Improving the future food environment
Challenge
Childhood obesity is a growing challenge that needs action today to support future wellbeing.
Impact on Urban Health wanted to understand what approaches could reduce the inequality gap that currently exists around access to nutritious diets.
Approach
We helped them to explore what the food environment in inner cities might be like in 2035 – what will have changed and what will be similar.
We used a structured approach, analysing 45 drivers of change to develop six subsystems that described the emerging future landscape. We analysed each subsystem through causal loops – these map out the inter-related forces that could affect each of the subsystems positively or negatively.
We tested these with stakeholders and communities and co-created a preferred vision for affordable and sustainable access to food. We then identified actions for policy-makers, private sector and communities and published these in a visually rich public website and report.
Outcome
The project generated new insights about the role that businesses, entrepreneurs and communities would need to play in achieving the vision.
We translated these insights into change today by extending the reach of the work to the general public and making it accessible for a broader audience to engage in thinking, talking and acting on the future of food.