Living lab description

CITY OF IASI AND ITS FOOD SYSTEM

In terms of economy and infrastructure, it is not a top city.
This is largely due to the fact that Iasi city is located in an area often ignored by the development strategy of the Romanian state. The Romanian state

operates on a centralist philosophy and this is visible in certain areas where economic development leaves much to be desired, despite the fact that Romania has registered a strong development in the last decade.
It is an academic, cultural and social center.
It is not an industrial center at the moment, although there are plenty resources to become one.
It is located in one of the poorest regions in Romania, but its economy is much stronger than the surrounding areas and cities. 

FOOD SOCIO-ECONOMICS. THE WEAKNESSES

The food system in Iasi is based on a consumerist socio-economy. We live faster, easier and we don't care much about the quality of our food.
The industrialization of food distribution is similar to any other food system in any other region of our world. In this regard, there are no differences. 
Generally, we consume much, fast and poor-quality food, and we even produce waste, just like everyone in the contemporary world.
We do not have strong tools for food education, food waste control, food location and short chains.
We confuse the ecological product with the rural, traditional or local one.

The approached topic is not exactly appealing to the general public. That is why we need to find solutions to present it as attractive and motivating as possible and thus increase the degree of involvement. 
The stakeholders are in high demand since such an approach is quite common in most projects of this type and a great many actors (implementing these type of projects) resort to the same mass of stakeholders.
 

FOOD SOCIO-ECONOMICS. THE STRENGTHS

The local socio-cultural context, largely determined by the period of food shortage in communism, taught us to value food and especially the local taste of products.
The communist agricultural policy, before 1989, embraced a philosophy that was disastrous for rural and agricultural culture, and protected, through indirect effects, two things: land and the relationship of the urban man with the rural man.
Consequently, the quality of soils was not significantly affected during the communist period which currently gives us the opportunity to have great vegetables and fruit.
We have certain residual behaviors of buying food from rural areas.
We buy more and more local products and, as a result, they become cheaper and cheaper.
We have begun to change our buying and consumption behaviors.
We began to appreciate the neoruralism lifestyle.

The main strength resides in the increased capacity of P28-IASI and P29-ARFI partners to communicate and disseminate information at local, regional, and national level. This high-level capacity is provided by the formal and informal network of communication and dissemination of each partner. At the same time, the increased capacity of communication and dissemination is also given by the social media framework of the two partners, which has developed exponentially over time. 
Another strength is provided by the broad experience of the implementing team in communication and dissemination actions.  
 

MAIN ACTIVITIES WITHIN FILL

Scientific research
Strengthening the communities of production, distribution, consumption and regulation in local food consumption
Consumer awareness-raising activities on the benefits of food systems based on local production, distribution and consumption
Intervention activities at the level of facilitating fair access to the food market of local producers
Activities to stimulate food policies that increase the quality of life, based on the principles of local supply chains
Activities to support, promote and develop the sustainability and durability of short food chains
 

METHODS, APPROACH, METHODOLOGIES

Synergies with projects where we are already involved (GustDeIasi.ro, ECORURIS.ro and other H2020 projects of common interest, in which we are or have been involved).
Strengthening the community of stakeholders.
Knowledge activities, enhancing and consolidating knowledge through co-creation, debate and problem based learning.
Structuring knowledge through research activities based mainly on the systems thinking methodology and the combined innovative method, developed within the project.
Developing communication with other Living Labs within the project.
 

SCOPE AND SPECIFIC ACTIVITIES

We aim to increase the capacity of gathering information from the food system of the Iași metropolitan area.
We aim to increase the capacity of involvement for all actors in the food system in the area.
We want to identify the problems of the food system, especially in the short supply chains, which contribute significantly to the economic relationship between rural and urban areas.

We want to contribute to educating local consumers and increasing consumer confidence in local producers and short supply chains.
We want to contribute to national and international synergies, with a direct impact on increasing the quality of food distribution chains.
We want to identify and formulate models of good practice that will help increase the quality of life by optimizing food consumption.

CHALLENGES