The GSGS travel grant 2019/A gave me the opportunity to participate in the Deutscher Kongress für Geographie (DKG) 2019 in Kiel, Germany. Taking place every two years, the DKG is the largest meeting of geographers in Germany. More than 2000 participants attended the 2019 conference that enabled a platform for scientists, teachers, and exhibitors. Together with many other geographers from Cologne, I traveled to Kiel to present the current stage of my research and to get in contact with the German community.
Together with my colleague Alexander Follmann, I presented two approaches of our joint research: First, we developed a systematic meta-analysis on case studies from literature that research transformations of urban and peri-urban agriculture in the Global South under the pressure of urbanization. Second, we presented the first results from our field survey conducted in February 2019 in Kenya. We aim to bring each contribution to a single paper publication and benefited from feedback not only in the particular sessions, but also from informal discussions during the conference. Beyond that, the DKG 2019 opened up a wide range of inspiring scientific sessions that, in total, represent the current state of geographical research in Germany. In this context, I was particularly interested in the recent strategic orientation of the subject Geography which was discussed in a larger number of keynotes, sessions, and panel discussions.
The DGK 2019 provided great benefits for me. I sincerely thank the Graduate School of Geosciences of the University of Cologne for the support!
Maximilian Willkomm
PhD student
Institute of Geography
PhD project: “Transformations of urban and peri-urban agriculture i Nakuru and Nyeri, Kenya”
M. Willkomm, A. Follmann & P. Dannenberg: Socio-ecological transformations of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) in sub-Saharan African cities: empirical insights from Nyeri and Nakuru, Kenya (oral presentation)
A. Follmann & M. Willkomm: As the city grows, what do the farmers do? A review of urban and peri-urban agriculture in the Global South (oral presentation