Toward Sustainable Urban Metabolisms. From System Understanding to System Transformation

John, Beatrice; Luederitz, Christopher; Lang, Daniel J.; Wehrden, Henrik von

doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2018.12.007

Cited by 44 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 92 publications

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“…A production model that minimizes the negative externalities affecting the planet is needed [16]. Therefore, studying how key actors such as consumers, distributors, and producers respond to this transition toward a more sustainable and ecological model is of interest [17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Overview of Ecopreneurship, Eco-Innovation, and the Ecological Sector

2019

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Given the current trend toward a more sustainable and environmentally-friendly economy, the overlap between entrepreneurship and sustainability has become a key research area. Part of this trend is the emergence of ecopreneurial businesses. These businesses are pioneers in using innovation to achieve sustainable growth by exploiting market opportunities. This article presents an overview of the concepts of ecopreneurship, eco-innovation, and the ecological sector. A rigorous review of the literature in this area is presented. The results of this review show the key values and principles that are central to this new stream of research and shed light on opportunities for further research. The primary conclusion is that there is a need for collective collaboration between ecopreneurs, consumers, and producers to achieve long-term sustainability.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Overview of Ecopreneurship, Eco-Innovation, and the Ecological Sector

2019

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“…The IRR [21] together with the information from local recycling cooperatives and the NGO allied to the recyclers' sector detail the socioeconomic reality of waste pickers. There are quite a few studies on this topic stemming from Latin America [40,[60][61][62][63]. So far, however, there are no scientific studies regarding the contribution of urban mining to the reduction of emissions in Ecuador.…”

Section: Review Of the Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental and Socioeconomic Impacts of Urban Waste Recycling as Part of Circular Economy. The Case of Cuenca (Ecuador)

2020

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Urban mining by recyclers represents a positive environmental impact as well as being part of the waste management chain. This paper analyzes the contribution of waste pickers in the city of Cuenca in Ecuador and the conditions of their activity. This research has a two-fold objective. First, it calculates the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the substitution of virgin raw material in the production process by using recycled urban waste. The second objective is to conduct a socioeconomic analysis of the workers involved in the urban waste sector. Cuenca (Ecuador) is the main city used for this case study, thanks to the accessibility of a rich database built from the survey conducted by the NGO Alliance for Development. The information contained in this survey facilitates the identification of potential consumers of the waste industry. This study uses Clean Development Mechanism methodology. Finally, this work proposes a theoretical model for solid waste management, applied to the city, following the principles of the circular economy.

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“…Existing attempts based on the MIMES suggest that new models may be specifically tailored for the network UM framework to track physical flows as influencers of ES supply to include aspects of urban material-energy flows [123,131,132]. Combining these attributes-spatially explicit, multi-level, life cycle information and dynamic cause-effects integrated across social, economic and ecological-can provide a detailed holistic representation of the complex urban dynamics [133].…”

Section: Linking Elements Of the Urban Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Linking these modelling approaches such that the benefits of each remain useful and coherent may be challenging. However, outside the UM and ES communities, efforts are already underway to link aspects of these approaches [99,133,142]. For example, Onat, et al [143] have already forged a way to weave the non-linearity of system elements into a life-cycle sustainability approach.…”

Section: Pathways Towards Um-ues Assessmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pathways to Modelling Ecosystem Services within an Urban Metabolism Framework

et al. 2019

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Urbanisation poses new and complex sustainability challenges. Socio-economic activities drive material and energy flows in cities that influence the health of ecosystems inside and outside the urban system. Recent studies suggest that these flows, under the urban metabolism (UM) metaphor, can be extended to encompass the assessment of urban ecosystem services (UES). Advancing UM approaches to assess UES may be a valuable solution to these arising sustainability challenges, which can support urban planning decisions. This paper critically reviews UM literature related to the UES concept and identifies approaches that may allow or improve the assessment of UES within UM frameworks. We selected from the UM literature 42 studies that encompass UES aspects, and analysed them on the following key investigation themes: temporal information, spatial information, system boundary aspects and cross-scale indicators. The analysis showed that UES are rarely acknowledged in UM literature, and that existing UM approaches have limited capacity to capture the complexity of spatio-temporal and multi-scale information underpinning UES, which has hampered the implementation of operational decision support systems so far. We use these results to identify and illustrate pathways towards a UM-UES modelling approach. Our review suggests that cause–effect dynamics should be integrated with the UM framework, based on spatially-specific social, economic and ecological data. System dynamics can inform on the causal relationships underpinning UES in cities and, therefore, can help moving towards a knowledge base tool to support urban planners in addressing urban challenges.

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Toward Sustainable Urban Metabolisms. From System Understanding to System Transformation

Cited by 44 publications

References 92 publications

An Overview of Ecopreneurship, Eco-Innovation, and the Ecological Sector

An Overview of Ecopreneurship, Eco-Innovation, and the Ecological Sector

Environmental and Socioeconomic Impacts of Urban Waste Recycling as Part of Circular Economy. The Case of Cuenca (Ecuador)

Pathways to Modelling Ecosystem Services within an Urban Metabolism Framework

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