FoodE launches participatory activities where local communities and several food chain actors (citizens, students, consumers, researchers, entrepreneurs, policy makers, representative of the civil society etc.) are asked to actively contribute to the co-design and co-creation of local food system initiatives.
Such activities will be launched in 12 European cities hosting 15 food system pilot projects:
| International student challenge (Urban Farm, 3rd edition) | “Urban Farm” is an international competition, involving multidisciplinary teams of students, in the design of innovative urban agriculture systems that integrate the best architectural and technological innovations to produce plants in urban environments. Three pilot projects in the cities of Naples, Bologna (Italy) and Romainville (France) will be the target locations of the new open challenge. The cases will be studied and redesigned by the student teams, to propose the best strategies in the three pillars of sustainability (economic, environmental and social).(https://site.unibo.it/urban-farm/en/the-challenge/urban-farm-2021) |
| Local challenges and Hackathons | Very similar to “Urban farm”, but on a smaller and local scale, hackathons and project-based challenges are innovative proving ground for new ideas and powerful instruments to stimulate the creativity and problem-solving abilities of their participants. The purpose is to engage several domain experts in difference disciplines as well as outsiders and challenge themselves in creating and delivering a functioning products or services by the end of the events. |
| Survey tools | Questionnaires and interviews will be used to gather information from different groups of experts and acquiring substantial amounts of data on one or more topics. The responses will be collected and analyzed and will be used to guide the direction of the existing project and future project development. |
| Co-design workshops | Workshops offering hand-on experiences can be used in the ideation or concepting phases of the project design process. Collaborating with (potential) users ensures their inclusion in knowledge development, idea generation and concept development on products or services whose ultimate goal is to best meet these same users’ needs. |
| Focus groups | Focus groups can be powerful tools to explore ideas, share knowledge and create mutual learning opportunities among a group of participants differing in their experiences and backgrounds, about a topic of mutual interest. Focus groups will be organized as standalone activities or in the framework of already organized events (e.g. conferences) according to the specific pilot plans. |
The activities will take place between September 2020 and January 2021. Follow us on social media and on FoodE webpage for all the updates!
