THE TOWN WHERE YOU CANNOT DIE

In the town of Longyearbyen, with a population of approximately 2,600, you cannot paint your house without first getting the color approved by the local authorities. In a world where many people now live in granny states where governments impose their aesthetic standards on their subjects, this type of  requirement is by no means unique or, by itself, even all that noteworthy. However, Longyearbyen has some other peculiarities which can give one pause. It is illegal to die in Longyearbyen. Pregnant mothers do not give birth in Longyearbyen. There are no cats in Longyearbyen. Liquor, although not prohibited altogether, is highly rationed in Longyearbyen. And, it is illegal to venture out into Longyearbyen without carrying, or being accompanied by someone carrying, a high-power rifle chambered for a .308, .30-06, or similarly-sized cartridge. 

Longyearbyen is the seat of government and principle settlement in the archipelago of Svarlbard, which contains the northernmost towns in the world, unless you also count purely scientific stations. It is in the Arctic circle about halfway between the North Pole and the most northern part of mainland Norway. Although under Norwegian jurisdiction and administered by a Norwegian governor, other nations are allowed by treaty to maintain settlements there.

This unique geography explains some of the basis for the strange laws of Longyearbyen. Its graveyard has been closed to additional burials for the past seventy years after it was discovered that bodies don't decompose normally in the permafrost and that their pathogens live on in stasis--including those of victims from the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. Consequently, residents with terminal illnesses are required to go to the mainland to die, and those persons who expire unexpectedly are buried off of the islands. Although there are a few physicians in the town, there are no specialized facilities to deal with unusual childbirth issues, and mothers retreat to mainland Norway instead to have their babies. Cats are banned because of the risk they pose to the local bird population. Liquor is rationed because of the increased risk of alcoholism posed by living in an isolated frigid area which sees no sunlight six months of a year. Rifles are required as necessary protection against polar bears, although it is illegal to shoot one except in self-defense. And the house colors? The authorities want the buildings to be cheerful and consistent with the natural colors of the sky, moss, flowers, and sun. 

For a more in-depth look at life in Svarlbard, watch the TV series Fortitude, a drama set in a fictitious town based on the real Longyearbyen. 

By Bjørn Christian Tørrissen
[CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)
 or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons