Strategies of socio-ecological transition for a sustainable urban metabolism
Urbanization plays a key role in the human activities causing and feeding climate change. At present, climate change and other environmental issues are directly or indirectly related to the metabolism of cities. However, cities may also play a central role in the fight against climate change. This i...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Sustainable Cities |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2022.875912/full |
| _version_ | 1811317092601823232 |
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| author | Dario Padovan Silvio Cristiano Francesco Gonella |
| author_facet | Dario Padovan Silvio Cristiano Francesco Gonella |
| author_sort | Dario Padovan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Urbanization plays a key role in the human activities causing and feeding climate change. At present, climate change and other environmental issues are directly or indirectly related to the metabolism of cities. However, cities may also play a central role in the fight against climate change. This is the reason why Urban Metabolism (UM) has become a powerful concept to account for and understand the way in which complex systems such as cities use and dispose of material resources, also suggesting measures to change their operational regimes. The rightsizing and optimization of UM is basically a matter of social innovation. It implies changes in the way a city collectively produces and reproduces its physical stocks and provides services to its inhabitants. This article aims at identifying strategies, scenarios, and pathways to slow down urban metabolic processes while improving their efficiency, thus managing a successful transition to an urban (more) circular economy, as well as decreasing the material intensity of the urban economy. The main objectives of the article are the following:1. The development of a renewed approach for studying Urban Metabolism based on transdisciplinary approaches and methods aimed to model metabolic agents' patterns of practices.2. The definition of urban patterns of resource use of different agents shaping urban metabolism (households, corporate agents, communities, and public authorities).3. The exploration of the main policies and administrative tools that cities use to manage environmental problems leading to different urban regulation regimes.4. A tool for generating future scenarios and roadmaps to reach a low-carbon future. This tool is crucial for engaging experts, stakeholders and the public looking for new solutions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T12:00:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7698f9fb4cbf468bbb15e431f3eb8b04 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2624-9634 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T12:00:28Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Sustainable Cities |
| spelling | doaj.art-7698f9fb4cbf468bbb15e431f3eb8b042022-12-22T02:47:47ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Sustainable Cities2624-96342022-11-01410.3389/frsc.2022.875912875912Strategies of socio-ecological transition for a sustainable urban metabolismDario Padovan0Silvio Cristiano1Francesco Gonella2Department of Cultures, Politics and Society, University of Turin, Turin, ItalyDepartment of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Venice, ItalyDepartment of Molecular Sciences and Nanosystems, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Venice, ItalyUrbanization plays a key role in the human activities causing and feeding climate change. At present, climate change and other environmental issues are directly or indirectly related to the metabolism of cities. However, cities may also play a central role in the fight against climate change. This is the reason why Urban Metabolism (UM) has become a powerful concept to account for and understand the way in which complex systems such as cities use and dispose of material resources, also suggesting measures to change their operational regimes. The rightsizing and optimization of UM is basically a matter of social innovation. It implies changes in the way a city collectively produces and reproduces its physical stocks and provides services to its inhabitants. This article aims at identifying strategies, scenarios, and pathways to slow down urban metabolic processes while improving their efficiency, thus managing a successful transition to an urban (more) circular economy, as well as decreasing the material intensity of the urban economy. The main objectives of the article are the following:1. The development of a renewed approach for studying Urban Metabolism based on transdisciplinary approaches and methods aimed to model metabolic agents' patterns of practices.2. The definition of urban patterns of resource use of different agents shaping urban metabolism (households, corporate agents, communities, and public authorities).3. The exploration of the main policies and administrative tools that cities use to manage environmental problems leading to different urban regulation regimes.4. A tool for generating future scenarios and roadmaps to reach a low-carbon future. This tool is crucial for engaging experts, stakeholders and the public looking for new solutions.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2022.875912/fullsystems thinkingurban metabolismsocial innovationsocio-economic rightsizingmaterial intensityurban economy |
| spellingShingle | Dario Padovan Silvio Cristiano Francesco Gonella Strategies of socio-ecological transition for a sustainable urban metabolism Frontiers in Sustainable Cities systems thinking urban metabolism social innovation socio-economic rightsizing material intensity urban economy |
| title | Strategies of socio-ecological transition for a sustainable urban metabolism |
| title_full | Strategies of socio-ecological transition for a sustainable urban metabolism |
| title_fullStr | Strategies of socio-ecological transition for a sustainable urban metabolism |
| title_full_unstemmed | Strategies of socio-ecological transition for a sustainable urban metabolism |
| title_short | Strategies of socio-ecological transition for a sustainable urban metabolism |
| title_sort | strategies of socio ecological transition for a sustainable urban metabolism |
| topic | systems thinking urban metabolism social innovation socio-economic rightsizing material intensity urban economy |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2022.875912/full |
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