Fostering Education of Environmental Citizenship through Food Living Labs

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Citation: Wilde, D.; Karyda, M.
Fostering Education of
Environmental Citizenship through
Food Living Labs. Environ. Sci. Proc.
2022,14, 22. https://doi.org/
10.3390/environsciproc2022014022
Academic Editors: Andreas
Ch. Hadjichambis, Pedro Reis,
Marie-Christine Knippels,
Demetra Paraskeva-Hadjichambi,
Jan Cincera and Kateˇrina Janˇcaˇríková
Published: 21 June 2022
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Proceeding Paper
Fostering Education of Environmental Citizenship through
Food Living Labs †
Danielle Wilde 1,2 ,* and Mary Karyda 1
1
Sociology, Environmental and Business Economics, University of Southern Denmark, 6705 Esbjerg, Denmark;
mkaryda@sdu.dk
2Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden
*Correspondence: d@daniellewilde.com or danielle.wilde@umu.se
† Presented at the 2nd International Conference of International Researchers of the Education for
Environmental Citizenship 2022, 10–11 March 2022. Available online: https://enec-cost.eu/ireec22/.
Abstract:
The human food system is complex; has significant social and environmental impact; and
raises questions around identity and culture. This mix of individual, collective, public, private and
environmental concerns, positions Environmental Citizenship central to food system transformation.
We discuss three ‘FUSILLI’ food living labs—a food waste NGO; a venue for creative experimentation
of alternative food practices; and a forest-based library. These living labs use participatory research
through design to place citizens at the forefront of change processes. We analyse them using the
model of Education for Environmental Citizenship to consider how they foster EC and thereby
sustainable food system transformation.
Keywords: EEC model; Food Living Labs; participatory research through design
1. Introduction
Environmental citizenship (EC) is: “responsible pro-environmental behaviour of
citizens who act and participate in society as agents of change...” [
1
]. We posit EC is
fundamental to food system transformation. The human food system generates 20–40%
of anthropogenic emissions [
2
]. The effects of climate change on food systems are ex-
tensive, complicated, geographically varied and seriously impacted by socioeconomic
circumstances [
3
–
5
]. In such a critical and complex system, involving citizens in decision
making as agents of change is crucial [6].
We discuss three food living labs developed in Kolding, Denmark, within the FUSILLI
project [
7
]. FUSILLI has as its aim to transform twelve European city food systems, to be
more sustainable through the implementation of innovative food living labs. The living labs
we highlight include: a volunteer-run NGO that problematises food surplus distribution
and waste; a food lab for experimentation and prototyping new food practices; and a Forest
library that aims to entangle citizens with more-than-human nature.
To shape and evaluate the effectiveness of these efforts in developing EC and fostering
food system transformation, we use the Education for Environmental Citizenship (EEC)
model [
8
] to determine their impact. Our aim is to determine in what ways these food
living labs foster EC, and whether there might be gaps in their development that warrant
attention.
2. Materials and Methods
Food Living Labs are open innovation ecosystems that support experimentation,
collaboration and learning around food system transformation [
7
]. The term “living lab” [
9
]
indicates a methodology where people formulate, prototype, and substantiate complex
solutions in real-life environments. Food Living Labs are public and communal, whereas
Citizenship is often experienced as individual. According to the EEC model [
8
], the actions
Environ. Sci. Proc. 2022,14, 22. https://doi.org/10.3390/environsciproc2022014022 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/environsciproc

