CREEP project will  conceptualise the food system as a Complex Adaptive System, characterised by prolonged periods of stability along a specific development trajectory (so-called lock-ins), followed by abrupt transformations, often triggered by a crisis. Our objectives are twofold:

 

• To explore how deliberate rather than crisis-driven transformations of the food system can be facilitated;

• To understand the nature of potential crises to design effective strategies for managing them.

 

Our empirical context is the European North, where centralised trade and processing, harsh climatic conditions and a rapidly decreasing number of farms collectively increase the vulnerabilities in the food systems.

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CREEP project is implemented by Finland Futures Research Centre, University of Turku (coordinator), Karlstad University, Department of Political, Historical, Religious and Cultural Studies (Sweden), Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Department of Sociology and Political Science (Norway), Ruralis – Institute for Rural and Regional Research (Norway), Swedish Defense University, Department of Political Science (Sweden), University of Jyväskylä, School of Business and Economics (Finland) and Uppsala University, Department of Earth Sciences (Sweden).

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The project is funded by the European Union (FutureFoods) and national authorities. It started 1.1.2026 and it will end at 31.12.2028.