Places to Intervene in the Global Food System: Defining Problems That Designers Should Address

Global food is a wicked problem––a system of complex issues that are confounding in the way that they cross cultures and thus impossible for any single discipline to address. Wicked problems tend to cross disciplines in terms of relevance. Even though art historian Grace Lees-Maffei in CAA’s “Design History: The State of the Art” (2016) noted the development of the International Food Design Society in 2009; she also profoundly notes that food is still a “relatively unexplored area of design.” The question now becomes: Where in the wicked system, can designers begin to address the global food problem? This session aims to answer this question by defining food problems that design should address. We will provide an overview of the wicked system of global food; by doing so, we aim to identify, what Harvard biophysicist Dr. Donella H. Meadows calls “leverage points;” that is, “places within the system where a small shift in one thing can produce big changes in everything.” This presentation will highlight design leverage points in the global food system––inclusive of agriculture, accessibility, sustainability, production, packaging, safety, distribution, consumption, recall communications, or waste––where designers can synthesize design thinking and technological resources to address human needs and potentially make the most positive impact.