Enhanced Performance of the Eurostat Method for Comprehensive Assessment of Urban Metabolism: A Material Flow Analysis of Amsterdam

Abstract

Sustainable urban resource management depends essentially on a sound understanding of a city's resource flows. One established method for analyzing the urban metabolism (UM) is the Eurostat material flow analysis (MFA). However, for a comprehensive assessment of the UM, this method has its limitations. It does not account for all relevant resource flows, such as locally sourced resources, and it does not differentiate between flows that are associated with the city's resource consumption and resources that only pass through the city. This research sought to gain insights into the UM of Amsterdam by performing an MFA employing the Eurostat method. Modifications to that method were made to enhance its performance for comprehensive UM analyses. A case study of Amsterdam for the year 2012 was conducted and the results of the Eurostat and the modified Eurostat method were compared. The results show that Amsterdam's metabolism is dominated by water flows and by port-related throughput of fossil fuels. The modified Eurostat method provides a deeper understanding of the UM than the urban Eurostat MFA attributed to three major benefits of the proposed modifications. First, the MFA presents a more complete image of the flows in the UM. Second, the modified resource classification presents findings in more detail. Third, explicating throughput flows yields a much-improved insight into the nature of a city's imports, exports, and stock. Overall, these advancements provide a deeper understanding of the UM and make the MFA method more useful for sustainable urban resource management. Keywords:Amsterdam circular economy industrial ecology resource management sustainable city urban planning Supporting information is linked to this article on the JIE website

Using spatially explicit commodity flow and truck activity data to map urban material flows

“…One significant contribution to the field of MFA is the Eurostat methodology, which was published as a guide in 2001 (Eurostat, ). The guide established a standardized and comprehensive methodology for practitioners to conduct their own economy‐wide MFA studies and has since been modified and adapted to conduct MFA studies at the city scale (Voskamp et al., ).…”

“…Voskamp et al. () also noted that this method of analysis “effectively exclud[es]” the “sourcing of secondary resources,” losing valuable insights toward a more circular metabolism. We concur that it is no longer sufficient to conduct MFA studies in a “black box” manner.…”

“…Voskamp et al. () also acknowledged this issue and proposed an enhanced urban Eurostat method involving 32 material categories.…”

“…For example, a 2012 MFA study in Amsterdam conducted by Voskamp et al. () involved 32 databases providing data on local extraction, imports and exports, waste treatment, and flows to nature. In another case, an MFA study in Lisbon from 2003 to 2009 conducted by Rosado et al.…”

Urban metabolism planning and designing approaches between quantitative analysis and urban landscape

“…The project studies Amsterdam's UM through adapted "Material Flow Analysis" (MAF), in order to detail improved quantitative methods for improved sustainable urban resource management (Voskamp et al 2016b). At the same time, it also inquired into space-time information analysis (Voskamp et al 2016a), with the goal of identifying the kinds of data that might provide planners and designers with meaningful information for implementing urban projects.…”