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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.
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This content will become publicly available on March 1, 2026
Stakeholder engagement to strengthen underground infrastructure resilience
Unlike aboveground utility systems, for which very detailed and accurate information exists, there is generally a dearth of good-quality data about underground utility infrastructures that provide vital services. To identify key strategies to improve the resilience of these underground systems, this paper presents mechanisms for successful engagement and collaboration among stakeholders and shared cross-sector system vulnerability concerns (including data availability) based on the innova- tive use of focus groups. Outputs from two virtual focus groups were used to obtain information from New York City area utilities and other stakeholders affected by underground infrastructure. There was strong agreement among participants that (1) a trusted agency in New York City government should manage a detailed map of underground infrastructure that would allow stakeholders to securely access appropriate information about underground systems on a need-to-know basis; (2) environmental risk factors, such as infrastructure age and condition, as well as location should be included; and (3) improved mechanisms for collaboration and sharing information are needed, especially during non-emergency situations. Stakeholders also highlighted the need for a regularly updated central database of relevant contacts at key organizations, since institutions often have a high employee turnover rate, which creates knowledge loss. The focus group script developed as part of this research was designed to be transferable to other cities to assess data needs and potential obstacles to stakeholder collabora- tion in the areas of underground infrastructure mapping and modeling.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2133356
- PAR ID:
- 10617281
- Publisher / Repository:
- Springer
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Environment Systems and Decisions
- Volume:
- 45
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2194-5403
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- stakeholder utilities, risk documentation subsurface emergencies
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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