Understanding, Implementing, and Tracking Urban Metabolism Is Key to Urban Futures

Chávez, Abel; Kennedy, Chris; Chen, Bin; Chertow, Marian; Baynes, Tim; Chen, Shaoqing; Bai, Xuemei

doi:10.1017/9781316647554.005

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 652 publications

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“…For these reasons, Friant et al [49] conclude that, although the contemporary CE discourse has highlighted various potential economic and environmental benefits of circular policies and business models, it has failed to build a holistic and systemic understanding of the social and sustainability implications of circular transitions, one that 'go[es] beyond market-based solutions and economic considerations and see circularity as a holistic social transformation' that comprehensively integrates the social, ecological, and political dimensions (pp. [8][9]. Therefore, while the scholars agree that holistic approaches to developing circular urban systems are necessary [50,51], there has not been much research on what makes such systems or how to reach them.…”

Section: Background Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cities today represent significant hotspots of resource consumption and waste generation. They account for 80% of global energy consumption [1,5], 75% of greenhouse gas/carbon emissions [8,9], 60-80% of natural resources consumed globally [10,11], and 50% of global waste generation [10,12]. The demand for natural resources in urban areas across the globe will continue rising along with ongoing urbanisation [5,8], especially in the developing world [1,13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Uncovering the Holistic Pathways to Circular Cities—The Case of Alberta, Canada

Marjanović¹,

Wuyts²,

Marin³

et al. 2022

Highlights Sustain.

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The notion of circularity has gained significant attention from governments of many cities across the world. The approaches to circular cities may range from narrower perspectives that see a circular city as the simple sum of circular economy initiatives to those more holistic that aim to integrate the whole urban system. Several researchers proposed frameworks that would guide cities to take a holistic perspective. This manuscript selects two frameworks and examines through them whether and to what extent broader and more holistic approaches to circular cities are being developed in practice. First, circularity principles, the scope of circular activities, and the concrete circular actions developed in the case study are read through Williams's approach to circular resource management. Second, the spatial circularity drivers framework of Marin and De Meulder is used to elucidate different sustainability framings and spatial practices that dominate contemporary conceptualisations of circularity. These two lenses are applied to five municipalities in Alberta (Canada) that have decided to develop strategies for 'shifting the paradigm' and transitioning to circular cities in 2018. Our study aims to investigate how holistic their roadmaps to circular cities are, and what changes are necessary to move towards more integrated approaches.

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Section: Background Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncovering the Holistic Pathways to Circular Cities—The Case of Alberta, Canada

Marjanović¹,

Wuyts²,

Marin³

et al. 2022

Highlights Sustain.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…A wider and more human-centered perspective elaborated by Currie and Musango (2017) understands the urban metabolism as the "collection of complex sociotechnical and socio-ecological processes by which flows of materials, energy, people, and information shape the city, service the needs of its populace, and impact the surrounding hinterland". Bai (2016) and Chávez et al (2018) developed and used similarly wide concepts of urban metabolism. Figure 2 aims to visualize the urban metabolism framework in the context of accountable strategic planning.…”

Section: Urban Metabolism Perspectives and Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Governing the City of Flows: How Urban Metabolism Approaches May Strengthen Accountability in Strategic Planning

Zengerling

2019

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The article aims to provide an initial insight into if and how urban metabolism perspectives and approaches may strengthen accountability in urban environmental strategic planning. It argues that many of the challenges in governing urban environmental flows successfully result from accountability gaps in strategic planning. The aim of the research is to test the assumption that urban metabolism perspectives and approaches strengthen accountability in urban environmental strategic planning. Applying a four-pillar accountability analysis to the strategic climate and resource plans of New York and Zurich, two cities which put environmental sustainability high on their political agenda, the study traces the role of urban metabolism perspectives and approaches and discusses the benefits these may have for accountable strategic planning with a focus on carbon and material flows. The interim results show on the one hand that implicit urban metabolism approaches are vital for both cities’ strategic planning and that they contribute to strengthened accountability in all four pillars of the analysis: responsibility, transparency, assessment and participation. On the other hand, the analysis highlights further potential benefits of urban metabolism perspectives and approaches in urban strategic climate and resource planning.

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“…Tracking nitrogen deposition patterns is important for understanding how anthropogenic sources of nitrogen affect both natural habitats and urban environments (Pujadas et al 2000;Raciti et al 2008;Kaushal et al 2014;Jones et al 2018;Chávez et al 2018). The global deposition of anthropogenic N now surpasses those from natural sources, with a four-fold increase in the amount of N available to organisms in less than a century (Vitousek et al 1997;Fields 2004;Luo et al 2004;Bobbink et al 2010;Schulte-Uebbing et al 2018;Taboada et al 2018;Calvo-Fernández et al 2018).…”

Section: Background Nitrogen Depositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Isoprene Emission in Polytrichaceae Mosses

Deakova¹

2000

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Our first aim was to identify and quantify Biological Volatile Organic Compound (BVOC) emissions, specifically emissions of isoprene, from the moss Polytrichum juniperinum during its earliest stage of life. Isoprene emission from mosses could be a significant component of the total global budget of BVOC emissions. Data concerning the spatial and temporal variability of these emissions are lacking due to poor characterization of the physical and biological factors controlling isoprene synthesis in both vascular and non-vascular plants. We found that P. juniperinum in its early life stage (protonema) can emit isoprene at detectable levels at day five after spore germination. These results suggest that protonema is capable of isoprene emission, shown here for the first time, and media affects emission rates. We saw a negative trend with leaf emergence and protonema growth. Chlorophyll fluorescence ratio had a positive correlation with isoprene emission, and isoprene emission was both temperature and light dependent in early protonema. Our second aim was to determine the effects of sex and sexual expression on isoprene emission in mosses. Sex is a biologically costly, but it can result in genetic adaptability and variety for resulting offspring. Using three Polytrichaceae species, we measured isoprene emission between plants sexually expressing and non-expressing and between male and female moss plants. We found that non-sexually expressing gametophytes had significantly higher isoprene emission than gametophytes expressing sex, suggesting that sex expression may be costly and that additional resources are v Table of Contents

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Understanding, Implementing, and Tracking Urban Metabolism Is Key to Urban Futures

Cited by 10 publications

References 652 publications

Uncovering the Holistic Pathways to Circular Cities—The Case of Alberta, Canada

Uncovering the Holistic Pathways to Circular Cities—The Case of Alberta, Canada

Governing the City of Flows: How Urban Metabolism Approaches May Strengthen Accountability in Strategic Planning

Isoprene Emission in Polytrichaceae Mosses

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