Urban food security, urban resilience and climate change - weADAPT

The length of the interviews ranged from 30 to 90 minutes, with most lastingapproximately 60 minutes. The interviews were conducted at a location convenient tothe interviewee. In many cases this was at their workplace or home; while in others itwas in an external venue such as a café.A workshop was held in Melbourne in August, to which all those interviewed wereinvited to take part. The purpose of the workshop, attended by approximately fortyinterviewees and a number of others keen to attend, was to allow the researchers topresent their interim findings and to receive feedback.The interviews were conducted according to an ethics protocol approved by GriffithUniversity Human Research Ethics Committee. All interviewees were given a projectinformation sheet, describing in straightforward language the aims of the research, itsdesign and the benefits that might flow from it. They were also informed of the way thatinformation they gave and any opinions expressed would be used in the research andassured that they would not be identified in any subsequent publications (includinghaving any direct quotes attributed to them) without their express consent. For thatreason, we have adopted a typology of interviewees, set out below, in order to describethe type of interviewee without identifying them individually. We hope this also makesthe report easier to read as well as protecting anonymity of these participants.Potential interviewees were identified via a key informant approach. Using the networksand experience of project team members in both cities, we contacted a small numberof individuals who had over a number of years played a leading role in the fields of foodsecurity, urban agriculture and sustainable food systems, and sought theirrecommendations for potential interviewees. Those individuals were then contactedand during the initial round of interviews we asked for their recommendations regardingother potential interviewees.While we do not claim either to have identified or interviewed all the relevant individualsand organisations in this field in Melbourne and the Gold Coast, we are confident thatmost of those playing a significant role in local food policy development and practicehave been engaged. We believe that the quality and character of the individuals whoagreed to participate in this research, and the range of organisations and entities theyrepresent, has enabled us to achieve these goals.Interviews were recorded, and notes also taken during the interviews. Interviewrecordings were partially transcribed for preliminary analysis and all were later fullytranscribed for use in the subsequent analysis.As mentioned above, interviewees participated in this research on the understandingthat their confidentiality would be protected. We have therefore adopted the followingtypology of interviewees in order to attribute direct quotes and opinions to them:state government employeelocal government employeenon-government organisation employeemember of community food organisationfarmer/grower/market gardenerindependent researcher/consultant/academicUrban food security, urban resilience and climate change 106