MLA Vilnius Productive Landscapes
Studying foodscapes within the course Productive Landscapes
This page is still in development and will be completed during the course which is offered to Master Students of the Landscape Architecture Programme of Vilnius Tech- Vilniaus Gedimino technikos universiteto
Topic of the course
Productive landscape concerns the current problems of foodscapes, food systems, short chains, food security.
This module addresses the planning, design, and management of sustainable foodscapes, integrating both environmental, social, and economic aspects of the productive landscape. It addresses the main challenges, theoretical frameworks, approaches, and methods for sustainable food planning. It relates to the concepts of food security, food safety, food democracy, and food justice and the way stakeholders and communities can address the challenges by participatory action research and living labs.
It builds upon the work of the International Panel of Experts in Food Planning (IPES) and the Resource Centre on Urban Agriculture and Food Security (RUAF). It includes mapping a food system, mapping the stakeholders, consumers, policy makers (power mapping), and carrying out a SWOT analysis. Students work on collaborative goal setting (applying the nominal group technique for systematic working); proposing transformative actions, developing scenarios, alternatives, and implementation strategies. It may relate to the relevant studio project.
Aim of the course
After completing the foodscapes part of this module, students should be able to conceive ideas in a collaborative way for the future physical interventions of a part of a local-regional food system in relation to its context. The goal is to develop adequate knowledge and understanding of food systems, to define driving forces, understand the planning process, to decide on transformative actions, and to make planning and design proposals.
Learning outcomes
The student/learner:
- Understands the concept of food systems in their cultural, local and regional setting.
- Is aware of contemporary challenges to sustainable food systems in context of spatial planning.
- Develops an understanding of the multiple dimensions of food systems: social, environmental, economic and spatial.
- Can map and evaluate a concrete situation of a food system, making use of a transparent method, to define the most relevant challenges.
- Can formulate an approach and/or a possible solution for a selected challenge that is related to his/her own competences and role in the system.
- Can define her/his own position and values regarding sustainable food planning
- Is able to reflect on his/her own process, using feedback from others reflecting on cultural, social and economic differences.
Lectures, Q&A. and presentations
Preparatory activities
You are asked to view the introduction by Carolyn Steel Hungry Cities by Carolyn Steel video
And to read the IPES report A Long Food Movement.
IPES-Food, 2021. A long food movement. Addresses global challenges and opportunities for transforming food systems towards sustainability. This comprehensive report emphasizes the urgent need to overhaul current food systems to address pressing issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss, inequality, and public health concerns. It outlines a vision for a sustainable food future, where long-term planning and grassroots movements play key roles.
Deh-Tor, C.M. . 2017 From Agriculture in the City to an Agroecological Urbanism: The transformative pathway of urban (political) agroecology, in: Urban Agriculture Magazine no. 33 – Urban Agroecology. From this publication the focus is on the introduction, page 5 until page 13.
If you have time to do so, it would be nice also to read the Summary of From Plate to Planet.
- IPES-food: From Plate to Planet: How local governments are driving action on climate change through food.
Reading material before October 7, 2024
Countryside Charity (CPRE – UK) - just read the 7 pages that explain the toolkit.
You can also have a look to the complete website: https://www.cpre.org.uk/resources/mapping-local-food-webs-toolkit-2/
FAO. 2019. FAO framework for the Urban Food Agenda. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/ca3151en Helps to understand the policy context and frameworks that guide urban food systems, aligning with understanding sustainable food planning concepts.
Food and agriculture organisation. FAO Report : "Integrating food into urban planning“ page 18 - 32.
FAO. (2018) City Region Food System Toolkit, Assessing and planning sustainable city region food systems, publication of FAO, RUAF and Wilfrid Laurier University. http://www.fao.org/in-action/food-for-cities-programme/toolkit/introduction/en/ (introduction page 1-3, schemes page 133-144 (p. 138-149 in pdf).
