Convenient by Design

Abstract

This thesis explores how youth food literacy in Curaçao is shaped by systemic conditions and how design can contribute to healthier food practices. Rather than approaching childhood obesity as an issue of individual behaviour, this research frames it as an emergent outcome of interconnected social, cultural, and environmental dynamics. Using a research-through-design approach, the project investigates how these dynamics manifest in everyday food environments and how they might be reconfigured to support healthier practices.
The study combines contextual research, system mapping, cultural probes with youth, and design exploration. A decolonial perspective informed the research, emphasising local knowledge, lived experiences, and the historical context of Curaçao’s food system. Building on an adapted food literacy framework, the research examines cognitive, affective, and behavioural dimensions of food literacy in relation to everyday environments.
Findings reveal that youth food practices are shaped by three reinforcing systemic loops: institutional neglect shaping public food literacy, convenience-driven obesogenic environments, and school environments reinforcing unhealthy food narratives. These loops are mutually reinforcing and rooted in fragmented governance and historical dependencies, creating a system in which unhealthy food practices are normalised and sustained.
The research demonstrates that food literacy cannot be understood as an individual competency alone. Instead, it emerges through repeated interactions with everyday environments such as schools and supermarkets. In these contexts, convenience plays a central role in shaping food choices, often reinforcing unhealthy practices due to limited availability, affordability, and time constraints.
Schools are identified as a critical leverage point within this system. As structured environments where food practices are enacted daily, they offer opportunities to shift conditions and enable new food narratives. However, current school food environments often reproduce unhealthy norms due to a lack of regulation and alignment with broader systemic drivers.
In response, the project proposes an envisioned system in which healthy food practices are supported through environmental conditions that make them more convenient. A roadmap is developed to guide systemic change across governance, school environments, and everyday food contexts. Rather than prescribing a single solution, the design work functions as a research activity that explores how enabling conditions, such as convenience, can initiate shifts in practice and perception.
This thesis contributes to design research by framing food literacy as a systemic and situated phenomenon, and by demonstrating how participatory and context-sensitive methods can be integrated into systemic design approaches. For stakeholders in Curaçao, it offers a structured understanding of the food system, identifies leverage points for intervention, and provides a foundation for collaborative efforts toward healthier food environments.