The study of urban metabolism and its applications to urban planning and design.

doi:10.1016/J.ENVPOL.2010.10.022

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The study of urban metabolism and its applications to urban planning and design.

Journal Article•DOI•

The study of urban metabolism and its applications to urban planning and design.

Christopher Kennedy¹, Stephanie Pincetl², Paul Bunje²•Institutions (2)

University of Toronto¹, University of California, Los Angeles²

01 Aug 2011-Environmental Pollution (Environ Pollut)-Vol. 159, Iss: 8, pp 1965-1973

TL;DR: A chronological review shows that the past decade has witnessed increasing interest in the study of urban metabolism, with future directions include fuller integration of social, health and economic indicators into the urban metabolism framework, while tackling the great sustainability challenge of reconstructing cities.

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About: This article is published in Environmental Pollution.The article was published on 2011-08-01. It has received 750 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Urban metabolism & Urban density.

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Journal Article•DOI•

Energy and material flows of megacities

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Christopher Kennedy¹, Iain D. Stewart¹, Angelo Facchini², Igor Cersosimo², Renata Mele², Bin Chen³, Mariko Uda¹, Arun Kansal⁴, Anthony S.F. Chiu⁵, Kwi Gon Kim⁶, Carolina Burle Schmidt Dubeux⁷, Emilio Lèbre La Rovere⁷, Bruno Cunha⁷, Stephanie Pincetl⁸, James Keirstead⁹, Sabine Barles¹⁰, Semerdanta Pusaka¹¹, Juniati Gunawan¹¹, Michael Adegbile¹², Mehrdad Nazariha¹³, Shamsul Hoque¹⁴, Peter J. Marcotullio¹⁵, Florencia González Otharán¹⁶, Tarek Genena, Nadine Ibrahim¹, Rizwan U. Farooqui¹⁷, Gemma Cervantes¹⁸, Ahmet Duran Şahin¹⁹ - Show less +24 more•Institutions (19)

University of Toronto¹, Enel², Beijing Normal University³, TERI University⁴, De La Salle University⁵, Seoul National University⁶, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro⁷, University of California, Los Angeles⁸, Imperial College London⁹, University of Paris¹⁰, Trisakti University¹¹, University of Lagos¹², University of Tehran¹³, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology¹⁴, Hunter College¹⁵, United States Environmental Protection Agency¹⁶, NED University of Engineering and Technology¹⁷, Universidad de Guanajuato¹⁸, Istanbul Technical University¹⁹

12 May 2015-Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

TL;DR: The quantification of energy and material flows for the world’s 27 megacities with populations greater than 10 million people as of 2010 is a major undertaking, not previously achieved and largely consistent with scaling laws established in the emerging science of cities.

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Abstract: Understanding the drivers of energy and material flows of cities is important for addressing global environmental challenges. Accessing, sharing, and managing energy and material resources is particularly critical for megacities, which face enormous social stresses because of their sheer size and complexity. Here we quantify the energy and material flows through the world’s 27 megacities with populations greater than 10 million people as of 2010. Collectively the resource flows through megacities are largely consistent with scaling laws established in the emerging science of cities. Correlations are established for electricity consumption, heating and industrial fuel use, ground transportation energy use, water consumption, waste generation, and steel production in terms of heating-degree-days, urban form, economic activity, and population growth. The results help identify megacities exhibiting high and low levels of consumption and those making efficient use of resources. The correlation between per capita electricity use and urbanized area per capita is shown to be a consequence of gross building floor area per capita, which is found to increase for lower-density cities. Many of the megacities are growing rapidly in population but are growing even faster in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) and energy use. In the decade from 2001–2011, electricity use and ground transportation fuel use in megacities grew at approximately half the rate of GDP growth.

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383 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

An expanded urban metabolism method: Toward a systems approach for assessing urban energy processes and causes

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Stephanie Pincetl¹, Paul Bunje¹, Tisha Holmes¹•Institutions (1)

University of California, Los Angeles¹

15 Sep 2012-Landscape and Urban Planning

TL;DR: The concept of urban metabolism has emerged as a leading methodology for quantifying energy consumption and use patterns in urban environments as discussed by the authors, and it has been applied as a method of accounting for total energy and materials inputs and outputs into cities, its interdisciplinary history and methods allow urban metabolism to be expanded to allow more comprehensive and integrated assessment of the patterns and processes of urban energy systems.

