Building Climate Resilience in the Urban Arctic

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PAST EVENT

Thu., Apr. 27, 2023 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm

Online

Contrary to popular perception, the Arctic is not a desolate wilderness: four million people call the Arctic home, two-thirds of whom reside in urban settlements. Like the region as a whole, the rapid pace of climate change is making life in Arctic cities—challenging at the best of times due to winter darkness, remoteness, and cold weather—increasingly difficult. Climate-induced hazards, such as permafrost thaw, sea ice loss, sea level rise, erosion, flooding, and wildfires, pose severe risks to urban infrastructure and the health and livelihoods of urban residents.

Please join Harvard Kennedy School’s Arctic Initiative and the Arctic Mayors’ Forum for a virtual seminar that will explore how Arctic cities are addressing the current and future impacts of climate change, as well as the lessons that Arctic cities and other cities elsewhere in the world can learn from each other’s experiences. The panel will feature Ida Maria Pinnerød, Mayor of Bodø, Norway; Annika Myrén, Development Strategist of the City of Umeå, Sweden; and Bryce Ward, Mayor of Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska. Arctic Initiative Postdoctoral Research Fellow Nadezhda Filimonova will moderate. Q&A to follow.

Attendance: This event is open to the public and hosted on Zoom. For those who cannot attend live, the seminar will be recorded and available to watch on this page (typically within two weeks). Those who register for this event will automatically receive a link to the recording as soon as it becomes available.

Accessibility: To request a disability accommodation or for questions about access, please contact Elizabeth Hanlon (ehanlon@hks.harvard.edu) in advance of the seminar.

Panelists

"Ida Maria Pinnerod" Ida Maria Pinnerød - Mayor of Bodø, Norway
Ida Maria Pinnerød has been Mayor of Bodø since 2015, and was reelected for a second term in 2019. She is the current chair of both Arctic Mayors’ Forum and Salten Regional Council. While in office, she is on leave from Nord University, where she works as a Senior Advisor at the Faculty of Education and Arts. Pinnerød was first elected to the city council in 2011 as a representative for the Norwegian Labor Party. She holds a Language MA and a MA in Sociology from the University of Tromsø.

"Bryce Ward" Bryce Ward - Mayor of Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska
Bryce J. Ward was born and raised in the interior and has called the Fairbanks-North Pole area home ever since and was elected as the 12th Mayor of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in October 2018. Mayor Ward is a graduate of Lathrop High School and received his Associates Degree in Business and a Certificate in Management from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Technical College. He served on the North Pole City Council for one year prior to being elected as Mayor of the City of North Pole and served two consecutive (3-year) terms from October 2012 to October 2018. Mayor Ward is also the owner of Ward Alaska LLC, a small general contracting company, and also owns residential rental homes in the North Pole area. His civic activities included volunteering with the Boy Scouts of America in Fairbanks/North Pole. He is serving his first three year term as Borough Mayor and was sworn in on October 25, 2018.

"Annika Myren" Annika Myrén - Development Strategist of the City of Umeå, Sweden
As climate transition officer for the city of Umeå, Annika Myrén serves the City committee and serves as an expert for the municipality. She coordinates the nationally funded project Climate-Neutral Umeå 2030 and is a part of Umeå’s participation in the European mission Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities and their Pilot City programme. Annika is also responsible for the local climate contract Umeå climate road map, where businesses, academic, public and civic organisations co-operate for the climate transition in Umeå.