The food in our future – about reacting and acting

Purpose and goal:

Aim: To focus on Sweden´s national and municipal self-sufficiency in food and how our actions today and in the near future can affect our ability to provide food to our population during war and crisis, and how the degree of self-sufficiency and the type of food could impact society. Objective: To highlight and problematize various strategies for self-sufficiency regarding food, to highlight the municipalities roles in this context, and to bring together key stakeholders to create a dialogue and collaboration to act proactively to secure our food supply before the event of war or crisis.

Expected results and effects:

We will depict a future scenario where Sweden is in crisis, access to food is limited and expectations for government assistance is high, in the forms of a physical and interactive prototype and a digital prototype. We will spotlight Sweden´s self-sufficiency in food and different strategies, as well as the role, opportunities and challenges of municipalities, and how different individuals and societal groups can be affected.

The project will evoke reactions, thoughts and engagement and stimulate dialogue and collaboration among key stakeholders to enhance Sweden´s preparedness. Approach and implementation:

First, we explore potential future scenarios for Sweden national and municipal self-sufficiency in food and how the population could be affected during a postulated crisis. We apply speculative design, drawing from existing systems, current trends, and weak signals. Then, we develop an interactive and physical prototype.

Feedback on the prototype is collected and utilized for a digital representation, and both are showcased at Vinnova´s exhibition in 2025. External collaboration and communication are prioritized to contribute to a broader dialogue and to create momentum.