From Sustaining Creativity to Creating Sustainability: Talent and Creative Capital for Sustainable Development in Arctic Urban Communities

Introduction With rare exceptions, the Arctic regions have always been a showcase of economic marginalization and the polygon for (largely unsuccessful) economic development policies and projects (Agranat 1992; Rea 1976; Hayter and others 1994; DiFrancesco 2000; Bone 2009). Economists have well documented that frontier economies are marginal, vulnerable, structurally truncated and functionally dependent (Agranat 1992; Bone 2009; Rea 1968; Petrov, 2012). A lasting economic disadvantage of a northern resource periphery has been captured by the Harold Innis’s ‘staple theory’ (Innis 1956) and since then has been similarly interpreted by the variety of regional development theories (see Huskey 2006; Petrov 2012). Not surprisingly, over eighty years into economic development policymaking in the North, the circumpolar countries are still searching for better ways to manage their northern frontiers. In Canada, the two consecutive governments proposed comprehensive “northern strategies”, and the new Concept of Socioeconomic Development of the North was adopted by the Russian Cabinet in 2000 (Pravitel’stvo RF 2000), while a new strategy specifically targeting the Arctic has been approved in 2013 (Pravitel’stvo RF 2013). In this respect, the alternative strategy based on enabling local human capacities, such as creative capital, to advance economic development seems to be appealing. As it is described below, there is preliminary evidence that such scenario can be seriously considered. However, any research into this matter faces the lack of basic knowledge about the spatial distribution, characteristics and utilization of creative capital, as well as the lack of conceptual and methodological foundations for conducting such a study. It is important to point out that development based on utilizing the creative capital is not a mere substitution of natural resource as a thrust of ‘modernization’ with human capital. The difference lies in the local embeddedness of the creative capital, its relation to local and Indigenous knowledge and institutions (Aarsæther 2004, Petrov 2011). In this sense, engaging creative capital and knowledge economy is an integral part of a larger sustainable development strategy for Arctic cities and towns. This paper provides an overview of creative capital geography and characteristics in Arctic cities. The first objective of this analysis is to apply the creative capital metrics to a selection of key Arctic urban settlements. The second objective is to utilize the metrics in order to describe the geography of the creative capital in the state, identify its clusters and possible northern urban centers where alternative development policies may be most applicable.