Skip to main content

Theoretical overview and papers in the study of food systems

Geschrieben von cyberhippie am . Veröffentlicht in Allgemein. Keine Kommentare zu Theoretical overview and papers in the study of food systems

Theoretical overview and key findings from 18 research papers in the study of food systems

André Boeing, January 15th 2024

The concept of food systems encompasses a broad spectrum of activities and contexts, ranging from basic production and processing to advanced integration into urban planning and smart city designs.

This page provides a succinct overview of food systems across three distinct but interconnected domains: general food systems, food systems in city regions and food systems within smart eco-cities. Each section offers a summary of key findings from recent research papers, highlighting the evolving nature of food systems and their growing importance in sustainable urban development.

food systems

Foreword

My proposal for a simplified 4 quadrant model of integrated  food systems in the educational context of the ktopia project resulted from the complexities and layers I found in the theoretical studies and CRFS Frameworks. Although of immense value in policy making, process design and science, complex models are challenging in communicating to a diversity of people in participatory citizen food system projects.

One, where it all grows. One, where it is being processed. One where it is being cooked and eaten and one where all the waste goes. Cultivation > Processing > Cook & Eat (consumption) > Waste. This model can be explained on one hand with the thumb touching the other fingers. It is simple enough to use in food systems education and inclusive participation from pre-school to the many diverse actors in city regions.

Taking „A conceptual model of the food and nutrition system“ from J. Sobal, L. Khan and C. Bisogni from 1998 as a foundation to illustrate the complexity.


 „Four major types of models were identified: food chains, food cycles, food webs and food contexts. The integrated model developed included three subsystems (producer, consumer, nutrition) and nine stages (production, processing, distribution, acquisition, preparation, consumption, digestion, transport, metabolism).

The integrated model considers the processes and transformations that occur within the system and relationships between the system and other systems in the biophysical and social environments. The integrated conceptual model of the food and nutrition system presents food and nutrition activities as part of a larger context and identifies linkages among the many disciplines that deal with the food and nutrition system.“
(Sobal, Khan, & Bisogni, 1998)

To further deepen the understanding of food systems and application in our city region Kassel, Germany I created this research page as a basic overview separated into 3 sections with 6 key findings from research papers.

André Boeing, January 2024, Kassel

1. Food System in the general context

  • Conceptual Framework of Food Systems

    Food and nutrition activities are part of a larger context, with subsystems including production, processing, and consumption. This integrated model considers the relationships between these activities and the biophysical and social environments (Sobal, Khan, & Bisogni, 1998)

  • Rapid Transformation in Developing Regions

    Food systems in developing regions have undergone rapid transformations, largely influenced by agricultural research and innovations. These changes have significant impacts on consumers, farmers, and the overall efficiency and sustainability of the food chain (Reardon et al., 2019).

  • Sustainability and Vulnerability

    Sustainable food systems are critical for addressing environmental, economic, and social challenges. A model that articulates the vulnerability and resilience factors to global changes can guide policy towards sustainability and improved food and nutrition security (Allen & Prosperi, 2016).

  • Environmental Impacts and Limits

    The food system is a major driver of environmental challenges, including climate change and resource depletion. A combination of measures, including dietary changes and improvements in technology, is necessary to mitigate these impacts and keep the system within planetary boundaries (Springmann et al., 2018)

  • Biomass Metabolism and Resource Efficiency

    The food system significantly influences the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, water, and nitrogen. Understanding the total turnover of biomass and resource efficiency is crucial for assessing the environmental impacts of the food system (Wirsenius, 2003).

  • Role of Agricultural Biodiversity

    Agricultural biodiversity is essential for the resilience of traditional food systems and global food security. It plays a key role in balancing diet diversity, health, and sustainable economic growth (Johns et al., 2013).

In conclusion, food systems are multifaceted and critical for global well-being, requiring integrated approaches to ensure their sustainability, efficiency, and resilience in the face of environmental and socio-economic challenges.

2. Food System in the context of city regions

Food systems within city regions, also known as City Region Food Systems (CRFS), are increasingly recognized as vital for enhancing urban food security and sustainability, especially in the face of challenges like urbanization, climate change, and socio-economic disparities. The following points provide a comprehensive overview of the current understanding and initiatives related to CRFS:

  • Smart City Planning and Urban Food Systems

    The integration of smart city planning with urban food systems can promote flexible and inclusive governance models, emphasizing technological and social innovations tailored to specific city-region contexts (Maye, 2019).

