Students in the Spring 2024 “Design for Climate Leadership: Food+Waste” workshop at Illinois Institute of Technology volunteer at the Greater Chicago Food Depository.
Over the past 12 months, Illinois Institute Technology (IIT) focused on mobilizing collaborative efforts to develop city-wide solutions for reducing food waste in Chicago. We strengthened our partnership with the City of Chicago and key stakeholders, using design tools and processes to foster creative and systemic approaches.
We used the IIT academic course, Design for Climate Leadership, as a platform for multi-stakeholder dialogue and ideation, aiming to generate policy-backed solutions
The course focused on framing the systemic issue of food waste in Chicago food retailers and envisioning pilots that leverage existing local initiatives, partnerships and assets. The course involved interviews with several local stakeholders, and the RECIPES “Fresh Rescue Champions” team. The class also participated in a site visit and volunteer activity with the Greater Chicago Food Depository.
The course report proposed three future pathways for preventing retail food waste in Chicago that leverage:
- Consumer demand for planet-friendly, healthy, transparent food
- Pre-Competitive Collaboration among retailers
- City – Retail Partnership for Public Health
We finalized the narrative analysis framework and toolkit that has been developed in the context of Design for Climate Leadership workshop course. The toolkit offers an accessible process for identifying and comparing how different stakeholder groups frame a systemic issue in their public narratives.
Students present research on food rescue best practices, speculative futures, and pilot proposals for increasing food rescue in City of Chicago groceries and retail establishments as part of Illinois Institute of Technology’s “Design for Climate Leadership: Food+Waste” workshop in Spring 2024.
Students and stakeholder collaborators discuss pilot proposals for increasing food rescue in City of Chicago groceries and retail establishments as part of Illinois Institute of Technology’s “Design for Climate Leadership: Food+Waste” workshop in Spring 2024.