Learn to apply a transdisciplinary systems thinking method to collaborate across sectors for healthier urban food systems. Our current urban food systems are linked to multiple challenges of human and planetary health such as obesity, malnutrition, desertification, loss of biodiversity and climate change. Thus, rethinking our urban food systems can improve urban and planetary health. The relationships between urban food systems, health, and climate resilience are complex and multi-sectoral. However, the various professions involved in shaping urban food systems commonly approach these challenges with their own paradigms and disciplinary views. This workshop enables participants to cross disciplinary boundaries, fostering collaboration for more resilient urban food systems. Participants will learn and apply a systems thinking method to recognise the complex interrelationships between the ecosystem, urban food systems and health.
Learning objectives After this workshop, participants should be able to understand the following:
- The complex interrelationships of urban food systems
- The value of systems thinking approaches for urban health and climate resilience
- The basic ecological cycle that underlies our food systems
Expected outcomesThrough working only with small parts of a complex urban food system - which is impossible to grasp in its entirety - participants will learn to appreciate the vast interconnectedness of elements and the importance of the ecological cycle. This workshop aims to provide a general overview of ‘the urban food system’ to equip participants with an understanding of its complexity and the value of systems thinking to grapple with this complexity without oversimplifying or feeling overwhelmed. Through this workshop, the need to further efforts in intersectoral and interdisciplinary collaboration is shown. A direct output of the workshop will be the diverse system diagrams which will be distributed and published after the conference. Only by engaging diverse actors with different viewpoints and experiences do we have a chance to appreciate urban food systems in more holistic ways and shape them towards better health for people and planet.
