AbstractMy PhD research explores how community-led fresh food initiatives — such as urban farms and school-based growing programs — contribute to healthier, more caring and sustainable communities. It asks whether these initiatives can be understood not only as ways of producing food, but also as forms of social care and local health support. The aim is to develop a practical framework to guide social designers in supporting and amplifying the work of grassroots innovations. By studying care practices, barriers, and creative strategies within these initiatives, the research hopes to identify how design can help advance socially just food transitions.Through this presentation, I will be seeking feedback and thoughts about the "Care-Through-Food" framework I am developing, which involves participatory mapping of social practices and interdependencies within civic fresh food initiatives using insider-designed artefacts and how identified social practices differ from the conventional food provision paradigm, instead contributing to a food-as-human-right and food-as-commons paradigm.
