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Norilsk: Otherworldly Photos of an Arctic City

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Re: Norilsk: Otherworldly Photos of an Arctic City

#21

Post by ivan_gammel »

nnq wrote: post #3

Wow. I find these places amazing. I don't understand how they can "work". Like in... why do people stay?! Russia's a huge country and with free movement you'd imagine such places would get depopulated quickly...

Russian north is either industrial (mining, oil and gas), commercial (sea ports) or military and have enough money for people to spend some part of their life there. Norilsk is not the only city on the far north, though probably one of the most notable ones along with Mirny (huge diamond mine).

Re: Norilsk: Otherworldly Photos of an Arctic City

#22

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

deanCommie wrote: post #8
nnq wrote: post #3

Wow. I find these places amazing. I don't understand how they can "work". Like in... why do people stay?! Russia's a huge country and with free movement you'd imagine such places would get depopulated quickly...

1) Basic economics. Most people around the world do not have the means to uproot their lives and move. It's a big 2) Momentum and roots. Norilsk was founded in 1935, which means at this point you have multiple generations of families for whom it's their home. 3) Work and money. Norilsk exists because of mining. It continues to employ mostly people in mining, and pays them reasonably well for the harsh environment.

I think your comment #2 is the most important one. Basically, people just get used to it. I think this way about a lot of cities that are basically awful when it comes to human habitation. For example, New Delhi. I visited New Delhi a couple of times for work and I couldn't imagine why anyone with means wouldn't get the hell out of there ASAP. Especially the area around Gurgaon reminded me of something out of Bladerunner. The pollution was just so ungodly indescribable I couldn't stand being outside for even a couple minutes. But a lot of my Indian colleagues stayed there by choice. They thought the pollution was bad, too, but they looked at it in more of a "pros vs cons" mindset, where I looked at it in a "not being able to see the sun at noon due to smog is a deal breaker for me" mindset.

Re: Norilsk: Otherworldly Photos of an Arctic City

#23

Post by lostmsu »

antisthenes wrote: post #13
robertelder wrote: post #5

I find this city fascinating for some reason. It's something about the fact that it's so harsh, but humans are still able to live there. Here's a YouTube video of it that makes it look almost artistic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks9E9XQp_2k

Make no mistake - humans are only able to live there while burning copious amounts of hydrocarbons to stay warm and/or generate electricity. And they don't live particularly well. Also at the massive cost to the surrounding environment. I guess Inuits live in the extreme cold as well, but their entire world population is smaller than the city of Norilsk.

> Also at the massive cost to the surrounding environment.

Assuming you didn't mean global warming here, there was never much of environment there humans could damage.

Re: Norilsk: Otherworldly Photos of an Arctic City

#25

Post by dimitar »

nnq wrote: post #3

Wow. I find these places amazing. I don't understand how they can "work". Like in... why do people stay?! Russia's a huge country and with free movement you'd imagine such places would get depopulated quickly...

The plants and mines around the city have a double digit percentage share of the world production of platinum, palladium, nickel, rhodium, cobalt and other metals.

The area is extremely rich in resources. Looking at the way people live they definitely deserve a bigger share of those resources. The company that produces those metals and spoils the environment is owned by billionaires Vladimir Potanin, Oleg Deripaska and others, closely associated with Putin.

Re: Norilsk: Otherworldly Photos of an Arctic City

#27

Post by Andrew_nenakhov »

antisthenes wrote: post #13
robertelder wrote: post #5

I find this city fascinating for some reason. It's something about the fact that it's so harsh, but humans are still able to live there. Here's a YouTube video of it that makes it look almost artistic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks9E9XQp_2k

Make no mistake - humans are only able to live there while burning copious amounts of hydrocarbons to stay warm and/or generate electricity. And they don't live particularly well. Also at the massive cost to the surrounding environment. I guess Inuits live in the extreme cold as well, but their entire world population is smaller than the city of Norilsk.

Trust me, global warming does not sound like something bad for citizens of Norilsk.

Re: Norilsk: Otherworldly Photos of an Arctic City

#30

Post by newshorts »

rinchik wrote: post #12
tomohawk wrote: post #10

Its amazing what unfettered socialism can lead to.

Great point. Not sure about unfettered though, it's just socialism period. Everything is controlled by the government and not the market. Planned economy ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_economy ). Unfortunately some see socialism as a candy, a glorious oasis we should all paddle towards without realization that it's a giant trap. A pure hell with great marketing for ordinary people.

Like Denmark?
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