In 2026, after nearly 90 years, the Institute of Design was folded into Illinois Tech's School of Design & Society.
This website is an archive of the impactful and inspirational work produced by the ID community before that transition.

László Moholy-Nagy opened the New Bauhaus in Chicago in 1937, treating design as a discipline that was teachable, testable, and consequential. Nine decades on, its scope had widened from the things people use to the systems they depend on: hospitals, government agencies, classrooms, supply chains, digital platforms. Along the way, ID community members developed the published research, methods, and frameworks that designers rely on every day.

Chief among them is human-centered design: close attention to how people actually live, and advocacy for what that research reveals. It shaped designers who are comfortable with complexity and ambiguity: curious, rigorous, inclusive, and stubbornly optimistic about design's ability to change the systems that shape our lives.

To every one of them, who taught, studied, built, critiqued, and stayed late in the studio: thank you, and keep designing.

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Closing the Loop: Food Waste Prevention Pathways for Chicago

August 7, 2023

Closing the Loop: Food Waste Prevention Pathways for Chicago
A 14-Week Exploration of Food Waste Prevention in Chicago

Summary

During Spring 2023, the Design for Climate Leadership course focused on a 14-week exploration where ten ID students worked with key stakeholders around food waste prevention in Chicago to envision equitable and sustainable pathways for keeping food and scraps from landfills.

In partnership with City of Chicago and NRDC Food Matters.

QUICK STATS

4
Major Categories of Stakeholders Engaged
40%
of All Food Produced in the US is Estimated to Go to Waste
55
Million Pounds of Food Wasted in Chicago Every Month

OPPORTUNITY

Food Futures

Wasted food prevention is a huge challenge: 40% of all the food produced in the US is estimated to go to waste, with 55 million pounds of food wasted in Chicago every month. In the face of this challenge numerous organizations and communities in Chicago are taking action to prevent food from going to landfills. In order to scale the impact of these ongoing efforts and achieve sustainable transitions, we need systemic, networked and coordinated action that centers the values we share as citizens and neighbors, employers and employees, government officials and legislators.

PROCESS

Mapping Impact

The Institute of Design’s Food Systems Action Lab collaborated with the City of Chicago, as part of its participation in NRDC’s Food Matters Great Lakes cohort, to engage key stakeholders in a series of collaborative sense-making activities. Students worked with stakeholder partners to map existing food and waste flows in order to reframe the problems from their perspectives and identify opportunity spaces for action. The project engaged 4 groups of stakeholders representing:

  • City of Chicago & Policy

  • Food Service & Retail

  • Food Rescue & Community Organizations

  • Food Scrap Recycling

OUTCOME

Food Waste Recycle: Map of activities, frictions, nad opportunities related to food recycling and compost in Chicago

Click to view larger; zoom in

Leveraging the Power of Visualization

In order to envision collective pathways, we need to be able to see the system beyond where we stand. We mapped the current food flows from the perspectives of different stakeholders with a focus on food waste reduction, rescue and recycling in the food service industry. Each map highlights the frictions in the current system and highlights opportunity spaces to transform infrastructures, alongside cultures and mindsets that lead to wasteful food flows.

Food Matters Chicago Think Tank - Food Systems Action Lab

Accounting for Diverse Perspectives and Values

Together, we identified some of the priorities and barriers for mobilizing efforts city-wide for prevention of wasted food and envisioned pathways for a more circular food system grounded in the ongoing efforts of stakeholders. We gathered our learnings in a report, highlighting some opportunity spaces and recommendations that could support decentralized and inclusive ways of addressing food waste.

Download the full report.

TEAM

Guidance
Weslynne Ashton
Maura Shea
Azra Sungu

Students
Aman Bhardwaj
Anahita Dasgupta
Anish Patil
Avani Chaturvedi
Deepakshi Tulshan
Diana Nguyen
Nafisa Shams
Pitchaya Thaveesakvilai
Rutuja Chavan
Sanjana Kripalani

Contributors: Jennifer Herd, City of Chicago; Stephanie Katsaros, Bright Beat; Carter O’Brien, City of Chicago; Alex Poltorak, Urban Canopy; Joseph Taylor, Urban Canopy; Doug Bradley, Savor; Amy DeLorenzo, EPA

 

 

 

Closing the Loop: Food waste prevention pathways for Chicago - Food Systems Action Lab
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