  • Integration of Urban and Rural Development

    The CRFS approach supports local governments and policymakers in making informed decisions to improve urban and regional food system sustainability, taking into account the integration of urban and rural areas. Case studies from Latin America highlight policy uptake and territorial food planning (Dubbeling et al., 2017).

  • Resilience During Pandemics:

    The resilience of city-region food systems during crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, is crucial. The case of the Paris-Rungis market illustrates the importance of collaborative supply chain resilience, including partnerships, digitization, and multi-stakeholder control (Thiesset & Vlachos, 2022).

  • Building Resilience to Shocks

    A CRFS approach can contribute to regional sustainability and resilience to shocks like COVID-19 and climate change. Key entry points include multistakeholder engagement, robust infrastructure support, system-centered planning, and effective policy implementation (Blay-Palmer et al., 2021)

  • Inclusive and Transformational CRFS

    A critical assessment of the CRFS approach suggests its potential in addressing complex challenges like integrated governance, territorial development, metabolic flows, and climate change, thereby contributing to sustainable food systems (Blay-Palmer et al., 2018).

  • Foodscapes in Rapidly Urbanizing Regions

    An exploration of Dar es Salaam’s foodscape reveals that staple foods are sourced from rural hinterlands through a food system that represents a working alternative to the global corporate food system (Wegerif & Wiskerke, 2017)

In conclusion, city-region food systems play a crucial role in addressing the sustainability, resilience, and equity challenges of urban food security. This requires a collaborative and integrative approach involving various stakeholders, innovative practices, and effective policy frameworks.

3. Food System in the context of smart eco cities

In the context of smart eco-cities, food systems are increasingly being integrated with advanced technologies and innovative approaches to create sustainable, efficient, and resilient urban environments. Here are some key insights from recent studies:

  • Smart City Planning and Urban Food Systems

    The integration of smart city planning with urban food systems can promote flexible and inclusive governance models, emphasizing technological and social innovations tailored to specific city-region contexts (Maye, 2019).

  • Digital Communication in Food Environments:

    Digital technologies can enable participation of all residents, including the food insecure, in co-designing sustainable and inclusive food environments. This approach, known as ‚hacking the foodscape,‘ involves engaging eaters in the co-design of local foodscapes or places related to food activities (Mann, 2020).

  • IoT for Urban Agriculture and Precision Applications:

     Internet of Things (IoT) technology is crucial for automating and providing intelligence to urban agriculture, especially in smart cities. The IoT architecture can enable efficient automation of urban farming and precision agronomy, contributing to sustainable food production within cities (Ordoñez-García et al., 2017).

  • Integrating Urban Food Systems into Smart City Policymaking:

     This study explores the integration of urban agri-food systems into smart city policies. It discusses approaches to democratizing smart city concepts with a focus on market and non-market activities, including forms of urban activism pursuing urban food systems in Australia and Germany (Dela Cruz et al., 2019).

  • Sensor Data Collection in Smart City Food Supply Chains

    IoT systems in smart cities can monitor, analyze, and manage food industries, improving efficiency and accuracy of food provenance. This approach can significantly enhance food safety and traceability in urban areas (Zhang et al., 2013).

  • Foodscapes in Rapidly Urbanizing Regions

    An exploration of Dar es Salaam’s foodscape reveals that staple foods are sourced from rural hinterlands through a food system that represents a working alternative to the global corporate food system (Wegerif & Wiskerke, 2017)

In conclusion, the integration of advanced technologies like IoT, along with participatory and innovative approaches, is central to developing resilient and sustainable food systems in the context of smart eco-cities.

Weiterlesen

4q Boardgame

Geschrieben von cyberhippie am . Veröffentlicht in Allgemein. Keine Kommentare zu 4q Boardgame

food system
the board game

André Boeing January 9th, 2024

8 minute read – you can listen to this page read by the author

Download MP3

Simplifying the complexity of food systems to 4 quadrants and designing an educational board game to learn about food systems.

As a beginner in the wide fields of food systems I was overwhelmed with the complexity of the different aspects and sub-systems last Monday: my first day in this new work topic as an educator or more precise in the context of food systems: a 1st year student.

I had to simplify the whole thing for myself to better locate where I want to explore the „World of Food Systems“in the huge, integrated systems of food circulation – a timeless, fundamental basis, that keeps us alive. Way back in time and into the Future.

4 quadrants, that one thumb can count on one hand touching each finger: One, where all the food grows. One, where it is being processed. One, where it is being cooked and eaten. And one, where all the waste goes:
Cultivating > Processing > Cook & Eat > Waste. A cycle.

