This unit interprets economies as social-ecological systems that provide the material infrastructures, services, and goods to satisfy human needs. Economics is then the discipline that studies how to satisfy those needs in a socially just and ecologically sustainable way.  Such a broad understanding distinguishes different economic zones with more or less relevance for satisfying needs and investigates production and consumption in an integrated way. It focuses on the gendered and ethnicized provisioning of basic infrastructures, goods, and services (including housing, care, mobility, energy) and examines how provisioning systems need to be transformed to adapt to and are transformed by social-ecological crises. The unit has a strong transdisciplinary focus, due to the importance of involving stakeholders in shaping inclusive and sustainable provisioning of foundational infrastructures, goods, and services.