Forschungsfragen und -desiderate zu Südostasien aus geographischer Sicht

Abstract

The article focuses on the research topics and emphasis of Germany Geographical Research on South East Asia and is also to be seen as contribution to the recent discussion on the role and importance of Asian Sciences at German universities. The article describes the main topics of the past 50 years of research and outlines the desiderata of future geographical research. The main aims of geographical research lie in the integrative view and analysis of the relationship between the potentials of different physical landscapes and different human and cultural activities, including the combination of the perspectives and methods of both natural and societal sciences through exploratory fieldwork overseas. The chief-desiderata for the future lies in the fields of a) continuous destruction and devastation of human environments, b) the ecological consequences of settlement and the "green revolution", c) the growing scarcity of water resources, d) environmental hazards, e) increasing migration, and population dynamics, f) deficits in health services, g) socially disadvantaged and deprived population groups, h) growing regional and socio-econonomic disparities, g) growing urbanization and the problem of governability, h) sustainable rural development and resource usage, i) transformation processes,j) the processes of and solutions for the Asian crisis, k.) national and international conflict and cooperation patterns as well as I) the problems of modern regional planning for the developing peripheries of the relevant countries, including adequate decentralization and deconcentration processes.