Environ. Sci. Proc. 2022,14, 22 2 of 6
that a citizen can take have individual and collective dimensions and may be applied
in private and public spheres on local, national and global scales. The model highlights
personal capacities related to EC: knowledge, values, attitudes, skills, competencies and
behaviours, and introduces the notion of being an agent of change, who participates actively
in decision-making processes. We use the EEC Model to determine the relationships
between the presented Food Living Labs and the need to foster EC to achieve sustainable
food system transformation.
3. Food Living Labs as Incubators for Environmental Citizenship
We describe the living labs, then use the EEC model to formulate new understandings
about how they enable citizens to not only participate or be responsible but to develop
their capacities as agents of change (moving through different forms of citizenship [
10
]
towards a full expression of EC). The living labs are in different stages of development.
They show how FUSILLI gathers stakeholders, develops new forms of governance, raises
awareness of nature-relatedness and finds ways of transforming impacts across the food
value chain. Each serves as a platform for stakeholders to engage with problems and
activate change processes using experimentation and dialogue with food as the primary
enabler, approaching food as subject, research object, cultural practice and vibrant matter
(following [11]).
Food Reformers [
12
] (est. June 2019) is a volunteer-run NGO that brings focus to
surplus food, to raise awareness around food waste and distribution and press for food
system change. The NGO hosts regular ‘Dumpster Dinners’ in a local restaurant, using
donated and rescued surplus food (from local supermarkets). In June 2021, they partnered
with R10, a local citizen involvement initiative [
13
], to build a Community Fridge to expand
their impact. The fridge is centrally located and open 24/7 [
14
]. It contains rescued food, in
good condition, with an impending sell-by date. As an organisation, Food Reformers is
nationally certified to redistribute the collected food. They are active in the community and
promoted by the municipality and other organisations, which inspires confidence. Their
work has been introduced nationally by themselves and like-minded activists such as Matt
Homewood [15], and at the European level and globally, through FUSILLI.
Food Lab [
16
] (est. November 2021) sits in the centre of Kolding, at R10, where the
Community Fridge is found. Food Lab is a venue for experiments, events and workshops
focused on participatory governance and citizen innovation actions across the food value
chain. These efforts use food as the medium for experimentation to prototype new ways
of thinking about the food system transformation. At the Food Lab soft launch, we
served surplus food collected by Food Reformers, in the form of relevant data— e.g., a
guacamole with strings threading out the relative distance travelled by each ingredient—to
make tangible the challenges we must grapple with in the food system. Guests included
politicians, municipal representatives, educators, entrepreneurs, farmers, representatives of
the water and energy companies, a rewilding consultancy, a poet and more. They enjoyed
the food while using it as a ticket-to-talk [
17
] and a prompt for a facilitated discussion
around four questions: What does a sustainable food system look like to you? What do you
need to be sustainable in your food-related practices? What do wildlife need to flourish?
Where can we start? At the subsequent public launch, we held workshops on i) Food
Waste and Packaging, and ii) Aquaponics in small spaces and mental health. Working with
citizens, we established a wildflower garden and mini forest, which serve as an exemplar
pollinator restaurant and hotel, for a forthcoming citizen science project.
Forest Library (in the making). In September 2021, an ad-hoc Steering Committee
(SC) was tasked with establishing a forest-based Library of Foraged Foods and Practices
to support citizens to gain knowledge about what grows locally; what can be foraged
from forest, field and fjord; how to connect to, respect and engage with nature; sharing
knowledge in more-than-human exchange. The SC includes representatives from research
and education, small businesses, the Art and Design Museum, chefs, librarians and more.
To date, two meetings have been held in the proposed forest location: a walk-and-talk

Environ. Sci. Proc. 2022,14, 22 3 of 6
and (10-days later) a dinner. The walk-and-talk introduced the SC to the forest, each other
and our partially formed ideas and provided space to negotiate a collective vision for the
library. The dinner included a backcasting session using found objects for envisioning and
planning [
18
] and a meal of elements foraged from the forest, brought together by a local
chef. These activities resulted in a co-created mapping of concerned stakeholders; revealed
a map of interconnections between divergent agendas; helped to consolidate the vision for
the library; and articulate a burgeoning plan for its implementation.
4. Findings
Figures 1and 2maps the living labs to the EEC model, differentiating between the
actions of the living labs, participating citizens and organisational stakeholders. For
analysis, the Forest Library is separated into formation efforts and vision. In each case,
the living labs curate collective efforts in the public sphere, typically hyper-local actions
that draw on participatory research through design methodologies [
18
] to invite enriched,
embodied participation. Careful attention is paid to expanding participants’ capacities for
EC, attending to the characteristics at the centre of the EEC model, which are understood
to scaffold the pathway towards being agents of change. The mapping affords nuanced
consideration of each living lab.
FoodReFormers’ efforts (Figure 2, top-left) take place at a local scale, supported
by a solid infrastructure of volunteers and other stakeholders (e.g., the Municipality).
Their impact extends beyond the local by telling their story on international stages. The
strong establishment of local output relates to how long that living lab has been operating,
combined with consistently solid infrastructure and branding. In contrast, Food Lab
(Figure 2, top-right), was established less than a month ago, yet has a strong research
foundation. Despite being in its early stages, its national and global output is already well
established. This difference demonstrates two very different pathways towards EC from an
infrastructure perspective.
With Forest Library, we see established activities (Figure 2, bottom-left) tightly held to
collective actions in the public sphere. The vision—the propositional mapping (Figure 2,
bottom-right)—has expansive reach across spheres and scales. Similar to the Food Lab,
the Library is supported by a strong research foundation. As with Food Reformers, it
represents a singular vision, driven by local stakeholders. The missing link, for the moment,
is strong involvement of those stakeholders to achieve the level of societal integration
demonstrated by Food ReFormers, which has a constant flow of citizens interested in
knowing more about their work and output. The qualities of engagement they provide
through their interventions activate people in wanting to join their efforts. Those techniques
of engagement—future workshops and social interventions that leverage commensality—
are at the foundation of all three living labs, and we hope will result in similar impact,
whether their vision is singular, or—as in the case of Food Lab—embodies a multi-faceted
commitment to the full food system value-chain.

