Grounding resilience : seeds of security for uncertain times

Crises can arise unexpectedly, and with climate change reaching critical levels, humanity is increasingly crossing planetary boundaries. The frequency of extreme weather events, storms, floods, and droughts, is rising. Additionally, Sweden faces geopolitical concerns, particularly in light of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine. These challenges have sparked political discussions on crisis preparedness. But what does preparing mean in these times? How do we set up resilient systems that can encounter challenges and rebalance themselves again? A small village in Skåne is taking a lead. Our project is an active collaboration with a local community, exploring their resilience with a socially responsive design approach. We work with participatory interventions through- and about food in constant collective rethinking processes. Using languaging as a tool, we unravel the meaning behind resilience and beredskap. By focusing on food as a tangible aspect of resilience we strengthen togetherness and find a shared understanding through different perspectives. We counteract the government’s expressed language on preparedness, through the design of a booklet co-created with the community using languaging in our verbal and visual communication. Through shifting the focus in time from future concerns to present actions, we break down the journey to manageable steps, taking the worry of uncertainty away. With the root cellar, a re-awakening of an abandoned space, we set an example of taking a concrete step that recognizes the potential in forgotten resources and routines.