Rural transformations

Key research area at LUCSUS

Rural landscapes and communities across the world are impacted by significant changes and shifts related to broader trends, including urbanisation, agricultural intensification and climate change. Such transformations shape, and are shaped by, different actors and processes across scales and often involve contestations related to land use, resource allocation and decision-making.

agriculture in sub Saharan Africa. Photo.

Researchers at LUCUS examine various forms and dimensions of rural transformations, for example in the contexts of agrarian change, climate adaptation and energy transitions. Our research emphasises the interconnectedness between environmental, social and political dimensions of change.

Key focuses for our research include lived experiences of rural transformations, linked to land grabbing, agroecology, pesticide use, and carbon farming. We investigate the role of political-economic forces and power dynamics in shaping rural development trajectories, and how social movements engage in struggles to resist or negotiate changes.

Through our transdisciplinary research and methods, we explore potential future solutions that could enable more sustainable and just rural transformations, through for example action research and futures thinking.