Mapping change

This introductory chapter describes the Urbal (Urban Driven Sustainable Food System Innovations) research approach that was developed by a multidisciplinary, international team of food system researchers and experts between 2018 and 2023. It explores how innovations can produce short-term changes and longer-term impacts on multiple dimensions of urban food system sustainability. Urbal enables and activates a better understanding of the flows in food system innovation processes and the impediments and enablers to increasingly sustainable food systems for innovators, policy/decision-makers, and funders. This chapter describes the key components of the Urbal approach and provides collective insights from the case studies, called Urban Food Innovation Labs (UFILS), which helped to test and refine this approach. The chapter reviews the working approach including Step 1 (interviews and environmental scan), Step 2 (workshop to engage in impact pathway mapping), and Step 3 (reporting back). There is an optional Step 4 to develop new or adjust existing indicators to monitor change over time. The chapter concludes with an overview of the flexibility of the Urbal approach, considerations about power asymmetries, and the value and role of experts and facilitators to the Urbal process.