To prospect an urban mine – assessing the metal recovery potential of infrastructure “cold spots” in Norrköping, Sweden

Wallsten, Björn; Anderzén‐Carlsson, Agneta; Frändegård, Per; Krook, Joakim; Svanström, Stefan

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.05.041

Cited by 52 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…I assessed it quantitatively from the flow perspective of urban metabolism in my first article (Wallsten et al, 2013a) and recontextualized it in qualitative process terms with a sociotechnically informed perspective in the second (Wallsten et al, 2013b). It is in this pivotal point, where the hibernating stocks "form a common boundary between worlds by inhabiting them both simultaneously" (Star, 1989, p. 412), that the modus operandi of this study is found.…”

Section: Combining the Perspectives: The Implications Of Launching A mentioning

confidence: 94%

“…In this study, the scale is shifted downwards and the scope thereby limited, allowing for an increased level of detailed scrutiny. Instead of having only one row designated for infrastructure, my inventory for infrastructure details numbers of seven different infrastructure systems (see Table 1 and 2 in Wallsten et al, 2013a). The limited scope furthermore allowed for time-consuming data collection to retrieve statistics, maps and archive material.…”

Section: The Methodological Consequences For Mfamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…was conducted (Wallsten et al, 2013a). Since every fourth kilo of infrastructure was found to be disconnected, the results suggested that without taking hibernating stocks of disconnected cables and pipes into consideration, the complete characteristics of urban infrastructure would remain unknown.…”

Section: The Methodological Consequences For Infrastructure Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The term "connected" is used in the table interchangeably with "in-use" that is used throughout the text. "Inactive" signifies obsolete systems (Reproduced from Wallsten et al, 2013a).…”

Section: The Amount Of Hibernating Stocks In Urban Infrastructurementioning

confidence: 99%

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Underneath Norrköping: An Urban Mine of Hibernating Infrastructure

Wallsten¹

2013

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Abstract:This study examines the subsurface infrastructure in the Swedish city of Norrköping from an urban mining perspective. Urban mining is a broadly defined term for different strategies that regard the built environment as a resource base for materials. In this study, the focus is on three base metals that exist in large quantities in infrastructure parts: iron, copper and aluminium. A special focus is given to the parts of Norrköping's infrastructure that are not in-use and thus constitute a "hibernating stock" that contains recyclable metals.The main results of this study are twofold. First, a quantitative assessment of the hibernating stocks of urban infrastructure gives answers to how large the stocks are and where in Norrköping they are located. This was performed using a spatially informed Material Flow Analysis to arrive at a recycling potential in terms of weight and spatial concentration. Second, a qualitative assessment was made regarding how these hibernating stocks of urban infrastructure come into existence. An infrastructure studies perspective was used to outline three patterns with their own sets of "hibernation" logics. These logics give rise to different prerequisites for the implementation of urban mining in practice.A main argument of this study's cover essay is that both of the above outlined kinds of knowledge are needed to engage in urban mining with confidence. Thus, the main focus of the cover essay text is to describe how the two different perspectives of Material Flow Analysis and infrastructure studies were combined into a coherent research approach.

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Section: Combining the Perspectives: The Implications Of Launching A mentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: The Methodological Consequences For Mfamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Methodological Consequences For Infrastructure Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The term "connected" is used in the table interchangeably with "in-use" that is used throughout the text. "Inactive" signifies obsolete systems (Reproduced from Wallsten et al, 2013a).…”

Section: The Amount Of Hibernating Stocks In Urban Infrastructurementioning

confidence: 99%

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Underneath Norrköping: An Urban Mine of Hibernating Infrastructure

Wallsten¹

2013

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“…While most infrastructure parts are functional and in service, urks may account for as much as one-fourth of the weight of a Swedish city's infrastructure and contain significant amounts of copper, aluminium and steel (Wallsten et al 2013a). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urks and the Urban Subsurface as Geosocial Formation

Wallsten

Krook

2016

Science, Technology, & Human Values

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This article investigates "urks", i.e., disconnected parts of urban infrastructure that remain in their subsurface location. The reason for engaging in this topic is resource scarcity concerns, as urks contain large amounts of copper and aluminum that could be "mined" for the benefit of the environment. Our starting point is that there is a certain non-stagnant capacity of waste-like entities such as urks and that their resistance to categorization is crucial to encapsulate their political potential (cf. Hawkins, 2006;Moore, 2012;Hird, 2013). We investigate how this indeterminate capacity has implications in terms of where future trajectories for urk recovery are conceivable. The study is based on interviews with respondents from the infrastructure and waste sectors in Sweden. By stressing the relationship between urks and their geo-social subsurface surroundings, we use the respondents' exploratory interpretations of urks to outline a spectrum of issues that should be further discussed for urks to become a matter of concern. The negotiation of these issues, we suggest, can be conceived of as a form of navigation along the perceived fault lines between actors and priorities, and they must be resolved for increased urk recovery to occur.

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Mining and Mineral Resources

Bridge

2017

International Encyclopedia of Geography

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Mining is one of the basic activities by which humans acquire raw materials. Mineral resources may be classified in different ways, reflecting socially meaningful differences in how minerals are utilized. Modern societies are materially complex and the range of mineral resources has grown over time. Their integral role in modern economic life means mining and mineral resources occupy several core areas of policy concern. Resource economics and political science have traditionally dominated the policy space surrounding mineral resources, but geographers have made significant interventions by querying the scales and spaces through which mining and “mineral problems” should be understood; highlighting interdependencies between extraction and consumption, and between mining and other livelihood activities; and critiquing assumptions about physical scarcity commonly associated with mineral resources.

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To prospect an urban mine – assessing the metal recovery potential of infrastructure “cold spots” in Norrköping, Sweden

Cited by 52 publications

References 27 publications

Underneath Norrköping: An Urban Mine of Hibernating Infrastructure

Underneath Norrköping: An Urban Mine of Hibernating Infrastructure

Urks and the Urban Subsurface as Geosocial Formation

Mining and Mineral Resources

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