Visiting the field: community entry and outline of small-town dynamics
During the first months of 2024, the teams visited the four RurbanClimate field sites (small towns), Savelugu and Kumbungu in Ghana and Ziniaré and Kombissiri in Burkina Faso. They made acquaintance with local administrative officers and traditional community leaders to gain acceptance and support for the research in general and conducting the forthcoming household survey in particular.
In March and April 2024, the teams conducted initial mapping, observations and short interviews with men and women encountered during transect walks around the small towns. The main idea was to get an overview and first understanding of the spatial variations in urban history and organization, small-town development, natural resource use, urban services, and critical infrastructures, and not least to identify areas of social and environmental vulnerability.
The field visits also contributed to an initial understanding of urban development in the small towns and how environmental and climate change dynamics intersect with these processes. This has subsequently fed into the identification of relevant areas, people, themes, and questions to be explored in the household surveys and subsequent follow-up interviews.