Foods for Future: Grassroots Innovations and Climate Action in a Scanian Foodscape

The thesis assesses the role of grassroots organisations in climate action through sustainable food practices, focusing on social innovation, collective learning, community-building and local resilience inside the city of Lund, in the Skåne region of southern Sweden. It intends to understand how local groups, combining practical knowledge with community-based innovations, collaborate to build a culture of social and environmental regeneration, creating a more diverse, balanced, and egalitarian foodscape to combat the global climate crisis. Qualitative research methods were used, including participant observation, interviews, surveys, and participatory action research, to elicit activists' perspectives on their motivations and the impacts of their efforts. The findings uncovered that the initiatives prioritise low-cost, locally adapted solutions that challenge corporate food systems. They nurture community and education through shared activities such as communal farming, local food chains, food rescue and sharing, and culinary cultural gatherings, consequently enhancing social bonds and identity. The research suggests that these groups generate socio-ecological value by creating alternative futures focused on social and environmental justice. The activists recognise the limitations of their efforts but consider their role crucial in sharing knowledge, raising social awareness, political cohesion, and a culture of sustainable and regenerative practices. Those initiatives are living laboratories of social creativity and environmental resilience, advocating a shift to a socio-ecological economy rooted in reciprocity, ethical values, and local agency. Conclusively, collectively developed local innovations are essential for transforming food systems, illustrating the importance of culturally grounded, low-dependence social technologies to ensure the future of food.