
The Lure of a Better Life, Amid Cold and Darkness - danso
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/03/world/europe/norilsk-arctic.html
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walkingolof
Its interesting, I live far north in Europe, and yes part of the year is cold
and dark, but real winter is also fantastic, and the opposite, real summer,
something nobody living south get to experience is nothing short of amazing,
perpetual sunlight, a pleasant warmth and a life that slows down that gives
you time to reflect on bigger things.

Its all in the perspective....

~~~
lucaspiller
Its probably a fair bit warmer where you live though. This city is in Siberia
which although the same latitude as Northern Europe, is a lot colder. Right
now it is -20C/-5F there, and it’s not even the cold part of the year yet :-)

~~~
zokier
Yeah. I grew up in northern Europe too (actually almost exactly the same
latitude as Norilsk), and I agree that Siberia is whole another degree of
extreme. Of course there is the climate, the difference of hitting -40 (which
was what I've grew up) or -60 (Norilsk) feels pretty significant. Then there
is the level of infrastructure; northern Europe enjoys high standards of
living and decent enough infrastructure, which arguably helps dealing with the
environment. Finally there is the degree of remoteness and isolation; this
latitude is roughly 1000km north of the major cities in Nordics
(Oslo/Stockholm/Helsinki). In comparison go 1000km in any direction from
Norilsk and you are still in the middle of Siberia.

What I find most surprising is the size of the city. 110k people seems quite
large for a mining city in the middle of nowhere.

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ggm
One photo is mislabelled. Its a 'potemkin village' labor camp, the photograph
is obviously re-constructed stagefronts of work camp houses, with no sides or
back, and with russian orthodox crosses alongside each: its either a memorial
or an art installation.

~~~
morganvachon
Good catch! I knew something looked off/artificial about it but I didn't know
enough about the history of the area to figure it out.

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pm90
Its very interesting to me, as a person who grew up with very anti-communist
parents, to see that most citizens of the city still live in Soviet Era
apartment buildings. If the country/city could build an entire fucking city
under Soviets, what's preventing more modern city blocks from being built in
these times? Or is it just that the population is not expanding enough?

~~~
rdtsc
I hear in Moscow they were trying to tear some of these old buildings to build
new apartment complexes. It's controversial in how it was handled I hear
especially with respect to older people who have lived in those buildings.

[https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/mar/31/moscow-
bigges...](https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/mar/31/moscow-biggest-
urban-demolition-project-khrushchevka-flats)

It's allegedly the largest planned urban demolition.

In general Soviets liked to build fast, cheap and efficiently. Corners were
often cut. The apartments were not luxurious and would be considered cramped
by Western standards. Everything was standardized so you'd see blocks and
blocks of almost identical buildings. There is even a well known movie that
has that as a key plot element:
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073179/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073179/)
(Man gets drunk, accidentally flies to another city, which had an identically
named street, apartment block looks the same, etc).

However it was provided to the citizens for free, sometimes after waiting in
line for years. My parents waited for 6 years to get a new apartment after I
was born, we got one with 2 rooms instead of 1 room. And yes, they were also
very anti-communist (in private at least during those times).

In a place like Norilsk I would guess there other constraints such as extreme
cold, would make things hard. Even as new developments having 5 or 9 story
blocks might be the more efficient to heat and maintain them. They also built
on permafrost, with global warming melting, they'd probably be having major
issues soon.

~~~
phillc73
> There is even a well known movie that has that as a key plot element:
> [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073179/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073179/)
> (Man gets drunk, accidentally flies to another city, which had an
> identically named street, apartment block looks the same, etc).

My wife makes me watch this every Christmas. (I usually fall asleep before the
second part) I have the feeling it is a tradition somewhat like It's a
Wonderful Life.

~~~
nasredin
Interesting intersection of traditions.

Usually Russians watch Ironiya Sudby on December 31, since Christmas is not
celebrated.

\---

Another one that everybody watches is Briliantovaya Ruka.

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chis
Can anyone link to more pieces like this? I love reading about communities
living in foreign or extreme environments like this.

[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2139914/A-rare-
insig...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2139914/A-rare-insight-
Kowloon-Walled-City.html) Kowloon is another great one.

~~~
emptybits
You might know of (or else enjoy) Whittier, Alaska, a "city within a building"
through each winter.

[https://www.npr.org/2015/01/18/378162264/welcome-to-
whittier...](https://www.npr.org/2015/01/18/378162264/welcome-to-whittier-
alaska-a-community-under-one-roof)

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miketery
Here's a short video from a year ago regarding the same town.

[https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/09/opinion/my-beautiful-
dead...](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/09/opinion/my-beautiful-deadly-
city.html)

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dsfyu404ed
That seems like a pretty nice place to live. (I'm serious)

~~~
seanmcdirmid
The pollution dead zone would seem like a bummer. Fairbanks might be a better
bet.

