Employment and Quality of Life

Development of Resolute would require a huge infusion of dedicated and talented workers. The first requirement would be for planning, which would of course be done off-site. The first on-site work would be surveying and site preparation. Temporary accommodation will be required for this workforce. A leader in this market segment is Modus Structures, based in Crossfield Alberta. Their modular structures provide worker accommodation, offices, telecommunication structures, schools, and restaurants. When the units are no longer needed, they can be easily moved to the next required site.

Once the basic infrastructure is in place, workers could be housed in the completed sections of the city. Many will hopefully relocate their families and become permanent residents. As successive city sections are completed, workers to support those areas would begin to arrive. Although agriculture would be as automated as possible, farmers would be required as soon as the twelve farming domes are completed. The earlier that food can be produced on-site, the lower will be the transport requirements.

As the construction project progresses, people in the rest of Canada would be encouraged to become residents of Resolute. Just as the Alberta oil patch has attracted people from all over Canada and from other countries, the building of Resolute would provide new opportunities not only in the construction trades, but in all support industries. In order to ensure a well-rounded economy, incentives may be necessary to entice entrepreneurs, big businesses, and investors to develop their businesses in Resolute. Mining and other resource extraction is an obvious early opportunity. Manufacturing based on the needs and outputs of the resource industries would be encouraged.

One of the priorities for infrastructure would be high-speed, reliable data links to the rest of Canada. These would likely be primarily by satellite, but may also include terrestrial microwave links. With enough high-speed bandwidth, information-based businesses would be encouraged to set up in Resolute. Environmental monitoring, polar atmospheric and space research, and national security are all data-intensive areas which would require a highly skilled workforce.

The end-goal is to have a well-rounded economy which requires only moderate physical imports, but which may produce substantial exports. The natural advantages of the far-north location would be leveraged as appropriate. On the other hand, the clement internal environment and vehicle-free lifestyle of Resolute would appeal to many current city dwellers. A solid core of the population should be people with roots in Canada, but a very large proportion should be recent immigrants, looking for a stable life with exciting opportunities. Always, in the background, would be the knowledge that Resolute is the first of many such new cities, opening a new frontier not only geographically, but in the public consciousness.

Resources

Modus Structures: http://www.modusinc.ca/