A city build to house the last human survivors in a worst case scenario of global warming.
The idea of building these new cities to house people as a last refuge from global warming is based on future catastrophic climate changes beyond any current prognoses.
The idea of constructing polar cities was formulated by Danny Bloom, a freelance writer, upon reading an article by James Lovelock. In the article the inventor and thinker envisions the consequences of a worst case scenario, and suggests that humans will only be able to survive in the polar regions. The rest of the planet will become uninhabitable.
No polar cities, also called 'Lovelock Retreats', have actually been build, but the idea has generated some attention. Bloom and others think of polar cities as self-sustaining urban communities build to house people at high density, and powered by sustainable energy, possibly nuclear.
According to Bloom, polar cities is a genuine suggestion. He also thinks that we should probably start building them now, while we have the resources to do it. But in addition, the idea is also meant as a way of raising awareness about global warming, and what we can do about it.
Generally only few people expect the scenario outlined above to ever come true. However, it is very likely that global warming will change human activity in the the polar regions. Already new natural resources are becoming available as the arctic ice cap gets smaller every year. An ice free Northwest Passage would open up new shipping lanes.