Polarising nature-culture: an examination of value in Svalbard

This project investigates the generation and circulation of value in the High Arctic landcscapes of Svalbard through a focus on three sites that illustrate complex interrelations between nature, capital and temporality. Pyramiden is an abandoned Russian mining settlement of frozen capital circulation and investment, Barentsburg is a working industrial town commodifying nature through extraction, and Longyearbyen houses the Global Seed Vault; a biodiversity bank securing nature's future long term viability. The project falls within the field of cultural and historical geography. It seeks to inform policy and contribute to wider academic discourse on the landscapes most closely associated with climate change.