Reading material before November 15, 2024
This article helps participants understand urban food justice issues and introduces the concept of a politics of empowerment. It emphasizes the importance of reflecting on personal values and competencies and addressing inequalities within food systems.
Reading material as background for the assignment
The role and functions of Stakeholders in the development of local food systems: Case of Lithuania.
Short Introduction, on-line, September 9, 2024
Introduction, overview course, concepts, first excercise.
1 Current challenges of the food system, global trends and regional perspective
Online, September 16, 16h20 – 17h50 Estonian Time
You can view the presentation here.
The recording of the main parts of the lecture can be found in the Slack channel.
2 City region food mapping methods and cases on multi-scale levels
On-site, October 7, 16h20 – 17h50 Estonian Time
You can view the presentation here. As background presentations on food system mapping you can view the presentation of Jorge Molero from the network for agroecology of Spanish Municipalities (30/03/2022) and the presentation by Katrin Bohn on Spatial and participatory food (systems) mapping (12/05/2022).
3 Food governance, food councils, multilevel governance.
On-site, October 7, 18h10 – 19h40 Estonian Time
4 Agro-ecological urbanism: concepts and building blocks
Online, October 14, 16h20 – 17h50 Estonian Time
This lecture recaps the building blocks of Agroecological Urbanism. You can view the presentation here.
One of the building blocks is the Agriparc, of which an agroecological version is proposed.
The presentation on the development of agriparcs in Europe and the proposal for a new model for an agroecological agriparc can be seen here.
For the city of Montpellier a design competition was launched for the new Agriparc Les Bouisses.
You can see here the winning project and its further elaboration designed by Architect Office Fabriques.
5 Agriculture in a global context
Online, October
General introduction to agriculture, examples from Turkey, value and supply chains, global development of agricultural land and food consumption, EU policies and Key Performance Indicators. You can view this extensive presentation, which is for a large part based on the work of Dr. Ibrahim Yilmaz, Dr. Roxana Triboi for the TELOS project, here.
6 Urban agriculture and the commons
Online, October 28, 16h20 – 17h50 Estonian Time
The lecture explains the principles of commons, provides an overview of its role in the landscape, with some examples of rural and urban cases. You can view the presentation here.
7 Food security, food justice and food democracy
Online, October 28, 18h10 – 19h40 Estonian Time
Student's presentation and discussion
Online on November 4 and November 18, 16h20-17h50 Estonian Time
Q&A session on the assignment
Online November 25, 16h20-17h50 Estonian Time
Practical work
Excursion
Tuesday, October 8, afternoon Study trip to the study area of the assignment. Details will be communicated by the university staff. The students will make a food system analysis. Preparation is needed for a general analysis of the area: what kind of producers are in the area, how many hectares of different kinds of crops, and produce. The study area will be larger than the planning area, and both will be defined beforehand.
Seminar, on site
Wednesday, October 9, afternoon, 16h30 - 19h00 Vilnius Time The seminar will have three parts: Part 1: Short lecture on Research Through Designing. You can view the slides here.
Part 2: collaborative work on the study and planning area: defining the challenges, collaborative goal setting, setting priorities. In this part we will apply the Nominal Group Technique (NGT). This method you can also apply for other sessions in which you have collaborative work with a group of people, for instance for participation or co-creation. You can view the introduction on NGT here.
Part 3: Discussion on aspects of the Lithuanian food system situation, questions on the references and literature and next steps.
Exercises
Exercise 1, landscape on your plate
The first exercise is meant to create a greater awareness of the relation between the food that we eat and the landscape that it results into.
STEP 1: Have a look at your plate for dinner. Take a picture or make a drawing of the content. Then make notes where the food comes from and what kind of a landscape your food results in. Add some sketches or images of these landscapes.
STEP 2: Place image(s) and description on a padlet. You will receive a QR code.
STEP 3: We will present and discuss the results in an online session.
Assignment
The content of the assignement will be defined during the first weeks of the course.
You can find a draft of the assignment here.