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From Vision to Action: Conditions for Transformative Food System Imaginaries
Brodsky, Isabella
Brodsky, Isabella
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Abstract
Amid escalating ecological crises, concentration of power within industrialized food systems, and deepening inequities, the need for transformative approaches to food system change has become urgent. Yet the capacity to imagine viable alternatives remains constrained by dominant political-economic logics. This project investigates collective visioning as a pedagogical practice for expanding imaginative capacity and informing just food systems transformation. Drawing on systems thinking, futures studies, and cognitive science, the project examines how food system practitioners envision desirable futures and how these imaginaries shape their current work. Using a multi-modal, arts-based participatory methodology, including guided sensory meditation, interactive zines, collective drawing, and semi-structured interviews, the study engages New England practitioners in both generating just food system futures and reflecting on the utility of visioning.
Through participatory workshops and interviews with New England food systems practitioners, this study identifies six thematic dimensions shaping the perceived transformation potential of visioning: groundedness, relationality, privilege, scale, and opportunity. Together, these themes illuminate how imagination operates not merely as speculative thought but as a socially embedded practice conditioned by power, place, and design. Findings indicate that visioning is not inherently transformative; its efficacy depends on relational grounding, attention to power and privilege, and integration with lived practice. When these conditions are met, visioning can function as a meaningful tool for fostering collaboration, aligning action, and supporting pathways towards more just and regenerative food systems.
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2026