Hyperconnected remoteness: the Svalbard airport and community transitions in Longyearbyen

This article examines the role of Svalbard Airport in shaping socio-economic transitions and everyday life in Longyearbyen, the largest settlement on the Svalbard archipelago. Drawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork, complemented by historical sources, the study analyzes how the airport has mediated experiences of remoteness and connectivity across successive historical periods. Situating the analysis within the anthropology of infrastructure and relational island studies, the airport is conceptualized as a connective infrastructure that actively reconfigures Svalbard’s islandness rather than simply overcoming geographical isolation. Tracing developments from Longyearbyen’s origins as an isolated coal-mining company town to its current post-industrial transition based on tourism, research, and education, the article demonstrates how the airport has functioned both as a product and driver of state-led normalization, economic diversification, and geopolitical presence. Empirically, the study foregrounds lived experiences of mobility, transience, safety, and vulnerability, highlighting air connectivity as an ambivalent category. The article argues that increased connectivity does not eliminate remoteness but gives rise to ‘hyperconnected remoteness,' a condition in which extreme accessibility and isolation coexist. By focusing on an Arctic island context, the article contributes new insights into the transformative power of transport infrastructure and the ambivalent social effects of connectivity in remote settings.