ИСТИНА

Socially-oriented observations (SOO) of quality of life (QL) have been carried out in different cities of Murmansk region during the recent 2007-2008 IPY according to the methodology of the Northern Socially-oriented Observation Network developed by Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences in cooperation with Norwegian, Canadian and the UK researches within PPS Arctic IPY project under the leadership of Norway. SOO in the cities of the Russian North are of special significance as urban areas concentrate the majority of population of this region. Economic activity of northern cities is based mainly on natural resources extraction and tackles mostly the same QL problems with some important local peculiarities. The aim of SOO was to determine the issues and targets for QL improvement which helps to distinguish main indicators for further monitoring and sustainable development of the area. The semi-structured interviewing has been conducted in the cities of Kirovsk, Apatity, Kandalaksha, Murmansk and Lovozero during 2009-2011 and later occasionally during the consecutive years. General issues marked by community members in descending order are: low wages (100%), unemployment (90%), bad physical as well as mental health (70%), pollution of the environment (60%), and climate change (45%). Nevertheless almost 80% of people are satisfied with its present life and social status. This shows a high level of optimism, which is a valuable factor and indicator for QL improvement. Although main indicators in rapidly changing socio-economic and environmental situation are time dependent and have different rate during the observation time cycles, a “flexible” list of most important indicators for further monitoring in the cities has been produced, and can be used to assess resilience and development of communities and the region. Furthermore in retrospect, the interviews which have been taken in early 2009 – 2011 can show a very good predictability towards the most recent changes in nature and economy.