Material dependence of cities and implications for regional sustainability
Cities rely on massive amounts of physical, chemical, and biological resources to support their growth and metabolism. These ‘metabolic inputs’ are accumulated in cities to form material stocks in buildings, infrastructures, transportation facilities, and household appliances. This study takes China...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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KeAi Communications Co. Ltd.
2020-09-01
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| Series: | Regional Sustainability |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666660X20300049 |
| _version_ | 1797976448623968256 |
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| author | Yupeng Liu Jiajia Li Linlin Duan Min Dai Wei-qiang Chen |
| author_facet | Yupeng Liu Jiajia Li Linlin Duan Min Dai Wei-qiang Chen |
| author_sort | Yupeng Liu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Cities rely on massive amounts of physical, chemical, and biological resources to support their growth and metabolism. These ‘metabolic inputs’ are accumulated in cities to form material stocks in buildings, infrastructures, transportation facilities, and household appliances. This study takes China’s urbanization as an example to illustrate the characteristics of material stock changes in developing countries and compare them with those in developed countries. Results show that (1) material stocks have been growing in China, but have saturated in developed countries, and (2) the major components of urban metabolism are construction and industrial materials (e.g., steel) in developing countries but biomass (e.g., food) in developed countries. The changes in the magnitude and types of material stocks can not only measure urban development but also directly link city and its residents, offering advantages in representing urbanization over the existing indices such as population, land use, or gross domestic product (GDP). Given the new insights provided by material stock, we recommend to embrace it as a critical index of urbanization for guiding urban planning and policy-making. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T04:51:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-63c2566abe154ac8aacc927ce2dd9072 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2666-660X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T04:51:01Z |
| publishDate | 2020-09-01 |
| publisher | KeAi Communications Co. Ltd. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Regional Sustainability |
| spelling | doaj.art-63c2566abe154ac8aacc927ce2dd90722022-12-27T04:37:52ZengKeAi Communications Co. Ltd.Regional Sustainability2666-660X2020-09-01113136Material dependence of cities and implications for regional sustainabilityYupeng Liu0Jiajia Li1Linlin Duan2Min Dai3Wei-qiang Chen4Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, 361021, China; Xiamen Key Lab of Urban Metabolism, Xiamen, 361021, ChinaKey Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, 361021, China; Xiamen Key Lab of Urban Metabolism, Xiamen, 361021, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, ChinaKey Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, 361021, China; Xiamen Key Lab of Urban Metabolism, Xiamen, 361021, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, ChinaFudan Tyndall Center, Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, ChinaKey Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, 361021, China; Xiamen Key Lab of Urban Metabolism, Xiamen, 361021, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China; Corresponding author. Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, 361021, China.Cities rely on massive amounts of physical, chemical, and biological resources to support their growth and metabolism. These ‘metabolic inputs’ are accumulated in cities to form material stocks in buildings, infrastructures, transportation facilities, and household appliances. This study takes China’s urbanization as an example to illustrate the characteristics of material stock changes in developing countries and compare them with those in developed countries. Results show that (1) material stocks have been growing in China, but have saturated in developed countries, and (2) the major components of urban metabolism are construction and industrial materials (e.g., steel) in developing countries but biomass (e.g., food) in developed countries. The changes in the magnitude and types of material stocks can not only measure urban development but also directly link city and its residents, offering advantages in representing urbanization over the existing indices such as population, land use, or gross domestic product (GDP). Given the new insights provided by material stock, we recommend to embrace it as a critical index of urbanization for guiding urban planning and policy-making.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666660X20300049UrbanizationUrban metabolismMaterial stockLand use/cover changesEconomic transitionSustainability |
| spellingShingle | Yupeng Liu Jiajia Li Linlin Duan Min Dai Wei-qiang Chen Material dependence of cities and implications for regional sustainability Regional Sustainability Urbanization Urban metabolism Material stock Land use/cover changes Economic transition Sustainability |
| title | Material dependence of cities and implications for regional sustainability |
| title_full | Material dependence of cities and implications for regional sustainability |
| title_fullStr | Material dependence of cities and implications for regional sustainability |
| title_full_unstemmed | Material dependence of cities and implications for regional sustainability |
| title_short | Material dependence of cities and implications for regional sustainability |
| title_sort | material dependence of cities and implications for regional sustainability |
| topic | Urbanization Urban metabolism Material stock Land use/cover changes Economic transition Sustainability |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666660X20300049 |
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