Physical and feasible: Climate change adaptation in Longyearbyen, Svalbard

Author(s)

Alexandra Meyer

Abstract

Longyearbyen, Svalbard, has become showcase of Arctic climate change. However, we know little about how these changes are dealt with locally. This article aims to fill this gap by examining climate change impacts and adaptation in a non-Indigenous community of experts and sets out to 1) describe observed changes and perceived societal impacts of climate change and 2) discuss adaptation measures and related understandings of adaptation. The research consists of ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with planners, engineers, architects, scientists, construction workers and local politicians. The research finds that climate change impacts the built environment in Longyearbyen, and that there is vast awareness of and concern related to these impacts. There is a substantial knowledge base for adaptation, and a special trust in scientific knowledge, skills and experts. The interview partners consider adaptation as necessary and feasible. Adaptation is understood and implemented as technical responses to physical problems, rooted in a modernist understanding of the environment as separated from humans, who can control it through technical means. This suggests a narrow understanding of adaptation that might fail to address more socially transformative processes.

Organisation(s)

Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology

Journal

Polar Record

Volume

58

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1017/S0032247422000079

Publication date

2022

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

504008 Ethnography

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geography, Planning and Development, General Earth and Planetary Sciences, Ecology

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 13 - Climate Action

Portal url

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/a5a7994a-288b-451a-a808-fa5afbdc7336