Designing local food systems in everyday life through service design strategies

Abstract

: The paper’s practical objective is to provide those developing community-scale food systems with an implementable model. Its theoretical objective is to examine the ways to effectively design post-capitalist models for food systems. In providing a testable model for food systems design, the paper advances concept formation in the field. The case study approach recognizes that local food systems design cannot depend on abstract, formalized models due to the specificity of each project. The crucial role for designers include the involvement of end-users in everyday life in the research process, experimentation in everyday life, building relationships, as well as prototyping, policy making and implementation of services to be delivered by public agencies. People-led food systems can engage agencies and citizens in a co-production process whereby users design and implement their own service program that can be enabled by public agencies. Design-led food strategies illustrate an approach to create eco-acupuncture points that will ultimately start to change the dominant industrial agriculture system into a new social and economic paradigm.