Bortom butiker : Omformulering av landsbygdshandels matlandskap och dess omgivningar genom att designa en integrerad digital plattform

This graduation design project reimagines the support tools within Sweden’s rural food retail landscape by proposing an integrated digital platform that transforms lanthandels, traditional village stores, into a community-governed shared food hub. Many rural communities are left with limited or no access to convenient foodscape options, reinforcing reliance on urban-based services that demand more time, mobility, and lifestyle adjustments misaligned with rural living. Grounded in systems thinking, emotional insight, and participatory research, aligned with the Foodscapes 2030 agenda and co-developed with Lanthandel Kalvsvik and its residents, this project is designed to respond to everyday rural food experiences. It reframes food not merely as a commodity, but as a shared economical, ecological and cultural resource, essential for fostering trust, interdependence, and local food resilience. At the core of the project is an integrated digital platform design ByMeny, which aims to operate both as a shared food pantry system and a tracker of behavioural and systemic change. Rather than replicating urban service models, this design embraces the characteristics of the rural context. It repositions every home, shelf, and fridge as part of a regenerative, distributed food network, reducing dependency on external imports and resisting pressure to conform to urban convenience systems. When these elements converge, they form a living system of food and time reciprocity, where residents become co-creators of a more just, resilient and sustainably accessible food future. Ultimately, this project offers a speculative yet actionable vision for a decentralized, emotionally connected, and community-driven food system. It positions design as a tool for dignity, agency, and shared responsibility, enabling rural communities to reclaim their role in shaping resilient, place-based futures.