University of Innsbruck - Department of Geography
Working Group Development Studies and Sustainability Science (AGEF)
Austria
Description: The Working Group for Development Studies and Sustainability Science (AGEF) at the Institute of Geography, University of Innsbruck aims at developing new ways of understanding and approaching social, economic and environmental sustainability in both, research and teaching. The empirical research activities are actor-oriented, taking into account uneven power structures and social inequalities. The thematic priorities are North-South relations and development, transitions towards regional sustainability and human-environment relations. In the sense of an engaged geography, which takes an unequivocal stand on current challenges and moreover questions existing power and disparity relationships, we try to put an emphasis in our research on the protagonists and their actions. The current thematic priorities are sustainable regional development, human-environmental relations and the processes of change in urban and rural regions.
Regional focus: The principal regional focus of the AGEF lies on the Alps and in the Andes.
Staff members involved: Robert Hafner, Martin Coy, Christian Obermayr, Christian Schleyer, Karl-Michael Höferl, Jutta Kister, Michael Klingler, Kurt Nicolussi, Clemens Geitner, Felix Dorn, Nils Unthan, Jessica Balling, David Segat
Working Packages: WP3-Comparison and analysis; WP5-Communication and Dissemination
Category: Academic
Links:
- Website AGEF: Working group Development Studies and Sustainibility Science (AGEF)
- Website Department: Faculty of Geo- and Atmospheric Sciences
- Website University: University of Innsbruck
Cooperating Projects:
FoodAlternatives.at: Exploring values-based modes of production and consumption in the corporate food regime
Description: A Young Independent Research Group project financed by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
The current agricultural and food system is dominated by transnational corporations that are based on competition, economic growth and the maximization of profits. This corporate food regime is contested by social movements and producers, which are often locally based and aim for a more sustainable production based on values such as solidarity or trust. In our research project, we analyze small- and mid-scale initiatives that we understand as values-based modes of production and consumption to identify how they work to change corporate power and the state in relation to the corporate food regime.
Website: https://foodalternatives.at/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/foa_at
