Abstract
Alternative food networks (AFNs) are often presented through peak-period success stories, leaving their entire lifecycle — transformations, challenges, and reconfigurations — underexplored. By rethinking AFN dissolution process through a service design lens, this study examines how embedded values, networks, and operational models evolve beyond their initial structures. The research uses a new generation consumer cooperative as a case study, and it employs multiple sources of evidence — semi-structured interviews, archival data, media sources, and direct observations — to analyze the cooperative’s evolution. Findings reveal how AFNs transition from grassroots initiatives to structured models but struggle with economic constraints and governance challenges. Their dissolution underscores their structural fragility as interdependent networks sustain and destabilize their viability. Yet, rather than signaling failure, dissolution enables transformation, with core values and operational knowledge remaining in new configurations. This perspective aligns with service design principles of adaptability, participatory governance, and systemic resilience, offering insights into how AFNs can maintain impact amid evolving socio economic conditions.
Keywords
new-generation food cooperatives, alternative food networks, transformative networks, resilient food systems
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/servdes2025.42
Citation
Varli, C.G.,and Maffei, S.(2025) Resilient by Design: the Dissolution of Alternative Food Networks, in Mahamuni, R., Onkar, P. (eds.), ServDes 2025: Empowering Diversity, Nurturing Lasting Impact, 6–10 October, Hyderabad, India. https://doi.org/10.21606/servdes2025.42
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Resilient by Design: the Dissolution of Alternative Food Networks
Alternative food networks (AFNs) are often presented through peak-period success stories, leaving their entire lifecycle — transformations, challenges, and reconfigurations — underexplored. By rethinking AFN dissolution process through a service design lens, this study examines how embedded values, networks, and operational models evolve beyond their initial structures. The research uses a new generation consumer cooperative as a case study, and it employs multiple sources of evidence — semi-structured interviews, archival data, media sources, and direct observations — to analyze the cooperative’s evolution. Findings reveal how AFNs transition from grassroots initiatives to structured models but struggle with economic constraints and governance challenges. Their dissolution underscores their structural fragility as interdependent networks sustain and destabilize their viability. Yet, rather than signaling failure, dissolution enables transformation, with core values and operational knowledge remaining in new configurations. This perspective aligns with service design principles of adaptability, participatory governance, and systemic resilience, offering insights into how AFNs can maintain impact amid evolving socio economic conditions.