The frame for the conference was phrased with a citation from the book Megatrends:
“Urbanisation is a global trend which will significantly contribute to the shaping of human life in the future. The Arctic region is no exception … Since the 1960’s, most of the population growth in the Arctic has occurred in urban centres tied to industrial activities, social services and public administration” (Rasmus Ole Rasmussen, Megatrends, 2011, pp 22).
Thus, the presentations and the discussions at the conference did not focus on if there is an urbanisation going on in the Arctic. The presentations and the discussions looked at how urbanisation in the Arctic actually has been going on and is developing.
The main purpose of the conference was twofold. Firstly, the idea was to create a forum where politicians from some of the Nordic countries could meet politicians from Canada and discuss mutual experiences regarding the urbanisation process and share ideas on how to manage the process from a politicians’ point of view. Secondly, it was a success criterion to give the politicians and researchers an opportunity to discuss on an informal basis what the politicians would like to know more about from the researchers and what recommendations the researchers have for the politicians in the Arctic societies.
The proceedings include 10 abstracts and 18 papers not previously published. They represent some of the most distinguished researchers on socio-economic, social and cultural aspects of urbanisation in the Arctic. The articles have not been peer reviewed but the editors have made a light language revision of the texts.