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322 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Urban Metabolism

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Vanesa Castán Broto, Adriana Allen, Elizabeth Rapoport

01 Dec 2012-Journal of Industrial Ecology

TL;DR: The concept of urban metabolism has inspired new ways of thinking about how cities can be made sustainable and has also raised criticisms about the specific social and economic arrangements in which some forms of flow are prioritized or marginalized within the city as mentioned in this paper.

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Abstract: Summary The concept of urban metabolism, referring to the exchange processes that produce the urban environment, has inspired new ways of thinking about how cities can be made sustainable and has also raised criticisms about the specific social and economic arrangements in which some forms of flow are prioritized or marginalized within the city. This article explores how the concept of urban metabolism travels across disciplines, using a comparative analysis of different approaches to urban metabolism within industrial ecology, urban ecology, ecological economics, political economy and political ecology. The analysis reveals six main themes emerging within interdisciplinary boundaries in relation to urban metabolism, and how this concept enables new understandings of (1) the city as an ecosystem, (2) material and energy flows within the city, (3) economic–material relations within the city, (4) economic drivers of rural–urban relationships, (5) the reproduction of urban inequality, and (6) attempts at resignifying the city through new visions of socioecological relationships. The article suggests potential areas for cross-disciplinary synergies around the concept of urban metabolism and opens up avenues for industrial ecology to engage with the politics and the governance of urban development by examining the city and its metabolism.

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311 citations

Cites background or methods from "The study of urban metabolism and i..."

...While the first followed Odum to describe urban metabolism in terms of energy equivalents, the second focused on new approaches to account for the flows of materials and energy in the city (Kennedy et al. 2011)....
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...…predominantly been applied at the national level, the 1990s saw a resurgence in interest in applying the metabolism concept to cities using an MFA approach (Kennedy et al. 2011), leading to the proliferation of studies of MFA of the city (Bai 2007; Hammer 2006; Kennedy et al. 2007; Schulz 2007)....
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...While most studies of urban material and energy flows are largely “accounting exercises” (Kennedy et al. 2011), they also provide the basis for some practical applications and encourage the use of urban metabolism as a foundation for urban policy (Baccini 1997; Barles 2009; Codoban and Kennedy 2008; Kennedy et al....
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...While most studies of urban material and energy flows are largely “accounting exercises” (Kennedy et al. 2011), they also provide the basis for some practical applications and encourage the use of urban metabolism as a foundation for urban policy (Baccini 1997; Barles 2009; Codoban and Kennedy…...
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...While MFA has predominantly been applied at the national level, the 1990s saw a resurgence in interest in applying the metabolism concept to cities using an MFA approach (Kennedy et al. 2011), leading to the proliferation of studies of MFA of the city (Bai 2007; Hammer 2006; Kennedy et al....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Urban metabolism: a review of research methodologies.

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Yan Zhang¹•Institutions (1)

Beijing Normal University¹

01 Jul 2013-Environmental Pollution

TL;DR: The international research on urban metabolism is summarized, the methods used in accounting for and evaluating material and energy flows in urban metabolic processes, simulation of these flows using a network model, and practical applications are reviewed.

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302 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Understanding Smart Cities: Innovation ecosystems, technological advancements, and societal challenges

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Francesco Paolo Appio, Marcos Lima¹, Sotirios Paroutis²•Institutions (2)

Skema Business School¹, University of Warwick²

01 May 2019-Technological Forecasting and Social Change

TL;DR: In this paper, a special issue on "Understanding Smart Cities: Innovation Ecosystems, Technological Advancements, and Societal Challenges" is presented, where the authors take stock of past work and provide new insights through the lenses of a hybrid framework.

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294 citations

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References

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Journal Article•DOI•

Growth, innovation, scaling, and the pace of life in cities

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Luís M. A. Bettencourt¹, José Lobo, Dirk Helbing², Christian Kühnert², Geoffrey B. West¹, Geoffrey B. West³ - Show less +2 more•Institutions (3)

Los Alamos National Laboratory¹, Dresden University of Technology², Santa Fe Institute³

24 Apr 2007-Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

TL;DR: Empirical evidence is presented indicating that the processes relating urbanization to economic development and knowledge creation are very general, being shared by all cities belonging to the same urban system and sustained across different nations and times.

