Foodscapes 1
Food is one of the most pressing sustainability issues today, and it is indispensable in our daily lives. How our food is produced, transported, sold and consumed has a strong connection to how our surrounding landscapes look and function. This applies to urban, peri urban and rural landscapes. To understand this connection and how cultural ideas about food and landscapes have developed throughout history makes a difference in the development of sustainable societies.
Those who take this course will get a broad perspective on sustainable development, environmentally, economically, socially and culturally. The relationship between food and the surrounding landscapes are treated from many aspects and critically examined. Does shorter supply chains between producers and consumers contribute to a higher appreciation of food and its values and does the peri urban landscape benefit?
After the course, the students will have learned the differences between different forms of production and how food choices can create added values or conflicting interests. The course is based on humans as thinking and cultural beings, whose actions shape and reshape the landscapes they live in, values about food are used to build community and utilize the landscape as a resource.
Syllabus and other information
Syllabus
FS0005 Foodscapes 1, 15.0 Credits
Foodscapes 1Subjects
Landscape Architecture Food StudiesEducation cycle
Master’s levelAdvanced study in the main field
Second cycle, has only first-cycle course/s as entry requirementsMaster’s level (A1N)
Grading scale
The grade requirements within the course grading system are set out in specific criteria. These criteria must be available by the course start at the latest.
Language
EnglishPrior knowledge
Knowledge equivalent to 120 credits, of which 90 credits within one of the following areas:\- natural sciences
\- social sciences
\- humanities
\- technology
\- food and meal science
and
English 6 or equivalent.
Objectives
The aim of the course is to build up understanding about food studies – the economics, politics, science and technology, and cultural and ethical values that surround the subject of food. Using a landscape architecture outlook, the course runs in parallel with studies of the relationship between food and the physical environment in the city and in the countryside.
This forms a basis for a holistic perspective and an understanding of the role of food culture in the development of society and landscape, in order to relate this to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set out by the UN.
The student should achieve awareness of food culture as an analytical tool based on different perspectives, and should develop an understanding of the inbuilt complexity of diverse food landscapes.
The course also aims to provide an overview of the many aspects that characterize food landscapes. It takes a historical perspective, and treats concepts such as urbanity and rurality, the consumption and marketing of foodstuffs, food production, identity, cultural heritage, added values for food and places, environment and ecosystem services, and conflicts of objectives.
After completing the course, course participants must be able to:
- clarify, and discuss from an interdisciplinary perspective, the complexity that characterizes food landscape, the relations between food, people and place
- demonstrate, through presentations in maps and texts, an understanding of how food landscapes exist and interact on different scales
- account for, and discuss analytically, how the different perspectives on food landscapes explored during the course can be linked together.
Content
This introductory course creates an understanding of the relationships between landscape, food and people, and food culture, and of how food shaped and continues to shape our physical and cultural life world. The course consists of themed weeks that outline the course topics, such as relationships between city and country, added values linked to food production and landscape history in parallel with meal history. It will highlight many different perspectives that can sometimes stand in conflict with each other. The course also offers training in critical use of theoretical concepts.
The course will be taught through literature seminars, lectures and field studies. Assessment will be carried out through assignments (individually and in groups) throughout the course, with a written final assignment based on literature studies and discussions during the various themed weeks.
How well the student succeeds in achieving the course objectives depends on the ability to present and relate the key concepts to problems or topics that the student has interest in exploring. This means that it is central to learn to think about food concepts as a tool for critical analysis and creative work, rather than as facts to be learnt and memorized.
Literature seminars, field studies and essay seminars are compulsory.
The course focuses on the following generic competencies: critical thinking, oral communication, written communication, cooperation and independence.
Collaboration with the surrounding community takes place through gest lectures and excursions.
Grading form
The grade requirements within the course grading system are set out in specific criteria. These criteria must be available by the course start at the latest.Formats and requirements for examination
Active participation in compulsory elements and approved assignments.
If a student has failed an examination, the examiner has the right to issue supplementary assignments. This applies if it is possible and there are grounds to do so.
The examiner can provide an adapted assessment to students entitled to study support for students with disabilities following a decision by the university. Examiners may also issue an adapted examination or provide an alternative way for the students to take the exam.
If this syllabus is withdrawn, SLU may introduce transitional provisions for examining students admitted based on this syllabus and who have not yet passed the course.
For the assessment of an independent project (degree project), the examiner may also allow a student to add supplemental information after the deadline for submission. Read more in the Education Planning and Administration Handbook.
Other information
The right to participate in teaching and/or supervision only applies for the course instance the student was admitted to and registered on.
If there are special reasons, students are entitled to participate in components with compulsory attendance when the course is given again. Read more in the Education Planning and Administration Handbook.
Responsible department
Department of Landscape Architecture, Planning and Management