Sustainable Solutions Workshop Showcase

Join Carlos Texeira and his Sustainable Solutions Workshop students for an interactive showcase. Examining the complexities of contemporary local food systems, students have proposed interventions from new business models to new services linking people with food knowledge, tools, and means of production. Ultimately, their ideas envision new ways to impact local lives and the wellbeing of communities through innovation in food. 

About the course

Contemporary problems and its solutions can be defined as complex adaptive systems because they emerge from the daily behavior of seven billion people looking for better standards of living when confronting the challenges and opportunities shaped by the unprecedented interconnectivity of the world economy, the global society, and the natural environment. In this course students will learn how to apply design methods and strategic thinking through open innovation practices for leveraging the interconnectivity of markets, technology, finance, and social networks in order to envision sustainable solutions with impact in the local lives and wellbeing of communities. 

About the project

Illinoisans consume on average 48 Billion USD worth of food, and almost every single dollar spent on that leaves the state. Recently a new movement has been surfacing, new engines of a grassroots economic development. The demand for local food has been explosive, and this explosion is accompanied by a myriad of local initiatives, such as food hubs, food co-ops, internet of food solutions and other exciting local food initiatives that are disrupting the traditional value web of food production and consumption systems in Chicago. Through this project we will look at the challenges and opportunities of sustainably bringing local food to the people of Chicago by leveraging the interconnectivity of markets, technology, finance, and social networks.