which imposes changes in the environment and everyday life of the local communities. These lead to the emergence of new regimes of governance and coping strategies in the circumpolar regions worldwide, including in Russia. In the post-Soviet period, the Russian government has retained a strong interest in the Arctic, which on the one hand inherits traits of Soviet approaches and interventions, but on the other - introduces completely new ones.  However, the professional community of academics and experts are concerned about these new implemented policies implied, the level of control from the Central and regional governments, lack of support for the local activists, and lack of welfare for the local communities.

Considering said above, the volume seeks submissions, which analyse practices related to governing and coping with various issues, which  Russian Arctic cities face today, and how these cities are being re-invented through the practices outlined above. The aim is to uncover what factors are governed by the state and powerful private actors, and what issues are being left out to be solved by the local communities. The list of topics includes, but is not limited to the practices and actors involved in managing various challenges that the Russian Arctic cities face (e.g. extreme weather conditions, outcomes of the global environmental  changes, de-industrialization and re-industrialization, demographic and services shrinkage); resettlement of Soviet Arctic cities and new fly-in/fly-out settlements;  identity-making of the Russian Arctic regions and cities; as well as the overall rethinking of the Russian Arctic on the backdrop of the ‘New Arctic’ agenda.  We welcome contributions from geographers, urban planners, sociologists, anthropologists, and area study specialists which would help provide interdisciplinarity and critical perspective of the current volume.

The deadline to submit research articles proposals (250 words), book reviews, ideas for the interviews with experts and professionals for the consideration of the co-editors  - Dr Gavrilova (gavrilova.sofia@gmail.com) and Maria Gunko (msgunko@igras.ru)  - is the 20th of December 2019, and you can expect to hear from the editorial team by the 15th of January 2020, and we expect full texts to be ready by 30th of April 2020. Contributions can be made both in English and in Russian.