Oral Abstract Details

Author(s):
Yadira M. Méndez Lemus, Alejandro Martínez-García, Rocío García Cervantes, Elsa Ruíz Barrera

Affiliation:
Morelia Valley Institute of Technology: Sustainable Complex Systems Academic Group

Presentation Type:
Oral

Topic Area:
Evaluating changes to ecosystem goods and services along urban-rural gradients

Abstract Text:
Urban areas around the world have shown a significant increase in size and population. Whereas urban growth creates economic, social and cultural opportunities, it also brings several problems, such as food insecurity, unemployment, low incomes, illegal settlements, conflicts over land and water, lack of basic infrastructure, contamination of soil, air and water, and lack of political action to counteract these negative events. This is particularly relevant for peri-urban areas, since most urban growth is taking place in the peri-urban interface. Changes occurring in the peripheral areas of cities due to rural-urban linkages bring to peri-urban agricultural systems more threats than opportunities, because they affect the nature, availability and functionality of assets required for agricultural production. Such changes transform the way farmers organize themselves to get access to resources, generating new forms of organization and altering even more their peri-urban surroundings. On their side, peri-urban agricultural systems can be considered as complex, since their behaviours emerge from non-lineal relationships among its components and between these and the environment. In order to gain a better and deeper understanding of the dynamics among urban and rural areas, and peri-urban agricultural systems for decision-making purposes, this paper introduces the empirical evidence of the application of a framework based on complex systems approaches in both the metropolitan areas of Mexico City and Morelia, Michocan State, Mexico.