Planning and Urban Design for Attractive Arctic Cities

Book excerpt: This book takes a deep dive into the design and planning, and unique challenges of settlements in the European Arctic. Attractive Arctic Cities require job opportunities, good societal and commercial services, and importantly, high-quality built environments in order to thrive. The cities of the European Arctic are generally small and sit in sparsely populated regions, with large travel times between places, making them uniquely challenging from a planning and design perspective. The chapters detail the planning process and place-shaping in the Arctic. Emphasis is placed on the importance of urban design, microclimate, cultural heritage, and movement and transport. The objective is to provide an overview for students and practitioners of architecture, urban design and town planning, of the design and planning of Arctic settlements in the European Arctic (Finland, Norway, Sweden) as well as in North America, Canada, Russia, Iceland, Greenland, and China.