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Abstract Local food systems can have economic and social benefits by providing income for producers and improving community connections. Ongoing global climate change and the acute COVID-19 pandemic crisis have shown the importance of building equity and resilience in local food systems. We interviewed ten stakeholders from organizations and institutions in a U.S. midwestern city exploring views on past, current, and future conditions to address the following two objectives: 1) Assess how local food system equity and resilience were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and 2) Examine how policy and behavior changes could support greater equity and resilience within urban local food systems. We used the Community Capitals Framework to organize interviewees’ responses for qualitative analyses of equity and resilience. Four types of community capital were emphasized by stakeholders: cultural and social, natural, and political capital. Participants stated that the local food system in this city is small; more weaknesses in food access, land access, and governance were described than were strengths in both pre- and post-pandemic conditions. Stakeholder responses also reflected lack of equity and resilience in the local food system, which was most pronounced for cultural and social, natural and political capitals. However, local producers’ resilience during the pandemic, which we categorized as human capital, was a notable strength. An improved future food system could incorporate changes in infrastructure (e.g., food processing), markets (e.g., values-based markets) and cultural values (e.g., valuing local food through connections between local producers and consumers). These insights could inform policy and enhance community initiatives and behavior changes to build more equitable and resilient local food systems in urban areas throughout the U.S. Midwest.
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Multi-Dimensional Output-Oriented Power System Resilience based on Degraded Functionality
Power systems serve social communities that consist of residential, commercial, and industrial customers. As a result, the disaster resilience of a power system should account for social community resilience. The social behavior and psychological features of all stakeholders involved in a disaster influence the level of power system preparedness, mitigation, recovery, adaptability, and resilience. Hence, there is a need to consider the social community's effect on the power system and the dependence between them in determining a power system's resilient to human-made and natural hazards. The social community, such as a county, city, or state, consists of various stakeholders, e.g., social consumers, social prosumers, and utilities. In this paper, we develop a multi-dimensional output-oriented method to measure resilience. The three key ideas for measuring power system resilience are the multi-dimensionality, output-oriented, and degraded functionality aspects of the power system. To this end, we develop an artificial society based on neuroscience, social science, and psychological theories to model the behavior of consumers and prosumers and the interdependence between power system resilience, comsumer and prosumer well-being, and community capital. Both mental health and physical health are used as metrics of well-being, while the level of cooperation is used to measure community capital resilience.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1917308
- PAR ID:
- 10331063
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- 2021 IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting (PESGM)
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1 to 11
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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This study explores how marginalized populations in high-hazard-risk areas on the Oregon coast utilize valued locations and social networks to adapt to daily challenges and natural hazards.We hypothesize that locations most valued for their associated resources (community assets) also support the most social capital. Focus group discussions and a novel conceptual mapping activity were employed to identify preferred community assets and associated social capital for Latinx residents.Community-based organizations, churches and schools are the preferred community assets found to enable strong social capital, although differences existed in which forms of structural social capital were identified. Mechanisms by which relationships are formed in this case study and implications for disaster resilience are discussed and theoretically linked to other relevant contexts.We provide policy recommendations to utilize community assets and social capital to support disaster resilience for marginalized populations.Recruitment of participants through a community-engaged process developed trust with Latinx community members. Focus group design addressed barriers to participation to create space for diverse perspectives. By applying social capital theory to this data, actionable insights are identified to better incorporate the values and needs of marginalized groups into disaster risk reduction efforts.more » « less
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Current studies on data sharing via data commons or shared vocabularies using ontologies mainly focus on developing the infrastructure for data sharing yet little attention has been paid to the role of power in data sharing among food system stakeholders. Stakeholders within food systems have different interpretations of the types and magnitudes of their own and other’s level of power to solve food system challenges. Politically neutral, yet scientifically/socioeconomically accurate power classification systems are yet to be developed, and must be capable of enumerating and characterizing what power means to each stakeholder, existing power dynamics within the food system, as well as alternative forms of power not currently utilized to their full capacity. This study describes the design and implementation of a workshop, which used methods from community-based participatory modeling, to examine the role of power relative to data sharing and equitable health outcomes. Workshop participants co-created several boundary objects that described the power relationships among food system stakeholders and the changes needed to current power relationships. Our results highlight current imbalances in power relationships among food system stakeholders. The information we collected on specific relationships among broad categories of stakeholders highlighted needs for initiatives and activities to increase the types and varieties of power especially across consumers, farmers, and labor stakeholder groups. Furthermore, by utilizing this workshop methodology, food system stakeholders may be able to envision new power relationships and bring about a fundamental re-orienting of current power relationships capable of valorizing food system sustainability/resiliency, especially the health of its workers and consumers.more » « less
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1109/PESGM46819.2021.9638220
