ABSTRACT
Quadrant A of the wicked solution to food insecurity includes design outcomes (DOs) funded, resourced, or otherwise supported by public and private institutions for a limited geographic region. “Top-down” in such cases is not necessarily anti-democratic; in some cases, it is simply designating federal funding or corporate backing. Once funded, the control may be largely local. Indeed it is the localized quality of these cases that creates such variations. These DOs emerge from a relationship between the local community and actors with economic or political resources. In its best form, this is a research-practitioner partnership, such that local voices can enter at every level, from conceptualization to assessment. Quadrant A's DOs are organized according to the part of the food system they address—from agriculture to waste—and they are equally varied in form ranging from design objects to experiences. Each DO has a description of its effectuation. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the overarching findings gleaned from quadrant A of the wicked solution to food insecurity, identifying places to intervene with future projects looking to combine top-down funding or regulation with localized design innovation in ways that bring about food security based on equity and justice.
