This document discusses using food design to transform lives through various objectives like transforming food security and the food economy. It provides examples of urban regeneration projects in Helsinki and Cape Town that created urban gardens and food markets. These projects addressed issues like food insecurity, waste, and helped regenerate neighborhoods. The document advocates using food entrepreneurship, street food festivals, and events like Food Indaba to debate food issues and design solutions that benefit communities.

1. FOODLas Madurasinghe
fastandremarkable.com
WDC 2014

2. Food insecurity = hunger

3. Food insecurity = obesity

4. Food insecurity = environmental impact

5. Objectives
Food waste
Street food
Urban
agriculture
Urban
regeneration
Food markets
Food Indaba
Transform life with food design
WDC2014 Food applies design thinking to transform lives
#1 Objective:
Transform food security
#2 Objective:
Transform food economy

6. Transform life with food design
Dodo’s Turntable, an urban gardening scheme in an old railway depot

7. Vilhelm Relander, project manager at City of Helsinki Culinary Culture Strategy and
responsible for the regeneration of Teurastamo (the former municipal abattoir) revealed that
the project was inspired by the success of the Old Biscuit Mill in Cape Town.
The income and investment generated by the food economy can be the mechanism used to
target an urban area in need of regeneration.
The Helsinki experience – urban regeneration
Transform life with food design

8. Urban
regeneration
Transform life with food design

9. Food
markets
Transform life with food design

10. Cape Town has a heritage of growing food. The city grew out of the need to replenish the
ships of early European colonialists. Company’s Gardens was laid out in 1652.
Urban
agriculture
Transform life with food design

11. Social enterprise
“…to eliminate food and nutrition insecurity, create permanent grassroots jobs among the
poor, while conserving and reviving nature within and around every home and community
garden”.
Transform life with food design
Urban
agriculture

12. Corporate and City of Cape Town
City of Cape Town partnered with Touching the Earth Lightly to create a rooftop garden on
the Environmental Resource Management Department rooftop.
Further collaborations between corporate building owners and the City of Cape Town are
encouraged. A project that creates sustainable jobs can access increased funding from the
central government Jobs Fund initiative if supported by the City of Cape Town.
Urban
agriculture
Transform life with food design

13. Schools and homes – ‘greenrush’
The interaction between school children and school staff preparing their meals is highly
relevant. Children should be encouraged to appreciate the hard work that is put into their
daily meals. Professor of Food Culture, Johanna Mäkelä, Helsinki
EduPlant is a national school gardening and school greening project that has helped
thousands of schools improve local nutrition and develop skills and more sustainable land
use.
Transform life with food design
Urban
agriculture

14. “Restaurant Day is a food carnival, where anyone can set up their own restaurant, cafe or
bar for a day, anywhere they want.” Restaurant Day, Helsinki
“We won't teach you to cook. We teach you the business of food. Open Kitchen is a
program to learn from the city's experienced food business people who've been there and
done that, and then working with your peers to build and run a prototype restaurant for a
week.” Open Kitchen, Helsinki
Helsinki food culture strategy also developed concepts
for environmentally friendly packaging design.
Transform life with food design
The Helsinki experience – food entrepreneurship

15. Street food
Cape Town Street Food Festival
Cities need to become more community-focused and experience-focused. Street food
vendors creates real cultural vibrancy in the city.
Street food is morphing in to ever more creative and healthy forms. There is a lower cost of
entry to entrepreneurs than bricks and mortar and the food is often more affordable and
convenient.
Transform life with food design

16. Increasingly, leading chefs and food activists are engaging in public forums to debate and
explore food design.
Food Indaba is intended to become an ongoing legacy host city project.
A biennial global perspective on food design issues and an opportunity for both the
professionals and the public to collaborate and experience new tastes and trends.
Food Indaba
Antto Melasniemi Luke Dale-Roberts
Transform life with food design

17. One current theme to be considered at the Food Indaba is how to bring about a collective
effort to address the global food waste scandal.
“In general there seems to be now more talk about food waste, than food on the plate.”
Vilhelm Relander at Bocuse d’Or 2013
Food waste
Transform life with food design

18. Food waste
Despite this, almost 1 in 4 South Africans are food insecure
What South Africa produces per person per day
Transform life with food design

19. food@fastandremarkable.com