80. Food Futures

City Road Podcast

Climate-change threatens peri-urban agriculture and food security. This session explores innovative social practices that secure food futures: in Sydney an evolving system connecting urban organic waste to peri-urban agriculture, and in Bologna Italy cooperatives in emerging food solidarity economies. Each case demonstrates how trusting relationships ensure local food futures in urban places. Panel Dr Abby Mellick Lopes, University of Technology Sydney Gabriele Morelli, University of Milan-Bicocca Dr Michelle Zeibots, University of Technology Sydney Dr Stephen Healy, Western Sydney University Chaired by Dr Adrienne Keane, University of Sydney Associate Professor Abby Mellick Lopes is a design studies scholar engaged in interdisciplinary, design-led social research and the Director of Postgraduate Design Studies at UTS. Her research practice brings design into relation with a vast range of disciplines that includes cultural studies, geography, urban studies and sociology. Gabriele Morelli is a PhD Student in Urban Studies at the University of Milan-Bicocca and currently a visiting fellow at the Institute for Culture and Society (Western Sydney University). His ongoing research project is on the transformative potential of Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) initiatives in a Southern European urban context: the city of Bologna. He has also been active in several grassroots organizations, cooperatives and collectives in Bologna. Michelle Zeibots is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Civil & Environmental Engineering at UTS and transport planner, specialising in the analysis of sustainable urban passenger transport systems. She is also a farmer located in the Lithgow Region in Central NSW where she produces organically grown garlic using regenerative agricultural farming methods that contribute to the circular economy. Stephen Healy is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Western Sydney’s Institute for Culture and Society. His research has concentrated on the relationship between economy, subjectivity and the enactment of new econo-socialities exploring various topics: health care reform policy, cooperative and regional development, and the solidarity economy movement. Adrienne Keane is a Senior Lecturer, researcher and urban planner. Her primary research interest is in the area of statutory land use planning particularly the consequences of policies in nature conservation. Adrienne is a graduate of the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning having completed a Master in Urban and Regional Planning and a PhD. Current research falls under the umbrella of protecting natural values in cities.