AdaptInfra - Adaptation processes of public services infrastructures in rural and peripheral areas

Background:

AdaptInfra starts from the hypothesis that the adaptation of infrastructures to changing social conditions is a necessary prerequisite for securing the access to public services in rural and peripheral areas. Infrastructures are understood as socio-technical systems consisting of material, institutional, and actor dimensions.

Aim of the Project:

Taking into account the specific characteristics of rural and peripheral areas, AdaptInfra has set itself the following objectives:

• describe and explain adaptation processes in infrastructure systems

• evaluate the adaptability of different infrastructures

• identify generalizable principles for the design of adaptive infrastructures

The conceptual framework is based on a socio-technical understanding of infrastructures and a system dynamics perspective on their adaptation. The project focuses on the specific challenges faced by the development and design of infrastructure in rural and peripheral areas. The focus is on infrastructures of public services, which are intended to ensure the constitutionally fixed appropriate participation of all individuals in social life, in the sense of establishing equal living conditions throughout Germany (cf. Article 72, Paragraph 2 of the German Constitution). The infrastructures that create prerequisites and provide the inputs for public services are as numerous as the goods and services required to fulfil basic human needs. In order to arrive at generalizable conclusions despite this diversity of infrastructures, AdaptInfra is investigating adaptation processes of various key public services infrastructures in seven subprojects based on an innovative and coherent collaborative concept. A synthesis project and the investigation of cross-cutting aspects provide a comprehensive perspective.

Tasks of the Landscape Economics Working Group

Volker Beckmann is the speaker of the research group AdaptInfra. The working group Landscape Economics is responsible for the Coordination as well as the Sub-projects 1 (Archetypes) and 7 (Green Infrastructures).

The coordination of the research group includes, amongst other things, academic coordination, the organisation of events, the implementation of the training programme, networking activities and public relations work.

Sub-project 1 of the AdaptInfra research group aims to conduct a comparative analysis of infrastructure in rural and peripheral areas in order to gain a better understanding of both prevailing and innovative adaptation processes. Sub-project 1 is primarily responsible for synthesising the findings from the analysis of individual infrastructure systems, adopting the archetypal approach for this purpose. This approach enables an analysis at a medium level of abstraction, in which several recurring patterns of interaction between system elements (archetypes) are incorporated into the analysis as equivalent. In order to best represent the mixed methods primarily used in AdaptInfra, methods for integrating qualitative and quantitative data are employed, and the system dynamics approaches embedded in the AdaptInfra design are further developed.

Sub-project 7 examines green infrastructure as an example of infrastructure in rural and peripheral areas, focusing on Natura 2000 protected areas and rewetted peatlands. The expansion of these areas, triggered by the climate and biodiversity crises, often leads to conflicts over land use at a local level. Particularly in rural and peripheral areas, tensions arise between local interests, political objectives and ecological imperatives. This brings into focus questions of social acceptance, institutional adjustments and planning control mechanisms. The sub-project combines theoretical approaches from socio-ecological systems research, system dynamics and governance research to develop a broader understanding of green infrastructure as socio-technical-ecological infrastructures. Methodologically, a mixed-methods approach is adopted, integrating document analyses, GIS-based analyses and qualitative case studies.