Arctic Infrastructure Development

This lecture explores the peculiarities of Arctic infrastructure development, highlighting the inseparable link between resource exploitation and transport, asset specificity for cold climates, and the importance of indigenous knowledge. It delves into unique projects like the Salekhard-Igarka railway and the Trans-Alaskan pipeline, discussing the multi-actor reality involving federal governments, resource corporations, and indigenous peoples' organizations. The lecture also presents two models of Arctic infrastructure development, focusing on political-economy aspects and technological models. It emphasizes the shift towards 'glocal' development, combining local embeddedness with global connections, and examines new projects in the Russian Arctic, such as the Institute of the Arctic and the port of Sabetta.