The board and systems map

I was able to reduce the many aspects of food systems into 4 main quadrants and briefly tested if I could fit or squeeze every aspect into one of these 4 quadrants.

4 quadrants, that one thumb can count on one hand touching each finger: One, where all the food grows. One, where it is processed. One, where it is cooked and eaten. And one, where all the waste goes: Cultivating > Processing > Cook & Eat > Waste. A cycle repeating itself.

I am easy to catch with a more gameful, playful, mythic, colorful and engaging approach to a 4 quadrant model. A simple diagram chart doesn´t do that for me although it´s helpful in the later process. I need a narrative, a story, a game, a quest to get going and I know, many of the young people of many ages I work with feel the same.

So my work buddy Chatti Gippity in it´s version 4 and the painter Dall-E and I were hanging out to find a graphical style and fitting Illustrations. A Mandala and colorful, vivid, surreal hidden objects playfield. After many many prompts and even conflicts with my mates that drove me crazy, I finished the thing with classic, manual Photoshopping grateful for the helpful input of my AI work mates. On day 2 we had a finished board and map + a simplified model.

A quest card – fun tasks for the exploration of complexities

Next I had to get my self on a demo quest in one of those 4 quadrants and did a thing on Waste which is documented in this Journal entry:

Waste Land – beginning at the end

After the succesful quest I could reduce the steps into a demo quest card that we pick in the board game after an empty bottle rotating in the center of the board and stopping randomly in one of the 4 quadrants to indicate your quest type in the top left of each card.

On the way I´ve created a set of open source Photoshop PSD and AI generated grafix that can be easily shared under a Creative Commons Share alike for the creation of quest cards and printing out the board game at home,  schools and educational places. This helps to rollout possible helpful solutions for the common good very fast.

The cards have the standard size of common TCG ( Trade Card Games like Pokémon, Magic the Gathering, etc.) – so it is easy to buy some cool card sleeves for the printouts. 2.5 inches × 3.5 inches (6.3cm × 8.8cm)

A simplified 4 quadrant model for exploring food systems

Rotating clockwise from the top right quadrant. In the best case waste equals soil at 12 o’clock

  • 4 Waste

    Our food systems create a variety of waste types with different kind of recyclabilities and decomposition times.

    In Kassel we seperate or try to in hour house holds:
    Residual Waste which can´t be recycled, light plastics for re-cycling, green compost, waste paper, empty, re-usable bottles, waste glas, batteries, electronics and bulk waste.

    In the production of food products we have many more waste types from transportation, water pollution, etc.

  • 1 Cultivation

    Cultivation in Biology is the creation and maintenance of conditions that ensure the growth of certain organisms.

    Soil, Water, Seeds, Light. Agriculture, the land-based cultivation and breeding of plants (known as crops), fungi and domesticated animals. Horticulture, Permaculture, Aquaculture or Fungiculture. Large Scale Farming, community- or home gardening. To make it short: everything that creates and produces raw food ingredients.

  • 3 Cook+Eat

    This part in food system theory is usually being called „consumption“. A not so pretty word for the holy acts of cooking and eating in my opinion.

    At home, in gastronomy, delivery food, cantines, clinics, welfare places – people love to cook & eat – everywhere.

    Cooking & Food is a whole culture of so many subcultures a highly social quadrant in food systems.

  • 2 Processing

    Transforming raw agricultural products into other forms, ingredients and mixed compositions.

    Milling wheat into flour is a simple processing.
    De-hydrating xx tons of tomatoes into a pulverized form, adding different kind of natural and artificial ingredients to have a fast sauce pulver ready to use in 2 minutes in Gastronomy is a more complex way of processing.

  • 1 Cultivation

    Cultivation in Biology is the creation and maintenance of conditions that ensure the growth of certain organisms.

    Soil, Water, Seeds, Light. Agriculture, the land-based cultivation and breeding of plants (known as crops), fungi and domesticated animals. Horticulture, Permaculture, Aquaculture or Fungiculture. Large Scale Farming, community- or home gardening. To make it short: everything that creates and produces raw food ingredients.

  • 2 Processing

    Transforming raw agricultural products into other forms, ingredients and mixed compositions.

    Milling wheat into flour is a simple processing.
    De-hydrating xx tons of tomatoes into a pulverized form, adding different kind of natural and artificial ingredients to have a fast sauce pulver ready to use in 2 minutes in Gastronomy is a more complex way of processing.

  • 3 Cook+Eat

    This part in food system theory is usually being called „consumption“. A not so pretty word for the holy acts of cooking and eating in my opinion.

