Doctoral Dissertation Research: Real Estate Speculation and its Impact on Agricultural Access to Water Resources in Contexts of Rapid Urbanization

In the past three decades, residential real estate markets have undergone significant growth, consonant with the shift from industrial production to financial markets as a principle locus of investment. Residential real estate in particular has become more common, accelerating patterns of land speculation and urbanization in areas undergoing agricultural decline.

The socio-ecological effects of these transformations are vast and include processes such as the displacement and segregation of rural populations, livelihood change and work precaritization, deforestation, water privatization, and increases in climate vulnerability. In addition to providing funding for the training of a graduate student in anthropology in the methods of empirical data collection and analysis, this doctoral dissertation project provides a scientific analysis of the economic and political practices driving these processes of landscape transformation as well as the experiences of rural communities in areas impacted by rapid urbanization.

This doctoral dissertation research project examines the relationship between real estate speculation and water resource access among agricultural producers in a context of rapid urbanization. It asks three questions about the processes of land speculation and real estate development in rural areas: (1) How have different rural communities experienced the pressures for urbanization and the process of deruralization implied by it? (2) Which are the main groups acquiring residential property in the area and what are the main uses assigned to those properties? (3) What are the rationalities of governmental officials in prioritizing the urbanization of water supply promoted by real estate actors?

To answer these questions the doctoral student will analyze the histories of two former agricultural production properties which have been targeted as residential development sites. The researcher will also conduct archival research, oral histories and semi-structured with residents, state officials, developers, urban planners, and other relevant groups.

These histories will contribute to scientific understanding about the relationship between rapid urbanization and the financialization of real estate markets, and to what extent human-environment relations are defined by the growth of global financial markets.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.