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Abstract: ‡§ ¶ Humanity has just crossed a major landmark in its history with the majority of people now living in cities. Cities have long been known to be society’s predominant engine of innovation and wealth creation, yet they are also its main source of crime, pollution, and disease. The inexorable trend toward urbanization worldwide presents an urgent challenge for developing a predictive, quantitative theory of urban organization and sustainable development. Here we present empirical evidence indicating that the processes relating urbanization to economic development and knowledge creation are very general, being shared by all cities belonging to the same urban system and sustained across different nations and times. Many diverse properties of cities from patent production and personal income to electrical cable length are shown to be power law functions of population size with scaling exponents, , that fall into distinct universality classes. Quantities reflecting wealth creation and innovation have 1.2 >1 (increasing returns), whereas those accounting for infrastructure display 0.8 <1 (economies of scale). We predict that the pace of social life in the city increases with population size, in quantitative agreement with data, and we discuss how cities are similar to, and differ from, biological organisms, for which <1. Finally, we explore possible consequences of these scaling relations by deriving growth equations, which quantify the dramatic difference between growth fueled by innovation versus that driven by economies of scale. This difference suggests that, as population grows, major innovation cycles must be generated at a continually accelerating rate to sustain growth and avoid stagnation or collapse. population sustainability urban studies increasing returns economics of scale

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2,224 citations

Book•

Practical Handbook of Material Flow Analysis

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Paul H. Brunner, Helmut Rechberger¹•Institutions (1)

Vienna University of Technology¹

16 Oct 2003

TL;DR: The first-ever book on this subject establishes a rigid, transparent and useful methodology for investigating the material metabolism of anthropogenic systems using Material Flow Analysis.

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Abstract: The first-ever book on this subject establishes a rigid, transparent and useful methodology for investigating the material metabolism of anthropogenic systems. Using Material Flow Analysis (MFA), the main sources, flows, stocks, and emissions of man-made and natural materials can be determined. By demonstrating the application of MFA, this book reveals how resources can be conserved and the environment protected within complex systems. The fourteen case studies presented exemplify the potential for MFA to contribute to sustainable materials management. Exercises throughout the book deepen comprehension and expertise. The authors have had success in applying MFA to various fields, and now promote the use of MFA so that future engineers and planners have a common method for solving resource-oriented problems.

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1,142 citations

"The study of urban metabolism and i..." refers background or methods in this paper

...Odum (1983) applied his approach to data presented by Stanhill (1977) for 1850s Paris, producing in a sense the oldest study of an urban metabolism. Although Odum’s approach to studying urban metabolism has not become mainstream, it continues today through the work of Huang, primarily for Taipei (Huang, 1998; Huang and Hsu, 2003) and Zhang et al. (2009) for Beijing. During the 1980s and early 1990s, progress in the study of urban metabolismwasmodest. Therewas an international symposium on urban metabolism held in Kobe, Japan, September 6e11, 1993, but few of the papers were published. One exception was the paper by Bohle (1994) which considered the potential to use an urban metabolism perspective to examine urban food systems in...
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...Wolman (1965) Hypothetical US city of 1 million people Zucchetto (1975) Miami Stanhill (1977); Odum (1983) 1850s Paris Hanya and Ambe (1976). Toyko Duvigneaud and...
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...Odum (1983) applied his approach to data presented by Stanhill (1977) for 1850s Paris, producing in a sense the oldest study of an urban metabolism....
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Journal Article•DOI•

The Changing Metabolism of Cities

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Christopher Kennedy¹, John Cuddihy¹, Joshua Engel-Yan¹•Institutions (1)

University of Toronto¹

01 Apr 2007-Journal of Industrial Ecology

TL;DR: In this paper, data from urban metabolism studies from eight metropolitan regions across five continents, conducted in various years since 1965, are assembled in consistent units and compared, together with studies of water, materials, energy, and nutrient flows from additional cities, providing insights into the changing metabolism of cities.

