Her vision of ‘sitopia’, an idea first highlighted in her book- Hungry City: How Food Shapes Our Lives, has since gained broad recognition across a range of fields in academia, industry and arts. Her related TED talk has received more than one million views.

Living in a modern city, it can be hard to ‘see’ food.  Few really know where food comes from. Industrialisation has obscured the vital connections without which people’s lives would swiftly grind to a halt: the complex supply chains that transport food from land and sea to supermarkets, cafes, kitchens and tables. Yet food’s influence is everywhere: in mankind’s habits, homes, politics, economics, cities, landscapes and climate.

Carolyn argues for valuing food, whilst consciously shaping the world through it, leading to the utopian dream of a healthy, fair and resilient society.  She aims to tackle the illusion of cheap food into one where the value of food is restored.  She believes that only when common reality is altered and the power of food is harnessed for good, can we hope to thrive in a crowded and overheating planet.

Carolyn Steel is a director of Kilburn Nightingale Architects in London.  She was educated at Cambridge University and is a qualified architect. She has since been a Visiting Lecturer at Cambridge, London Metropolitan and Wageningen Universities. In addition, at the London School of Economics, she was the inaugural Studio Director of the Cities Programme. She is also the author of Sitopia: How Food Can Save the World, published March 2020.