Feb 2026: Article by Susan Vanek in Polar Geography Special Issue
The quarterly peer-reviewed journal Polar Geography has published the article “2200 meters: infrastructure, the future, and the politics of belonging in Greenland and the Arctic” by InfraNorth associate researcher Susan Vanek.
The article examines Greenland’s airport expansion project, following its approval in 2015 by Naalakkersuisut (the Government of Greenland) as the largest investment in transportation infrastructure ever undertaken by the island’s autonomous government.
Consisting of the expansion of two existing airports and the construction of one new regional hub, the project promises development by freeing the island from the constraints of its World War II-era infrastructure and creating greater connections to the globe.
However, the project will also realign much of the island’s current transportation network, increasing access to some communities while potentially contributing to the isolation and displacement of others.
Focusing on the experience of the airport expansion project in two communities, Vanek interrogates how legacies of the past and visions for the future intermix and coalesce around large-scale infrastructural projects and what they can reveal about the interconnection between state policy, the politics of belonging, and the future of Arctic communities.
This article is part of a special issue guest edited by Timothy Heleniak. You can find it open access in Polar Geography.
