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

在过去的三十年里，住宅房地产市场经历了显著的增长，这与从工业生产到金融市场作为主要投资场所的转变是一致的。特别是住宅房地产变得更加普遍，加速了农业衰退地区的土地投机和城市化模式。这些转变的社会生态影响是巨大的，包括农村人口的流离失所和隔离、生计变化和工作不稳定、森林砍伐、水资源私有化和气候脆弱性增加等过程。除了为一名人类学研究生在经验数据收集和分析方法方面的培训提供资金外，该博士论文项目还对推动这些景观转变过程的经济和政治实践以及受快速城市化影响地区农村社区的经验进行了科学分析。本博士论文研究项目考察了快速城市化背景下农业生产者之间的房地产投机与水资源获取之间的关系。它提出了三个关于农村土地投机和房地产开发过程的问题：(1)不同的农村社区如何经历城市化的压力及其隐含的非城市化过程？(2)在该地区购买住宅物业的主要团体是哪些？这些物业的主要用途是什么？(3)政府官员优先考虑房地产商推动的供水城市化的合理性是什么？为了回答这些问题，博士生将分析两个前农业生产属性的历史，这些属性已被定位为住宅开发地点。研究人员还将与居民、州政府官员、开发商、城市规划者和其他相关群体进行档案研究、口述历史和半结构化研究。这些历史将有助于科学地理解快速城市化与房地产市场金融化之间的关系，以及全球金融市场的增长在多大程度上定义了人与环境的关系。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.