Urbanization, Landscape Appropriation and Climate Change in Greenland

Abstract

Approximately 80% of the population in Greenland lives in towns. This constitutes a challenge for resource managers as people are increasingly aspiring to use the landscape for a variety of purposes and activities due to the heterogeneity of the city. This article unfolds how urbanization is taking place in Greenland and how it reorganizes the society and the landscape. Four challenges related to different positions of the city of Nuuk will be touched upon: locally, the heterogeneity of the city is a challenge to the environmental management authorities; regionally, the city has to deal with societal changes due to increased industrialization; nationally, the city has to act as springboard for increased self-rule; and finally, the city has to position itself strategically in a globalized world where the Arctic finds itself in a double position: on the one hand, it has to deal progressively with the increased interests from global companies, and on the other hand, it has to navigate in relation to global mitigation policies developed to halt the accelerating climate changes. The four challenges will be understood within a framework of urbanization. The article argues that a stronger focus on urbanization and the urban phenomenon as omnipresent points to some shortcomings of the concept of resilience which has become so popular within Arctic research in general and within climate change studies in particular.