The Arctic is facing major transformations, with great ramifications well beyond the polar area. The research project Arctic Futures looks into the social, economic and political aspects of a changing Arctic. The main aim of the project is to analyse how the future of the Arctic has been studied and conceptualised in recent years.

The project is carried out by a group of researchers in Tromsø with financial support from the Fram Centre. The group consists of:

• Peter Arbo, University of Tromsø (project leader)
• Audun Iversen, Nofima
• Maaike Knol, University of Tromsø
• Eirik Mikkelsen, Northern Research Institute
• Toril Ringholm, Northern Research Institute
• Gunnar Sander, Norwegian Polar Institute

The sections in the menu to the right provide a review of more than 50 books, reports and articles dealing with the future of the Arctic. An overview of this literature can be found under the heading “Literature reviews”, with hyperlinks to summaries of the individual studies in PDF format.

We have recently published an article in Polar Geography (2012): “Arctic Futures: conceptualizations and images of a changing Arctic.”