The Megaurban Food System of Dhaka / Bangladesh

The research project starts from the proposition that the analysis of food systems in megaurban contexts offers special insights into the discontinuities, contentions, fragmentations and conflicts, which global processes generate in local arenas. This proposition is based upon six assumptions:

Megaurban food systems are located at the interface between formal and informal spheres of food supply, distribution and consumption
Megaurban food systems reflect the dynamic articulations between global and local forces that shape food supply, distribution and consumption.
The informal sphere of the food system is constantly adapting to the structure and dynamics of the dominant modes of globalized food chains.
Megaurban food systems reflect the dynamics of specific material and resource flows.
Food markets are dynamic nodes within megaurban settlement development.
The functioning and efficiency of the informal sector is of utmost importance for sustaining the livelihoods and food security of the urban population.

The project will integrate development economics and development geography to empirically study the food system of Dhaka in Bangladesh. By means of qualitative methods the project addresses the following two guiding questions:

How is the megaurban society of Dhaka organized around food?
How might the food system change in the future under various plausible scenarios?

Research Team:

Project Speaker: Prof. Dr. Hans-Georg Bohle (Geography Department, University of Bonn). E-Mail: bohle@giub.uni-bonn.de, Tel.: (+49) 228 73 - 3688

Project Coordinator: Dr. Wolfgang-Peter Zingel (Department of International Economics, South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg). E-Mail: h93@ix.urz.uni-heidelberg.de, Tel.: (+49) 6221 54 - 8913

Research Associate: Dipl.-Geogr. Benjamin Etzold (Geography Department, University of Bonn). E-Mail: etzold@giub.uni-bonn.de, Tel.: (+49) 228 73 - 3852

Research Associate: Dipl.-Geogr. Markus Keck (Department of International Economics, South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg). E-Mail: keck@uni-heidelberg.de, Tel.: (+49) 228 73 - 3852

Publications

Bohle, H., Etzold, B., Keck, M. (2009): Resilience as Agency. In: IHDP-Update 2009, 2, pp. 8-13. [online access]
Bohle, H. (2008): Food Vulnerability – Health Vulnerability. Convergence and Common Ground in Global Change Research. In: Exner, M., Klein, G., Rechkemmer, A., Schmidt, F. (Eds.): Towards Sustainable Global Health, UNU-SOURCE, Publications Series of UNU-EHS 2008, 11, pp. 38-41. [online access]
Butsch, C., Etzold, B., Sakdapolrak, P. (2009): The Megacity Resilience Framework . In: Policy Brief. Munich Re Foundation & United Nations University - Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS). [online access]
Etzold, B., Bohle, H., Keck, M., Zingel, W. (2009): Informality as Agency – Negotiating Food Security in Dhaka. In: Die Erde 2009, 140, 1, pp. 3-24. [online access]
Etzold, B., Keck, M. (2009): Politics of Space in the Megacity Dhaka: Negotiation of Rules in Contested Urban Arenas. In: UGEC Update 2009, 2, pp. 13-15. [online access]
Etzold, B. (2008): Street Food in the Megacity Dhaka: How can we conceptualize its role within the megaurban food system. In: UNU-EHS SOURCE 2008, 10 Bonn [online access]