International Journal of Food Design - Current Issue

This article explores how digital agri-food system transformations are framed and by whom. To answer these questions, we searched for webpages linked to Twitter and by Google that describe the role of emerging digital technologies in agri-food systems. From these, we characterize three framings of transformation. The first framing proposes that digital tools make farms optimally productive. A second framing emphasizes inequities in access to digital tools and increased farmer participation in tech development. A third framing highlights how technology creates more traceable agri-food systems. We then conducted a social network analysis of webpage authors, finding three network clusters. The largest centres on intergovernmental and international development organizations that typically promote the first and third framings. The second framing is mostly promoted by academic and civil society actors and was least common across webpages, suggesting that digital agriculture trajectories may overlook farmer autonomy and agency. Framings vary in the degree of transformation they promote and their consideration of smaller-scale farms’ needs. We suggest that digital agri-food system transformation efforts are more diverse than typically described in the literature. We recommend public and private actors work with academics and civil society organizations to enhance farmer inclusion in designing novel transformative approaches.

The rise of the globalized, industrial food system has widened the distance between producers and consumers. Over the last several years there has been a call for closing the distance between producers and consumers, and for more transparency in food systems. This need can be filled via procurement of local food, but there are often barriers to connect producers and consumers even when they live in proximity. The REKO model (short for Fair Consumption in Swedish) offers space for virtual reconnection via Facebook, which is used as its communication and ordering platform. The use of an already existing platform, which is often already widely in use among producers and consumers, has allowed the REKO concept to replicate and diffuse very effectively. Thus, REKO is a situated example of how digital interaction can radically alter the producer/consumer interactions in a local food community without having to invest heavily in infrastructures and technological developments. Drawing on experiences from the REKO network, this article explores the opportunities for food system reconnection, as well as the limitations of utilizing an existing technological platform to reconfigure local food interactions.

The challenges posed by the environmental sustainability and circular transition of food chains increasingly see the emergence of practices that link strategies and policies to territorial pilot projects that connect physical and digital infrastructures. This aspect is particularly evident in the change of urban production–transformation–distribution–consumption models. They are the basis of a complex system that influences individual and collective behaviours, life within neighbourhoods and the intertwining of incoming and outgoing food flows as the waste flow. The article will discuss the insight emerging from REFLOW, an EU H2020-funded project. It runs from June 2019 to May 2022, aiming to build an integrated approach for developing new participatory design and co-design practices dedicated to innovative and circular urban metabolisms to promote circular solutions capable of bringing environmental, social and economic benefits. In particular, the Milan Pilot involves the municipality of Milan, local makerspaces and FabLabs, agri-food enterprises and other local stakeholders. They collectively worked on municipal food markets to upgrade them into circularity hubs. The Milan Pilot – named ‘Food Market 4.0’ – concerns the design and prototyping of three product–service systems solutions to increase the circularity of the municipal covered markets and their offer service related to agri-food products. The solutions implemented are linked to a data layer that will be the basis of a city-wide renewal process of the 22 other ones. The prototypes could represent some of the building blocks of the datafication of the food distribution metabolisms and the start of a new interactive process of selling connected with other possible service offers.

Due to climate changes, resources availability and evolving markets, the food system is developing towards an articulated and complex ecology, with fast transformations occurring in food production, preparation, delivery and disposal. In this context, innovation is needed not just to ideate solutions to deal with a fast-changing system but also to accompany the change adopting a systemic long-term approach. We reflect on the transformational potential of design in the food sector enabled by digital technologies, one of the current major drivers of change. We define two levels of changes implying digital technologies, those that radically change the food system and those enabling changes within a given system. These levels are exemplified with case studies documented in literature and with students’ projects showing how transformational design can help grasp the complexity of current problems, and question the current status quo by facilitating a dialogue among stakeholders to stimulate behaviour change without prescribing it. In this article we encourage a paradigm shift of design from craft activity to a holistic approach of systemic thinking where the designer assumes the role of promoter and facilitator of change. Reflections on challenges at cultural, social and technological levels are provided in the conclusion section.

The importance of food and technology in modern society is undeniable. Technological advances have revolutionized how we produce, distribute and prepare food beyond local boundaries, and even how we eat. Eating is one of the most multisensory experiences in everyday life. All of our five senses (i.e. taste, smell, vision, hearing and touch) are involved. We first eat with our eyes, we can smell the food before we taste it, and then experience its textures and flavours in our mouth. However, the experience does not stop there. The sounds that come both from the environment in which we are immersed in while eating and our interactions with the food (e.g. chewing) and utensils we use to eat further influence our eating experiences. In all that, digital technology plays an increasingly important role, especially using emerging immersive technologies such as virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR). Designing at the intersection between technology and food requires multi-stakeholder commitments and a human experience-centred approach. Furthermore, it is essential to look beyond disciplinary boundaries and account for insights on various levels including the perceptual effects, experiential layers and technological advancements.