Abstract
Relational design practices, grounded in the collaboration among local producers, public institutions, and designers, have strengthened cultural identity and promoted new forms of economy based on values of sustainability and belonging. This article presents the development of a gastronomic festival as a living laboratory of transformation, carried out in the municipality of São Gonçalo do Rio Abaixo, Brazil, by the Design, Territory, and Gastronomy extension project of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). Based on the theories of relational design and design for transitions, the study highlights how design mediates local tensions, overcomes institutional challenges, and helps the reconstruction of symbolic bonds. It argues that relational design, when practiced in a situated and participatory way, constitutes an agent capable of supporting ethical, sustainable, and plural processes of collective transformation.
Keywords
Relational design; Food and territory; Social transformation; Sustainability.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2268
Citation
Rivadeneira Griner, D., de Souza Cota Carvalho Silva Pinto, L., and Silva Pinto, M. (2026) Design, territory and gastronomy: Relational practices in local transformation processes, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2268
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Design, territory and gastronomy: Relational practices in local transformation processes
Relational design practices, grounded in the collaboration among local producers, public institutions, and designers, have strengthened cultural identity and promoted new forms of economy based on values of sustainability and belonging. This article presents the development of a gastronomic festival as a living laboratory of transformation, carried out in the municipality of São Gonçalo do Rio Abaixo, Brazil, by the Design, Territory, and Gastronomy extension project of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). Based on the theories of relational design and design for transitions, the study highlights how design mediates local tensions, overcomes institutional challenges, and helps the reconstruction of symbolic bonds. It argues that relational design, when practiced in a situated and participatory way, constitutes an agent capable of supporting ethical, sustainable, and plural processes of collective transformation.