DFG Research Unit FOR2432/2 (copy 1)

Urbanization and the associated socio-ecological transformations in rural-urban transition areas are of global significance. FOR2432 investigates these processes using the example of Bangalore in South India under the framework concept of Social-Ecological Systems (SES), and in close cooperation between German and Indian project partners and various scientific disciplines.

FOR2432 investigates these transition processes and their ecological implications hypothesis-driven on different analytical levels and collects data on soil physics, crop and livestock production, local market structures and value chains, consumer behavior and attitudes of people. The operational framework includes interdisciplinary factorial experiments, a staggered sampling scheme in two research transects, and the use of remote sensing and modeling to link the different analytical scales. In Phase I, FOR2432 was able to show that rural-urban change is reflected in polycentric patterns of land use and dietary behavior. The associated changes in the diverse demands on ecosystem services and in the distribution of socio-economic household structures and value chains showed spatially and temporally non-linear characteristics and structures within the transects. Moreover, the influence of urbanization extends far beyond the visible landscape changes.

The basic hypotheses (GH) were adapted to these findings. GH 1 (Competition for land and water leads to agricultural intensification and increases the vulnerability of affected households) takes up water as a cross-cutting theme in Pase II, with studies on the hydrology of entire catchment areas, water quality in lakes, irrigation and drinking water, and conflicts over water use and management. With regard to GH 2 (Conflicts between productive, regulative and cultural ecosystem services intensify with increasing urbanization), the link between environmental quality and human health is of particular interest. Under GH 3 (The diversity of production systems and exchange processes is highest in the intermediate stages of rural-urban change) and GH 4 (Ecological constraints and economic opportunities increase with the degree of urbanization and make decisions and governance more complex), (micro-)variability and polycentricity along the rural-urban gradients are systematically analysed. The concept of polycentricity forms a bridge to 'governance' research and thus expands the research spectrum of FOR2432 through a better integration of social science approaches.

Rural-urban change is documented in FOR2432 in real time through repeated observations at different temporal resolutions. This time window is extended by a retrospective view of land use history (historical satellite images) and projections into the future through model-based simulation of development scenarios. In this way, FOR2432 will contribute to a better understanding of the socio-ecological interactions in urbanization processes and to their sustainable management.

Agriculture is one of the oldest examples of coupled social-ecological systems (SES) in which environment and society are interdependent. In view of the global challenge of increasing urbanization, FOR2432 aims to investigate the agricultural transition processes in the rural-urban gradient using the example of the megacity Bangalore. The research will be carried out in close collaboration with a partner consortium in Bangalore, co-financed by the Indian DBT.

Increasing competition, diversity and conflict place high demands on a large number of individuals and actors at the rural-urban interface, so that efficiency and complexity should increase in the systems under investigation. Based on hypothesis-driven studies of soil physics, crop production and animal production, FOR2432 attempts to empirically substantiate the assumed intensification as a response to rapidly advancing urbanization at the field and household level. The associated changes in the diverse demands on ecosystem services in rural-urban areas and in the distribution of socio-economic household structures and value chains will be analyzed as space-time processes. Finally, it will be investigated whether and how the transition processes are reflected in changing regional land use patterns and food consumption. The operational framework of the project includes joint factorial experiments at an experimental station and on farms, a comprehensive sampling scheme focused on a common transect, and the use of remote sensing and modeling to link the different analytical scales. Different approaches of the SES concept will be compared to synthesize the results and further develop hypotheses. In this way, FOR2432 aims to make a contribution to urban development processes worldwide and to the SES debate in agricultural sciences beyond the use case of the object of investigation.