The Russian and Norwegian Arctic are gaining notoriety as an alternative maritime route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and as sources of natural resources. The renewed interest in the Northeast Passage or the Northern Sea Route is fueled by a recession of Arctic sea ice coupled with the discovery of new natural resources at a time when emerging and global markets are in growing demand for them. Driven by the expectation of potential future economic importance of the region, political interest and governance has been rapidly developing, mostly within the Arctic Council. However, this paper argues that optimism regarding the potential of Arctic routes as an alternative to the Suez Canal is overstated. The route involves many challenges: jurisdictional disputes create political uncertainties; shallow waters limit ship size; lack of modern deepwater ports and search and rescue (SAR) capabilities requires ships to have higher standards of autonomy and safety; harsh weather conditions and free-floating ice make navigation more difficult and schedules more variable; and more expensive ship construction and operation costs lessen the economic viability of the route. Technological advances and infrastructure investments may ameliorate navigational challenges, enabling increased shipping of natural resources from the Arctic to global markets.

This article considers established metrics for smart city development and evaluates their suitability for implementation in Arctic urban settlements. To do this, the article first surveys smart city literature and the standardization of ‘smartness’ metrics, with particular interest in the International Standards Organization’s (ISO) categorization efforts. It then proposes a northern framework of measurement to evaluate smart cities that adjusts smart metrics from current non-Arctic scholarship to the relatively low populations, peripheral development, remote locations, and harsh climate conditions of the circumpolar north. To test this argument of a new smart framework, the article moves to examine the strategies of three circumpolar cities at different points of smart development: Anchorage (United States), Bodø (Norway) and Oulu (Finland). The article concludes by identifying areas of success and shortcomings for each city analyzed. Smart cities can be a crucial step towards a sustainable future in the circumpolar north, contributing to a ‘smarter’ approach to economic, social, and environmental development. Exploring this is important because these frameworks have implications for how policymakers in northern regions choose to plan and implement their city strategies.