RCN-SEES: Building a Research Network for Promoting Arctic Urban Sustainability in Russia

该奖项将支持一个旨在创建北极城市可持续发展模式的研究协调网络。这是一项多学科的国际努力，旨在研究资源开发、气候变化和不断发展的人口模式之间的相互联系，为美国、俄罗斯和其他政策制定者提供建议，指导他们如何以对环境影响最小的方式开发北极石油和天然气储量及其相关基础设施。这个为期五年的项目将在华盛顿和俄罗斯（每年交替举行一次）召集研究这些问题的科学家年度会议，以促进跨学科和研究所之间的合作，并促进研究人员和决策界之间更好的沟通。在会议间隙，该网络将通过乔治华盛顿大学主办的网络研讨会、为特定城市提出建议的现场练习，以及协调正在进行的研究项目，吸引参与者参与。俄罗斯是该项目的中心焦点，因为其领土拥有北极的大部分能源资源，并且是高北部最广泛的城市发展地点。未来几十年，俄罗斯如何开发其北极能源资源以及其北部城市如何发展，将对整个北极地区的环境健康产生重大影响。该项目的产出将是关于如何在与能源开发有关的关键城市地区改善北极可持续性的政策建议。该项目通过汇集地理学家、政治科学家和社会学家来研究北极地区人类和自然系统的相互作用，弥合了学科和国家的分歧。项目人员包括具有广泛专业知识的研究人员，包括能源开发知识；欧亚大陆的移民和就业模式；以及对整个北极地区永久冻土厚度的科学测量。该项目将为以下方面提供额外的丰富内容：a)参与网络活动的研究生和早期职业学者；b)北极城市发展的居民，他们将获得关于提高可持续性的具体区域建议；c)政策制定者，他们将受益于关于如何根据即将到来的气候和社会经济变化使基础设施选址、资源开发和社会城市环境更加强健的投入。此外，该项目将通过评估城市对北极土著人民的影响，并研究外国劳工在北极基础设施发展中发挥的作用，为代表性不足的群体提供服务。

This award will support a Research Coordination Network aimed at creating models for Arctic urban sustainability. It is a multi-disciplinary, international effort examining the interconnections among resource development, climate change, and evolving demographic patterns in an effort to provide advice to U.S., Russian, and other policy-makers on how to develop Arctic oil and natural gas deposits and their related infrastructure in a way that produces minimal impact on the environment. The five-year project will convene an annual meeting of scientists working on these issues in Washington and Russia (alternating yearly) in order to facilitate collaboration across disciplines and institutes and to spur better communication between the researchers and policy-making community. Between meetings, the network will engage its participants through webinars hosted at George Washington University, place-based exercises to develop recommendations for specific cities, and coordinating on-going research projects. Russia is the central focus of this project because its territory holds most of the Arctic's energy resources and is the site of the most extensive urban development in the high north. How Russia develops its Arctic energy resources and how its northern cities evolve over the next several decades will have a major impact on the environmental health of the entire Arctic region. The output of the project will be policy advice on how to improve Arctic sustainability in the crucial urban areas associated with energy resource development.The project bridges disciplinary and national divides by bringing together geographers, political scientists, and sociologists to study the interaction of human and natural systems in the Arctic. Project personnel include researchers with a wide range of expertise, including knowledge of energy resource development; migration and employment patterns in Eurasia; and scientific measurement of permafrost thickness throughout Arctic regions. The project will provide additional enrichment for a) the graduate students and early career scholars who are involved in the networking activities, b) residents of Arctic urban developments who will receive area-specific advice on improving sustainability, c) and policy-makers who benefit from input on how infrastructure sites, resource exploitation, and social urban environments can be made more robust in light of forthcoming climate and socio-economic changes. Additionally, the project will serve underrepresented groups by assessing urban impacts on the indigenous peoples of the Arctic and examining the role that foreign laborers play in Arctic infrastructure development.