Visualizing the Chicago Food System

Our class focused on understanding the perspectives of different stakeholders in Chicago’s food system to manage food waste more effectively. We worked with a food service provider, a food rescue organization, and a City of Chicago representative to create service maps and integrate them into an overall food system map. We identified barriers and opportunities for improvement, and created integrated maps for food waste reduction, rescue, and recycling from each stakeholder’s viewpoint. This enabled us to create a shared language for communication across various food organizations and present our findings to stakeholder partners and at the Chicago Food Matters think tank.