Youths' proposals for the future of food

This study explores how young people envision the future of food through the lens of design, focusing on submissions to the SDGs Design International Awards 2024 , themed “Design for Sustainable Food.” Amid global challenges such as climate change, food insecurity, health disparities, and cultural erosion, the competition received student proposals from across 17 countries. The competition invited creative design responses to complex food-related challenges. While young people are often perceived as disengaged from long-term societal concerns, this research challenges such notion by analysing how youth design proposals can express values, anxieties, and aspirations for future food systems. From 201 entries, 31 outstanding submissions were selected for in-depth analysis using text mining techniques. Frequent keywords were extracted from titles and descriptions, identifying five core themes – health, community, sustainability, culture, and future – which are symbolic of youths’ values and awareness of the future of food embedded in the works. The analysis highlights the diverse and socially attuned perspectives of youth, revealing how food becomes a medium for expressing visions of inclusive, resilient, and sustainable societies. This chapter positions student-focused design competitions not merely as creative exercises but as platforms for youth-led dialogue with society. It further argues that such contests offer valuable insight into emerging worldviews and the potential of social design to address global food challenges. Despite limitations in language translation and the scope of the data, the findings demonstrate the significance of youth voices in shaping future-oriented solutions, offering a novel understanding of design’s role in reimagining food and society.