Abstract
This paper examines the metabolism of urban location, which is offered as a contribution to the expansion of urban metabolism analysis beyond the largely biophysical methods of mass-energy-balance and emergy accounting. But how does the real estate logic of location enter the stock and flow calculations of urban metabolism, and how can it help us better understand the physiology of a more sustainable city? A new, locational quantity, EL, is defined as the additional emergy value obtained by a tract of urban land due to interconnection with the other land parcels in the city. It is based on their level of development and proximity measured in terms of travel time. The article uses the greater Philadelphia region as a case study to examine the metabolic value of location, and its role in the transition to a renewable economy.
Highlights
This paper examines the metabolism of urban location, which is offered as a contribution to the expansion of urban metabolism analysis beyond the largely biophysical methods of mass-energybalance and emergy accounting (Pincetl et al, 2012; John et al, 2019)
This paper examines the third value of location, using time of travel between locations as a measure of the interconnection, and is built on a previous study of the first two values, which determined the assets and resources flows for the 1,379 census tracts in the nine-county Philadelphia region (Braham et al, 2019)
This paper examines the metabolism of urban location using the method of emergy synthesis and a new, system property based on average travel time
Summary
This paper examines the metabolism of urban location, which is offered as a contribution to the expansion of urban metabolism analysis beyond the largely biophysical methods of mass-energybalance and emergy accounting (Pincetl et al, 2012; John et al, 2019). That study focused on metabolic activities at the level of the census tract to identify factors driving consumption decisions, looking at the interaction between the accumulation of assets (buildings, infrastructures, vehicles, education, etc.) and the flows of resources. It used a classic stock and flow approach, but we recognized that it dramatically undervalued the importance of one particular form of asset: transportation. We accounted for the investment in transformation infrastructures (highways, roads, rails, etc.) and the power to operate them, but we were missing the actual effect of transportation, the connection between areas of the city and the shortening of travel time between them
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