The dichotomy between the rural and the urban is deeply entrenched not only in many forms of everyday knowledge but also in much academic scholarship and practice. However, the forms and processes that massive global urbanization is taking on, as well as scientific concepts developed to understand these phenomena—such as “planetary urbanization”—call this dichotomy into question. “Rurbanity” is one such concept. It posits the co-presence of rural and urban phenomena in geographical space and social practice and directs attention to the assemblages that are continuously forming and changing under conditions of heterogeneity. Taking the case of livestock keeping in wider Accra, Ghana, the talk presents the Research Unit “Sustainable Rurbanity – Resources, Society, and Regulatory Systems” and offers initial insights from ongoing research into the formation of rurban livelihoods through livestock keeping.