    At home, in gastronomy, delivery food, cantines, clinics, welfare places – people love to cook & eat – everywhere.

    Cooking & Food is a whole culture of so many subcultures a highly social quadrant in food systems.

  • 4 Waste

    Our food systems create a variety of waste types with different kind of recyclabilities and decomposition times.

    In Kassel we seperate or try to in hour house holds:
    Residual Waste which can´t be recycled, light plastics for re-cycling, green compost, waste paper, empty, re-usable bottles, waste glas, batteries, electronics and bulk waste.

    In the production of food products we have many more waste types from transportation, water pollution, etc.

One, where all the food grows.
One, where it is being processed.
One, where it is being cooked and eaten.
and One, where all the waste goes:
Cultivating > Processing > Cook & Eat > Waste
A cycle…

A simplified model to navigate the wide landscape of food systems, a narrative and mythical grafix style + a fun board game to inspire exploration are great results of the first ktopia week. Next week we will finalize the first version of the analog board game and will play a couple rounds in an alpha test @Futurespace Yay 🙂

back to Journal

Weiterlesen

Waste: Beginning with the end

Geschrieben von cyberhippie am . Veröffentlicht in Allgemein, Waste. Keine Kommentare zu Waste: Beginning with the end

waste land

beginning at the end

André Boeing – January 11th 2024

15 Minute read – You can also listen to this page as a podcast

Download MP3

Making sense from public waste datasets with AI as a partner in citizen science curiosities

As a citizen of the documenta City of Kassel, Germany and a layman non-professional when it comes to Waste Management and understanding the statistics I needed help to create a dataset from the PDF that I can then ask in a natural way along my citizen science curiosities. 

I also had to change the metrics to kg. A metric, I am more used to in my daily live when stepping on a weight scale, buying flour, potatoes or for the easy conversion to Liters for fluids, where 1 Liter equals 1 Kilogram. I now have a better feeling for the waste scope instead of using Mg/a which I cannot even speak out correctly.

some waste statistics Kassel, 2022
generated by Citizen <>AI Collaboration

Human citizen asked questions and learned how to ask better and more precise questions along the way. AI answered and explained the way it got to the answer – for humans own replication and re-calculation which of cause I haven´t done. Human used intuition and curiosity, AI used calculation and explanation of how it calculated.

  • 2.528.600.000 ( 2 Milliarden 528 Millionnen 600 Tausend) normale A4 Blätter sind vom Gewichtsvergleich her allein in Kassel als Altpapier in 2022 angefallen. Das entspricht 12.643.000 Kilogramm Papier.

  • 162,147,000 Kilogramm Müll haben wir in Kassel als Bürger:innen und Gewerbe in 2022 produziert

  • 2,702,450 mal Ich vom Gewicht her und wir haben das Müllgewicht in unserer Stadt, das wir 2022 produziert haben. Wieviel kg wiege ich ? 😉

  • some answers that came out of the dialogue and questioning in German

ChatGPT created a Python script with the data set. This Python does not bite and just uses minmal bytes to do stuff.

And then we can simply ask questions in our natural language. How much waste in kg ? without industrial waste ? Just the ones we can re-cycle, etc.

For example I asked for a circle diagram showing the different kind of waste types just for household waste.

The second code snippet plotted the tasty pie. This code stuff is optional for fiddling and only opens when clicked. We can simply continue to ask in a natural way, of cause.

# Extracting the data from the provided information to create a dataset
waste_data = {
    "Year": ["2020", "2021", "2022"],
    "Restabfall": [34630, 33331, 32426],  # in Mg/a
    "Bio_und_Gruenabfall": [22173, 24355, 20005],
    "Sperrmuell": [6729, 7529, 5766],
    "Altholz": [6221, 4667, 3889],
    "Altpapier": [14510, 13651, 12643],
    "Altglas": [4275, 4229, 4069],
    "Leichtverpackungen": [5875, 6755, 6950],
    "Sonstige_Wertstoffe": [9440, 10850, 9200],
    "Gewerbeabfaelle_beseitigt": [824, 943, 508],
    "Gewerbeabfaelle_thermisch_verwertet": [58224, 60326, 63254],
    "Sonstige_beseitigte_Abfaelle": [2729, 2368, 2286],
    "Gewerbeabfall_zur_Sortierung": [5735, 5143, 6917],
    "Gesamte_Abfaelle": [164636, 166618, 162147]  # Total waste in Mg/a
}

waste_data


import pandas as pd

# Re-creating the DataFrame from the extracted data
waste_data_2022 = {
    "Restabfall": 32426,
    "Bio_und_Gruenabfall": 20005,
    "Sperrmuell": 5766,
    "Altholz": 3889,
    "Altpapier": 12643,
    "Altglas": 4069,
    "Leichtverpackungen": 6950,
    "Sonstige_Wertstoffe": 9200,
    "Sonstige_beseitigte_Abfaelle": 2286
}

waste_df_2022 = pd.DataFrame([waste_data_2022])

