The “Dialogues, Cycle of Contemporary Thinking” kicks off at the Cèntric Espai Cultural (Central Cultural Space) venue, led by Rubén Martínez, Albert Lladó and Rosa Ribas, around the idea of conflict.
For this first session, the invited speaker is Carolyn Steel (London, 1965), architect and university lecturer at the London School of Economics and the University of Cambridge. She is the author of Hungry City (2013) and Sitopia (2020).
Steel explores how food shapes our cities and how food systems intervene in the design of territories and urban and rural landscapes. Her approach sheds light on the complex relationships between food, architecture and urban design, imagining ways to build more sustainable food systems for territories and the planet at large.
Steel’s participation in the Dialogues Cycle is particularly relevant due to the capital importance of the Baix Llobregat Agricultural Park in the food production system of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. We will have the chance to look through her prism at the relationship between the Agricultural Park, the Llobregat Delta ecosystem and the surrounding municipalities, as well as the role of infrastructure elements such as the Mercabarna wholesale market and the port, which together shape the territory, the economy and consumption habits, constituting key players in the myriad conflicts related to food sovereignty in a context of ecological crisis.
Session coordinated and led by Rubén Martínez (IDRA – Barcelona Urban Research Institute).
