Visualising future food: imaginaries of UK food system transformation

The contemporary food system is both a driver of climate change and vulnerable to the changing climate (Mbow et al., 2019). There is an urgent need to transform the food system to one that is both healthy and sustainable, for people and the planet (Rockström et al., 2020). Widespread changes will be required to decarbonise the UK food system, improve its resilience to climate change and ensure sustainable food choices are affordable to all. But what does a healthy, sustainable and climate-resilient food system in the UK really look like? And how can our collective imaginary of future food systems help bring about the transformational changes that are needed?

The overarching aim of the project is to co-produce imaginaries of the UK's future food system, from production to consumption. Imaginaries provide a "shared sense of meaning, coherence and orientation around highly complex issues" (Levy & Spicer, 2013: p660). They help us think through "feasible futures" and mobilise the necessary public and political support to attain those futures (Jasanoff & Kim, 2009: p123). Using a mixed-method, sequential project design, this project aims to open up and visualise future food imaginaries.

Imagery can shape peoples' imaginations (Davoudi & Machen, 2021) and help us understand complex issues - including climate change (O'Neill et al., 2013). Media imagery has the potential to shape collective imaginaries, thereby influencing the futures we desire and work towards. The global dominance of a handful of image banks, such as Getty Images, gives these few organisations significant power to shape the types of images that are reproduced in the media (Hayes & O'Neill, 2021). This can lead to the "homogenisation of images and imaginaries" (O'Neill, 2013), including for food transitions.

In an effort to diversify the images used to visualise future food systems, future food imaginaries will be visualised through a photo-elicitation project with farming communities (e.g. Sherren & Verstraten, 2013), policymakers (e.g. Wang et al., 2004) and food consumers (e.g. Bridle-Fitzpatrick, 2015). The novelty of the project is twofold: bringing all three groups together in one coherent project and using the images and narratives produced by participants to open up imaginaries of sustainable food systems. By exploring images and imaginaries in the context of future food systems, this PhD will add to the literature on visual climate change communication and future food imaginaries.