Despite the need to transform food systems to improve human and planetary health, the activities and actors of food systems remain largely intransigent to change. The Mandala research consortium offers a case study of how three methodological principles—interdisciplinary science, systems thinking and stakeholder collaboration—can be integrated to identify interventions with transformative potential in an urban food system. An existing conceptual framework was employed to interrogate the case study and reflect on the challenges and opportunities of its methods across two phases: (i) understanding the food system and identifying places to intervene; (ii) envisioning and prioritizing food system interventions. Ambitions to work across the breadth of the urban food system were supported by interdisciplinary science and stakeholder collaboration; tailoring the research process accommodated the epistemic, social, symbolic, spatial and temporal differences between stakeholders. A complex adaptive systems approach enabled identification of promising food system interventions. Nevertheless, challenges arose in every aspect of the work. A collaborative interdisciplinary systems approach to system transformation was articulated using a real-world example. While opportunities support the funding and design of research using a similar methodological approach, the documented challenges of adopting this approach may be overcome with practical solutions. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Transforming terrestrial food systems for human and planetary health’.
Sawyer et al. (Thu,) studied this question.