From 2-14 February 2026 researchers Evan Allen and Christina Goldhar left Stockholm for Longyearbyen to complete fieldwork for work package 8.4 ‘adaptive governance’. On arrival we were greeted by this very nice reindeer grazing in the snow in the center of the community.
During our stay we meet with key informants who are responsible for governing the many effects of permafrost thaw on community buildings, housing, roads, and other infrastructure such as the Lokalstyre, Store Norske, Statsbygg and Svalbard Energi AS. We also met with tourism providers to learn more about the changes they observed while travelling on the land, the effects these changes are having within the tourism sector, and the ways in which they are adapting their business operations.
Following our meeting with Statsbygg (the staff housing provider for the government) we were directed to an area of town where the impacts of permafrost thaw on housing in the community is particularly apparent. Housing in this area was clearly slumping with cracks visible in the foundation of some homes, porches peeling away from the buildings, and some homes no longer inhabitable.
Many respondents discussed new construction approaches that have been developed in recent years to help minimize the effects of these on-going changes and the need to continuously develop flexible, adaptive approaches to infrastructure construction and planning.
During our time in the community, we also met with researchers from ILLUQ’s sister project, ArcSolution and ThawingLYR to coordinate our research and discuss possible collaboration opportunities going forward.
