Presseinformation: Exploring the dynamics of change in urban and rural spaces

Nr. 16.5 - 02.07.2025

University of Göttingen part of new DFG Research Unit “Sustainable Rurbanity”

Global urbanization is one of the major challenges of our time. A new interdisciplinary Research Unit based at the Universities of Kassel and Göttingen investigates the diverse phenomena that emerge from the interwoven development of urban and rural areas — and the distinct underlying patterns and dynamics of change they give rise to. The German Research Foundation (DFG) will fund the new Research Unit Sustainable Rurbanity – Resources, Society, and Regulatory Systems for an initial four-year period. Six other research institutions across Germany and 15 partner organizations in India, Ghana and Morocco are also involved.

Urbanization processes take shape from the interaction of human actions, spatial arrangements that have evolved, and ecological systems. Closely tied to wider societal transformation, they continually reshape living environments — not just for people, but for animals and plants as well. To better understand these complex systems, the Research Unit introduces a new conceptual approach: “rurbanity”. The term captures the dynamic interplay of rural and urban elements in an evolving, integrated system — one that responds to changing conditions, initiates change itself, and is constantly reinvented in the process.

The ten projects that make up this Research Unit span the natural and social sciences, using case studies from large cities in India, West Africa and Morocco to investigate how rurbanity functions, what effects it has, and how it can be shaped. Research themes range from agroecological questions such as rurban agroforestry and nutrient and waste cycles, to the development of specific rurban lifestyles. The goal is to identify transformation pathways and new opportunities for shaping more sustainable rurban futures across countries and cultures.

“At the University of Göttingen, Professor Christoph Dittrich and I helped develop the project conceptually and theoretically,” says Professor Nikolaus Schareika, at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, who is Deputy Spokesperson of the Research Unit. “In particular, we are involved in the social science and geography research perspectives.” Researchers from Göttingen’s agricultural and forestry sciences are also contributing to the project.

Projects involving researchers from the University of Göttingen:

• A01 RurbanAgroforestry – Effects of tree-based agriculture on ecosystem services supply, distribution, and access in a rurban environment
• A02 RurbanSoilFunctions – Synergies and trade-offs of soil functions in rurban spaces
• B01 RurbanSpace – The social production of rurban space in Bengaluru
• B03 RurbanLivestockSystems – Building rurban livelihoods through livestock
• C01 RurbanGeography – Towards a global geography of rurbanity: developing a set of indicators to map and monitor rurban spaces

Press release from the University of Kassel (in German): www.uni-kassel.de/go/for-5903

Further information about the Research Unit: www.uni-kassel.de/go/for-5903

Contact
Professor Nikolaus Schareika
University of Göttingen
Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology and The Ethnographic Collection
Theaterstraße 14, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
Tel: +49 (0)551 39-27893
Email: nschare@gwdg.de
www.uni-goettingen.de/en/136136.html