FOR 5893:  Adaptation processes of infrastructures for services of general interest in rural peripheral areas (Adaptlnfra)

• Subject Area: Geosciences ; Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine ; Construction Engineering and Architecture ; Humanities ; Medicine ; Social and Behavioural Sciences
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 547031340

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. As a basis for the future design of adaptive infrastructures, a generic conceptual and empirical understanding of adaptation processes in different infrastructure systems is developed. Considering the specific characteristics of rural and peripheral areas, AdaptInfra therefore aims to: a) describe and explain adaptation processes in infrastructure systems, b) evaluate the adaptability of different infrastructures, and c) 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 study 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. As a regional example, case studies in the reference region of Western Pomerania are compared with selected areas in Germany and the Baltic Sea region. The collaboration within AdaptInfra is based on disciplinary expertise in individual infrastructure systems, combined with extensive experience in interdisciplinary collaboration, and embedded in a supportive environment at Greifswald University. AdaptInfra creates excellent conditions for 10 doctoral students and one postdoc to conduct groundbreaking interdisciplinary research on a socially relevant topic.

• DFG Programme: Research Units

Projects

• AdaptInfra Subproject 1: Archetypes of infrastructure adaptation in rural areas – modeling and synthesis of complex dynamic socio-technical systems (Applicant Beckmann, Volker )
• AdaptInfra Subproject 2: Institutional Framework Conditions and Financing Systems for Adaptation Processes of Municipal Infrastructures in Rural Areas (Applicants Prenzel, Paula ;  Schiller, Daniel )
• AdaptInfra Subproject 3: Adaptation Processes of Security Infrastructures in Peripheral Rural Areas (Applicants Harrendorf, Stefan ;  Schmidt-Schuchert, Silke ;  Tomczyk, Samuel )
• AdaptInfra Subproject 4: Churches, diaconia, and civil society in rural and peripheral areas of eastern Germany. An empirical study of infrastructural adaptation processes since 1989 (Applicant Braune-Krickau, Tobias )
• AdaptInfra Subproject 5: Adaptation processes of the medical care landscape in rural-peripheral areas using the example of the Western Pomerania region – an analysis based on multi-method modelling (Applicants van den Berg, Neeltje ;  Fleßa, Steffen ;  Hoffmann, Wolfgang )
• AdaptInfra Subproject 6: Social Entrepreneurship – Entrepreneurs as Pioneers of Change in Rural Infrastructure in the Agricultural and Food System? (Applicant Tamásy, Christine )
• AdaptInfra Subproject 7: Expansion, conversion, and adaptation of green infrastructure in rural-peripheral areas - a socio-technical-ecological analysis of adaptation processes using the example of Natura 2000 and peatlands in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Applicant Beckmann, Volker )
• AdaptInfra Subproject 8: Political Parties as an infrastructure for political decision-making in rural and peripheral areas (Applicant Müller, Jochen )
• Coordination Funds (Applicant Beckmann, Volker )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Volker Beckmann