The Future of Urban Food (FOOD) – Scenarios of urban agrofood systems (UAFS) and their eco-economic impacts for the case of Vienna

This research develops scenarios to improve the ecological quality of Urban Agro-Food Systems (UAFS). These scenarios serve as an experimenting and learning tool to initiate a societal discourse on UAFS and to delineate transition pathways for more sustainable UAFS. The scenarios are built around the three sub-systems farming, food processing/transportation and food consumption. Guiding scenarios are: I. Business as usual scenario: current average Austrian diet pattern (91 kg/cap/yr meat; 30y% animal products in caloric intake); global supply. II. Organic / Conventional current diet scenario: 100% organic / 100% conventional food consumption and current diet pattern III. Organic / Conventional low meat diet scenario: 100% organic / conventional farming; 20kg/cap/yr meat consumption The scenarios II and III will be calculated for two spatial variants (food production closest to consumers and food production according to comparative locational advantages). An interdisciplinary model of the UAFS will be designed to calculate and assess the ecological and economic impacts of the different scenarios. The scenario and model development will be accompanied by a transdisciplinary research process, in which the different scenarios and their consequences will be studied and assessed together with relevant stakeholder groups. Transdisciplinary methods will also be used to design transition pathways for each scenario.