Food, health, and design

Agri-food systems, together with food as their final product, have undergone numerous transformations over time in response to new production demands, alternative consumption models, increasingly complex lifestyles, and aggressive economic strategies aimed at boosting productivity. However, food’s adaptation to these various factors has not always led to positive environmental or social outcomes. What once served as a foundation for community sustenance has, in many cases, become a factor that compromises human health and disrupts natural ecosystems, calling urgently for a reorientation. This chapter aims to investigate the contemporary challenges facing agri-food systems and to identify the adaptations required to catalyse a paradigm shift. Within this context, systemic design, as a design approach capable of engaging with the relationships between the multiple components of a complex system, plays a fundamental role. The food-health dichotomy, explored through the lens of the One Health framework, still exhibits blurred boundaries and represents a crucial intersection that must embrace new avenues for research and action. These must be pursued through the adoption of design tools that are capable of navigating transdisciplinary contexts and of restoring food to its rightful role as a source of care and identity for both the planet and humanity.