Objectives

Superior aims

Against the background of changing settlement structures in Amazonia, the implementation of regional sustainable development becomes an increasing challenge for science, politics and planning. Sustainable settlement patterns are an indispensable precondition for the conservation of resources and the battle against poverty in this region.

The superior aim of SUSAM is the development of adjusted strategy concepts and regulation instruments for a sustainable regional development in the Amazon region. For this purpose different aspects of rural-urban linkages will be examined and the respective potential they have for sustainable development will be identified.

In order to be able to develop such solution concepts and regulation instruments, an intensive discussion process between application-oriented science, politics, planning and regional interest groups will be necessary. The interregional exchange of experiences and the evaluation of the transfer possibilities of so-called best practices will be of central significance for this process. The two workshops, which will be carried out within the scope of the SUSAM-project, are intended to be a platform for such a discussion and have the following two superior aims:

• From a scientific point of view, the results from current empirical research of the project partners involved are to be presented, compared and brought together with the aim of developing adjusted strategy concepts for sustainable regional development. The empirical research of the project partners used to reach this aim has been carried out in different areas of the Amazon region using different theoretical and methodological approaches and investigating different aspects of urban-rural interaction.



• With respect to the applicability of scientific findings in practice, the discussion between the involved researchers, local and regional political decision-makers and different stakeholders is to have priority on two levels. On the one hand, the scientific results are to be made available for planning institutions in order to create a stronger awareness of the regional political relevance of urban-rural interactions and the development of settlement patterns in accordance with the principles of sustainability. On the other hand, the political, institutional and financial barriers hindering the implementation of sustainability concepts are to be discussed from the perspective of user groups in order to gain information on the necessity of application-oriented research.

Specific Goals
From the above-named superior aims result the following specific goals of the project:

• At first, the basic developments of the Amazonian settlement pattern and economic system in different parts of the Amazon region are to be compared and examined for their potential for sustainable regional development. The following areas are to be particularly considered:
  
  • transformation of the traditional settlement pattern and the linkage between towns and their surroundings
  
  
  • inner-city development (social structures, economic basis, etc.) as an expression of rural-urban interactions
  
  
  • rural development in connection with processes within the urban and peri-urban space
  
  
  • political structures, decision processes and planning for urban and rural areas


• By combining the findings of current research, which has been carried out by the project partners in Amazonia, the functions of towns for their hinterland and of rural areas for towns respectively will be analysed for different parts of the Amazon region.



• The analysis of the functional relationship between rural and urban areas and between the involved actors will serve the purpose to define and categorise socio-economic, spatial and sectoral rural-urban interactions, which will be the basis for a theoretical framework for rural-urban linkages.



• A theoretical basis for adjusted strategies aiming at a sustainable regional development and similarly integrating rural and urban problem fields will be developed.



• Existing approaches to an ecologically compatible regional planning in accordance with the principles of sustainability will be evaluated and their validity for and transferability to regions of Amazonia analysed.



• Solution strategies for the removal of political and structural barriers hindering the implementation of sustainable regional development in the various parts of the Amazon region will be developed.