Sitopia: How food shapes civilisation

Authors

  • Carolyn Steel Architect and scholar (United Kingdom).

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.13.21771

Keywords:

food, cities, sitopia, society, civilisation

Abstract

The question of how to eat has always been central to human life. Our evolution has mirrored a series of technical innovations such as the control of fire, farming, and railways that have transformed, not just how we eat, but how we live. Our ancestors understood the value of food, but modern urban life has obscured the true costs of how we eat. By externalising the cost of industrial farming, we have damaged planetary ecosystems and thus threatened our future on earth. By recognising and restoring food’s true value, however, we can rebalance our lives with nature and create more resilient, equitable societies for the future.

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Author Biography

Carolyn Steel, Architect and scholar (United Kingdom).

London-based architect and scholar (UK). Master’s Degree in Architecture from the University of Cambridge and member of the Royal Institute of British Architects. She is a leading thinker on food and cities. Her award-winning books Hungry city: How food shapes our lives (2008) and Sitopia: How food can save the world (2020) have established her concept of sitopia (food-place) worldwide and her 2009 TEDGlobal talk has received over a million views.

References

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Howard, E. (1965). Garden cities of to-morrow. MIT Press. (Original work published in 1902).

Kaplan, S. (1984). Provisioning Paris: Merchants and millers in the grain and flour trade during the 18th Century. Cornell University Press.

Morley, N. (1996). Metropolis and hinterland. Cambridge University Press.

Nestlé. (2020). Nestlé reports full-year results for 2019. https://www.nestle.com/media/pressreleases/allpressreleases/full-year-results-2019

Phillips, D. (2019, 2 August). Brazil space institute director sacked in Amazon deforestation row. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/02/brazil-space-institute-director-sacked-in-amazon-deforestation-row

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Published

2023-02-23

How to Cite

Steel, C. (2023). Sitopia: How food shapes civilisation. Metode Science Studies Journal, (13), 77–83. https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.13.21771
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Issue

Science. The genesis of ideas (vol. 13, 2023)

Section

Assembled life: A natural history of societies

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