Project lead: Anne Touboulic

This project aimed at understanding how young people view sustainable food futures in the city of Nottingham. The project was co-led by a team of youth co-researchers and involved working closely with Nottingham Youth Climate Assembly. It helped surface and provided space for youth voices in the food system, which remain often unheard. The project involved two main phases. The first involved a Photovoice-type approach with youth in Nottingham whereby participants between 13 and 25 years old were invited to explore ‘sustainable food futures’ creatively through taking up to 10 photographs. Each photograph was accompanied by their own brief interpretation of what they have captured. The second phase was a participatory workshop with over 16s where the photos were used as cues to prompt thoughts and discussions around desirable food futures for the city. Participants had the chance to co-analyse the photos and express their views creatively and collaboratively on how we could move towards sustainable food futures in Nottingham.

Our approach overall has allowed surfacing youth ideas on food sustainability but also the current challenges in the city, allowing them to express their views for the future of their local area. We hope that in the long-term this will help progress towards reducing the inequality we see in the city and increase the resilience of our food systems.