Environ. Sci. Proc. 2022,14, 22 4 of 6
Figure 1. The Education for Environmental Citizenship (EEC) Model [8:240].
Collective Actions
Public SpherePrivate Sphere
Individual Actions
Collective Actions
Public SpherePrivate Sphere
Individual Actions
Collective Actions
Public SpherePrivate Sphere
Other actors
FoodReFormers
Individual Actions
Participate in the
Dumpster Dinner
Make others aware
about food waste
Become a
Volunteer
Reduce Food Waste
Organising or booking
a Dumpster Dinner
Repurposing
Surplus food
Make others aware
about food waste
Community Fridge
Using the fridge
Dumpster
Dinners
Collective Actions
Public SpherePrivate Sphere
Individual Actions
Foodlab
Other actors
Forest Library
Steering Committee
Embodying FoodReFormers
Data through Food(FUSILLI)
Telling FoodReFormers Story on
the international stage(FUSILLI,
KOL, Matt Holmwood, Stakeholders)
Telling the story of Foodlab
(FUSILLI, KOL, Vildskab, Stakeholders)
Participating in
FL activities
Experimenting with Food as:
— culture | social glue
— data
— stimulus for personal change
Advocating
& educating
Engage the Forest(as a multispecies location- based event)
Organising Workshops
Involving decision makers
Take
cuttings
home
Share cuttings
with others
Co- creating the library
Formed an ad- hoc
Steering Committee
Citizen Science
Bringing the vision to life
Organising workshops
about food:
– Production
–Distribution
– Consumption
– Governance
– Food Waste
trying, buying +
eating new products
(honey, naked oats)
discover -->
experiment -->
build capacities -->
expertise
(new recipes,
techniques, practices) Telling the story of Foodlab
Engaging with theForest(as a
multispecies location- based event)
Engage the Forest
(as a government organisation
that produces product)
collectively imagine
the library
Engage the Forest(as a multispecies location- based event)
Engage the Forest
(as a government organisation
that produces product)
Citizen engagement
Participate in activities
Engage locally and
online
Visit the
library
Telling the story of
the Forest Library
Engaging (with) the
Forestfrom afar?
Citizens Citizens
Citizens (locals) Citizens
Forest Library
Figure 2.
Three FUSILLI Food Living Labs mapped to the EEC model: top-left: Food Reformers;
top-right: Food Lab; bottom-left: Forest Library Steering Committee efforts; bottom-right: Forest
Library vision.

Environ. Sci. Proc. 2022,14, 22 5 of 6
5. Conclusions
The three FUSILLI Living Labs we described here draw on participatory research
through design to involve diverse citizens in food system transformation. They use food
as the locus for radically open innovation that both requires and fosters EC. The result is
a form of non-formal education that has a certain aesthetic quality and playful elements
which invite for constant participation, and enriched engagement with the burning topic of
food system transformation. When analysed according to the EEC model, this approach
seems to scaffold the skills that citizens of diverse ages and interests require to participate
in society as agents of change, individually and collectively, in public and private spheres,
with local, national, and international impact.
Author Contributions:
Conceptualization, D.W.; methodology, D.W.; formal analysis, D.W. and
M.K.; investigation, D.W. and M.K.; writing—original draft preparation, D.W.; writing—review and
editing, D.W. and M.K.; visualization, D.W.; supervision, D.W.; project administration, D.W.; funding
acquisition, D.W. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding:
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and
innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101000717.
Institutional Review Board Statement:
The study was performed under ethical guidelines from the
Faculty of Humanities of The University of Southern Denmark; explicit ethical review for this study
was not mandatory.
Informed Consent Statement:
Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.
Data Availability Statement: Data sharing not applicable.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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