The community of Longyearbyen is a key port in Norway’s Svalbard islands with a fast-growing tourism industry, but it attracts few permanent residents. In Longyearbyen, there are no indigenous people, and those residents who brave the isolation and extreme environment still cannot privately own land. But this Arctic town may offer insights on resilience to other places like it that are facing the effects of climate change. (See related interactive map: The Changing Arctic.)

I have been in the Arctic on many exploratory and scientific outdoor trips over the past 15 years, from  guiding ski mountaineering  and ski trips in Norway, Canada and Alaska to crossing Iceland by skis and kataraft while collecting water samples for a project. My experience