Assessing Viability, Senses of Place, Mobility in INdustrial NOrthern COMmunities

The majority of Russia's northern population are southern incomers from various waves of relocation who built new industrial cities (resource extraction colonies) in the last 70 years. In the wake of massive outmigration from the Russian North, our research analyzes the relocation experience and senses of place of these people with qualitative social sciences methods. Their reasons for leaving or staying in the north affects the viability of northern settlement patterns. In addition to understanding the formation of communities and place attachment among industrial relocatees and commuters, our analyses explain why recent demographic regulation policies have not brought the intended results. At the same time new models of commute work in resource extraction are being implemented that cause significant social side-effects for the communities that are worth monitoring in detail; a field that is so far poorly developed. Reasons for these inconsistencies include alongside poor implementation, financing and communication among institutions; also the underestimation of senses of belonging to place among non-indigenous northerners.