On the Systemic Features of Urban Systems. A Look at Material Flows and Cultural Dimensions to Address Post-Growth Resilience and Sustainability

Abstract

Urbanization is widely recognized as a relentless trend at the global level. Nevertheless, a comprehensive assessment of urban systems able to address the future growth and decline of cities is still lacking. Urban systems today rely on abundant resources, flowing in from other regions, and their future availability and accessibility should be taken into consideration to ensure urban well-being and resilience in likely post-growth scenarios. A logical framework to address the challenge of urban planning and management to promote long-term urban system sustainability is proposed. Systems thinking and diagramming are applied, while comprehensively tracking the key material flows upon which cities depend back to their sources. First, the nexus among resources and urban activities is identified, and then its circularity is framed within a wider discourse on urban sustainability and resilience. Discussion is carried out within a twofold perspective of both existing and newly built environments, while related economies are analyzed in order to find possible game-changing scenarios.

Systemic sustainability and resilience assessment of health systems, addressing global societal priorities: Learnings from a top nonprofit hospital in a bioclimatic building in Africa

“…Concerning the resources, the management of the valuable local renewables can be improved, and the quali-quantitative environmental accounting method we use can be of great help in this. As also recently outlined [61], systems thinking can play a pivotal role to support the strengthening of the sustainability and resilience of complex systems, especially while facing an uncertain, fast changing century, not necessarily ensuring the same conditions upon which we now base, and thus, maybe, still to be re-invented. H.T.…”

“…Pineo et al (2020) have recently addressed health issues through systems thinking, yet their causal loop approach is very different from ours, and anyway focused on health in relation to urban planning policies[60] 8. Pertinent dissertations on a similar assessment, but applied to urban systems, are available in Cristiano et al[61].…”

‘Kill Venice’: a systems thinking conceptualisation of urban life, economy, and resilience in tourist cities

“…This work is placed, therefore, in a new thread, where a first conceptual step is moved toward an evaluation of the sustainability and resilience of urban systems (Cristiano et al, 2020) by exploring possible structural scenarios, and pointing out systemic flaws, potentially studied in terms of resources flows dynamics. The manifold aspects of sustainability and the various levels of interconnection and dependency are then addressed, as part of the general prerequisites for resilience in a tourist city.…”

“…However, she warns that "responsible" approaches will not be enough, and a community-centred framework is needed to meet "the rights and interests of local communities" within the "social and ecological limits of the planet". For a general city to be resilient, to resist and to adapt to external disruptions, one basic condition is that it cannot depend solely on imported inputs and capitals (Cristiano et al, 2020). The question posed by Norman (2018) on how to imagine future sustainable and resilient cities remains open, while we propose different possible replies to her statement that "[a]s cities grow they will become stronger and more independent and autonomous economically as a result of their wealth" (ibid.…”

“…For European cities, the link between urban planning and tourism has been rarely addressed so far (e.g., Shoval, 2018). Even without any focus on tourism, a systems thinking approach to the sustainability and resilience of societies and urban systems is offered in Cristiano (2018), Cristiano et al (2020), and Gonella (2019). Here, a conceptualisation is now proposed to envision a future beyond the unbearability and fragility of tourist cities, and thus to support their dwellers in imagining and planning such a future, free from barriers but according to their needs and priorities.…”