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Abstract: Summary Data from urban metabolism studies from eight metropolitan regions across five continents, conducted in various years since 1965, are assembled in consistent units and compared. Together with studies of water, materials, energy, and nutrient flows from additional cities, the comparison provides insights into the changing metabolism of cities. Most cities studied exhibit increasing per capita metabolism with respect to water, wastewater, energy, and materials, although one city showed increasing efficiency for energy and water over the 1990s. Changes in solid waste streams and air pollutant emissions are mixed. The review also identifies metabolic processes that threaten the sustainability of cities. These include altered ground water levels, exhaustion of local materials, accumulation of toxic materials, summer heat islands, and irregular accumulation of nutrients. Beyond concerns over the sheer magnitudes of resource flows into cities, an understanding of these accumulation or storage processes in the urban metabolism is critical. Growth, which is inherently part of metabolism, causes changes in water stored in urban aquifers, materials in the building stock, heat stored in the urban canopy layer, and potentially useful nutrients in urban waste dumps. Practical reasons exist for understanding urban metabolism. The vitality of cities depends on spatial relationships with surrounding hinterlands and global resource webs. Increasing metabolism implies greater loss of farmland, forests, and species diversity; plus more traffic and more pollution. Urban policy makers should consider to what extent their nearest resources are close to exhaustion and, if necessary, appropriate strategies to slow exploitation. It is apparent from this review that metabolism data have been established for only a few cities worldwide, and interpretation issues exist due to lack of common conventions. Further urban metabolism studies are required.

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1,117 citations

"The study of urban metabolism and i..." refers background in this paper

...Kennedy et al. (2007) conducted a review of urban metabolism studies with a focus on understanding how metabolism was changing....
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...Urbanmetabolismmay be defined as “the sum total of the technical and socio-economic processes that occur in cities, resulting in growth, production of energy, and elimination of waste” (Kennedy et al., 2007)....
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...resulting in growth, production of energy, and elimination of waste” (Kennedy et al., 2007)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

The metabolism of cities.

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Abel Wolman

01 Sep 1965-Scientific American

1,094 citations

"The study of urban metabolism and i..." refers background or methods in this paper

...In his seminal study, Wolman (1965) used national data on water, food and fuel use, along with production rates of sewage, waste and air pollutants to determine per capita inflow and outflow rates for a hypothetical American city of one million people (White, 2002)....
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...The concept of the urban metabolism, conceived by Wolman (1965), is fundamental to developing sustainable cities and communities....
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Book•

In the Nature of Cities: Urban Political Ecology and the Politics of Urban Metabolism

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Nik Heynen, Maria Kaika, Erik Swyngedouw, Gary Bridge, Sophie Watson - Show less +1 more

22 Jan 2006

TL;DR: Swyngedouw, Nik Heynen and Maria Kaika as discussed by the authors discuss the production of urban nature and political ecology in the context of urban political ecology, and the relationship between nature and politics in South Africa.

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Abstract: Forward David Harvey Part 1 The Production of Urban Natures and Urban Political Ecology 1. Introduction Erik Swyngedouw, Nik Heynen and Maria Kaika 2. Sylvan City: The social production of urban nature Eliza Darling and Neil Smith 3. Urbanizing Political Ecology: A perspective from Toronto Roger Keil and Julie-Anne Bourdreau Part 2: Urban Metabolisms 4. Circulations and Metabolism: Hybrid natures and cyborg cities Erik Swyngedouw 5. The Desire to Metabolize Nature Stuart Oliver 6. Cyborg Urbanization: Water, urban infrastructure and the modern city Matthew Gandy 7. Monuments, Medians and Metabolims: Contradictions inherent to the appropriation of Avenida De La Reforma's built environment for consumption Nik Heynen 8 Clogging up the City: The metabolism of fat in bodies, sewers and cities Simon Marvin and Will Medd 9. Urban Metabolism as Target: Contemporary war as forced demodernisation Stephen Graham Part 3: The Ecology of Urban Politics 10. Transnational Alliances and Global Politics: New geographies of urban environmental justice struggles David N Pellow 11. Constructing Scarcity and Sensationalising Water Politics: 170 days that shook Athens Maria Kaika 12. Dead Spaces in the City of Extremes: Observations from the great Chicago heat wave Eric Klinenberg 13. Reconnecting with the Means of Existence in Durban Alex Loftus 14. Looking at the Public/Private Water Debate in South Africa Through the Prism of an Urban Political Ecology Framework Laila Smith 15. Turfgrass Subjects: The political economy of suburban lawn monoculture Paul Robbins 16. At the Edge: Fragmented ecologies in Philadelphia Alec Brownlow Conclusions and the Way Forward Erik Swyngedouw, Nik Heynen and Maria Kaika

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694 citations

"The study of urban metabolism and i..." refers background in this paper

...The primary focus is on quantitative studies, as opposed to works that invoke urban metabolism in a political science context (e.g., Heynen et al., 2005), or in a qualitative historical context (e.g., Tarr, 2002)....
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