At the Institute of Design Food Systems Action Lab, we develop knowledge, frameworks, and tools to visualize current states of our food systems and prototype pathways to better food futures for all.
Our Work
Our projects combine sustainability science, systemic design, and human centered design methods to explore ways to transform aspects of our food systems in order that they become more accessible, equitable, and sustainable for all life and our planet.
CF-MOB: Community Food Mobilization in Chicago, Good Food Purchasing Initiative
Community Food Mobilization in Chicago (CF-MOB) project is a one year pilot project that aims to identify pathways for local BIPOC food producers to nourish their communities by leveraging the purchasing power of large public institutions.
Values-Based Food Procurement Learning Network
We are developing a facilitated knowledge sharing and learning network of local government officials charged with implementing good food procurement strategies for their institutions and public agencies.
Multiscale RECIPES for Sustainable Food Systems
We are a member of Multiscale RECIPES, a research network that brings together researchers and institutions across the country to transform our wasteful food system into a sustainable, equitable and resilient one.
IIT CERC: Community Engaged Research Coalition
CERC emerged in response to a need for a coordinated approach at Illinois Tech to boost research, engage diverse stakeholders, and strengthen community ties for a more equitable future.
Updates
-
Weslynne Ashton on Investing in Food Waste Reduction Strategies
Lab’s co-lead Professor Weslynne Ashton spoke to Market Scale on key strategies for reducing food waste at scale, and the role of collaborations and partnerships: “Businesses want to do the right thing but are often unsure of what to do because the rules aren’t in place.”
-
New publication on EPIC 2023 Conference: The Un-common Good
We presented our new paper, 'The Un-common Good: Making Room for Radical Transition Imaginaries' at the EPIC 2023 Conference. 'How might our diverse visions for the 'common good' pave the way to radical transition pathways?'. The paper is available for download.
-
Closing the Loop: Food waste prevention pathways for Chicago
During Spring 2023, the Design for Climate Leadership course focused on a 14-week exploration where ten ID students worked with key stakeholders around food waste prevention in Chicago to envision equitable and sustainable pathways for keeping food from landfills.
-
Weslynne Ashton Joins NSF Research Aiming to Reduce Wasted Food Nationally
The RECIPES team includes experts drawn from environmental science, engineering, economics, anthropology, design, and other fields.
-
Equitable Food Procurement
Over the course of a 14-week collaboration between a variety of community partners involved in the Chicago food ecosystem, students were challenged to develop infrastructures to support the goals of the GFPP, which was adopted by the City of Chicago in October 2017. But they soon realized to succeed they would need to define an equitable and sustainable system for the movement of nutrients throughout Chicago.
-
Innovations in Wasted Food on FOX32 Chicago
Associate Professor Weslynne Ashton was featured on FOX32 Chicago. Weslynne has a joint appointment at the Institute of Design and the Stuart School of Business. She’s a sustainable systems scientist who focuses on the circular economy and increasing sustainability and equity in urban food systems.
What We Do
-
The Action Lab creates collaborations across communities, governments, business and experts to visualize current systems in order to maximize collective action and support adoption of equitable and sustainable future system solutions.
-
We transfer our learnings from our projects to build new tools and frameworks. Our research work is driven by a participatory and pluralistic approach to leverage the diversity of know-how and perspectives across the stakeholders for broadening our collective vision of what is possible and desirable.
-
Design for Climate Leadership and Methods of Community Development courses at ID are developed in tandem with our partnerships and research work.
Let’s meet!
Send us a message to learn more about our work and explore opportunities to collaborate.