# Plotting the pie chart for waste types excluding commercial waste
plt.figure(figsize=(10, 8))
plt.pie(waste_df_2022.iloc[0], labels=waste_df_2022.columns, autopct='%1.1f%%', startangle=140, colors=plt.cm.tab20.colors)
plt.title('Prozentuale Verteilung der Müllarten ohne Gewerbemüll in Kassel, 2022')
plt.show()

Checking out some real humans I could call by phone and ask my open questions in my city I surfed along these public waste management orgs and loved the wide range of services they offer + the way they communicate. Personal, human, elegant in style and natural.

Check it out – Great website & common good services
https://www.abfall-kreis-kassel.de/

63.254.000 kg commercial waste
thermally recycled in 2022

Das Müllheizkraftwerk Kassel (MHKW)

Infos about MHKW

Personal Conclusions

Yeah 🙂 Celebrating the 20.6% organic waste used for new soil in a short period of time.  The light blue second biggest chunk in our waste pie.

Let´s talk about the Pac Man in the room. How come, we produce un-usuable, residual waste: „restmüll“. That biggest blue chunk in the statistic pie. A third of everything. 33.3% of our household waste. And only that tiny red piece with 7.2% is recyclable lightweight packaging – yellow bag – former „Gelber Sack“. What happened ?

  • Looking @ my self

    What are my biggest 2 chunks in the pie – my biggest waste  ?

    For me it´s

    1. Waste Paper Why do I use soo much paper ? Because it feels so „sustainable“, „natural“ and re-growing in endless rolls of toilet paper and sustainable food packaging ? Completely ignoring the amount of imported trees in paper production even with a high recycling rate ?
    2. Recyclable lightweight packaging. Feels light and clean from convenient zip and ready stuff. Collects well. My beloved eco work bag is made from pulverized recycled plastics. Yeah nice but shouldn´t I reduce ?

    + probably a hell load of bulky waste
    Residual Waste climbs to No 2 in my hardcore delivery Food phases at Lieferandos.

  • Looking @ my analog social networks, friends and work

    I have noticed a dominant habit of not separating waste among places I work and @ most of my friends houses. There´s a common meme that I hear which goes like this: „Waste separation ? Everything lands in the same dump anyway – so why the extra work in my busy daily life ?“

    So that´s a big question I will ask. Is that right or just a common excuse ?

Some Questions I want to ask a local expert..

  • DOES it all land in the same dump ?

    ?

  • 33.3% residual, un-usuable waste ? How come ?

    ?

  • and Where does it go ?

    ?

  • What happens with the Recyclable lightweight packaging ?

    ?

  • So much organic waste. Cool! What do we do with it ?

    ?

  • Are you up for a public Q+A where citizens can ask you questions about our waste ?

    ?

Had a friendly, informative phone chat with Mrs. Suchy, head of educational projects (Pädagogik) for the Waste Circle Kassel  (AKK). We chatted briefly about my questions and she can guide me to the right person to talk in depth + we talked about a possible group expedition in Q2 2024 exploring „The Way of Waste“ in our city region. Click me to get to the waste circle..

3 final conclusions for now

  • Did the numbers tell me something new ? The need to avoid waste where I can and separate the rest for recycling ? Of cause not. I´ve been knowing for so long and yet I do not act as much as I could. Maybe awareness, questioning and understanding the bigger picture helps me to contribute to solutions besides continuing to simply do better  ?

  • If the biggest chunk of our household waste is still un-usuable, residual waste – then do we have to amplify the citizen smart waste education in engaging different resonance groups ?

    Call to Action for ktopia agents:
    Design & Prototype fun educational modules in smart waste competence

  • Open Data, accessible and „askable“ in my natural lay language helped me to understand the bigger picture of our local wasteland as a citizen and to develop better questions in asking an open AI + real people with a vocation in that field – people I can meet and potentially collaborate with on our waste lands.

    To be continued…

André Boeing

the author & speaker

Freelancing Educator in Education for Sustainable Development, father of 2, in 2024 10th anniversary as a citizen of Kassel. Initiator of ktopia

website

Waste

published January 11th 2024
in category

Weiterlesen

  • 1
  • 2