Image of Murmansk by Flickr user Christian Toennesen, made available under Creative Commons.

Just caught up with a journal called MONOCLE, which has 5 strands: one of which is CULTURE. They also have an excellent REPORTAGE section, and have just watched a short video on YUBARI: a Japanese ghost town, which lost its coalmine - the major sourcce of employment (videos can also be downloaded in mp4 format)
There's plenty of other thought-provoking content here...
Check out the report on the fluctuating fortunes of MURMANSK.

Many Russian cities might seem like they are at the end of the world, but Murmansk really is. Following the break-up of the USSR, the city and its naval base went into decline, but the riches offered by its Arctic location are now promising a revival