BREAKOUT SESSION: Food Systems Futures Part 1: Approaches to Participatory Scenario Creation and Visioning/Values Exercise

A scenario workshop is a place where the community and researchers work together to co-create scenarios for the future. Scenarios are plausible and desirable descriptions of the future of a system with associated steps to achieving that desirable future. They are co-created with stakeholders and draw on evidence-based research and previously defined values. This two-part session led participants through creating their own scenario workshops, in which they would work with attendees to co-create actionable pathways toward a sustainable and resilient future for the food system in their community. In Part 1 of this session, participants were introduced to the scenario creation process. This session used the Flint, Michigan water crisis as a framework for brainstorming scenarios, walking participants through the process of the Flint Leverage Points Project, which identifies four key areas of necessary system changes in the aftermath of the Flint water crisis: economic investment, emergency response, resident food empowerment, and community collaborative action. Participants were then guided through a visioning and values workshop to help stimulate creativity. The session concluded by addressing limitations and challenges of scenario workshops, and summarizing lessons learned from the Flint Leverage Points Project.