What is “The Future of Urban Food”
The project ‘The Future of Urban Food’ will shed light on how urban food practices impact selected
ecological, economic and social conditions. The City of Vienna and its urban agro-food system (UAFS)
serves as a case study.
We combine a biophysical and farm economic model to assess the impacts of
three important key characteristics of food practices:
- the share of meat in diets,
- the share of organic products
- the origin of the food
Scenarios based on different combinations of these characteristics will be calculated and their impacts on the farm economy and ecology, the ecology of food transportation and consumer prices will be analysed using a set of ecological and economic indicators.
The social acceptance of the ecological and economic consequences of different food habits will be assessed by a quantitative survey through Viennese people and critically discussed by relevant UAFS stakeholders. To get a deeper understanding of the structure and potential for the transition of Viennese UAFS we apply a situation and transition analysis (ex-post and today) using mixed methods, including a document analysis. This information will be shared in a societal discourse about the future development of the Viennese UAFS. In this stakeholder driven process, the concrete transition scenarios for the Viennese UAFS to reach the goals by 2048 will be developed. To secure the sustainability of this project, an initiative for a Viennese food council will be facilitated.
Funding Body
The project „Future of Urban Food“ is funded by the Viennese Science and Technology Fund as part of the program: Environmental Systems Research funds research project “which examine the urban environment in a holistic way with its physical, chemical, hydrological, biological, social, technological and/ or economic processes and especially the interactions between these various components.”
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