Space-time information analysis for resource-conscious urban planning and design: A stakeholder based identification of urban metabolism data gaps

Ilse M Voskamp,Marc Spiller,Sven Stremke,Arnold K Bregt,Corné Vreugdenhil,Huub H.M Rijnaarts

doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2016.08.026

Abstract

The research presented here examined at which spatial and temporal resolution urban metabolism should be analysed to generate results that are useful for implementation of urban planning and design interventions aiming at optimization of resource flows. Moreover, it was researched whether a lack of data currently hampers analysing resource flows at this desired level of detail. To facilitate a stakeholder based research approach, the SIRUP tool – “Space-time Information analysis for Resource-conscious Urban Planning” – was developed. The tool was applied in a case study of Amsterdam, focused on the investigation of energy and water flows. Results show that most urban planning and design interventions envisioned in Amsterdam require information on a higher spatiotemporal resolution than the resolution of current urban metabolism analyses, i.e., more detailed than the city level and at time steps smaller than a year. Energy-related interventions generally require information on a higher resolution than water-related interventions. Moreover, for the majority of interventions information is needed on a higher resolution than currently available. For energy, the temporal resolution of existing data proved inadequate, for water, data with both a higher spatial and temporal resolution is required. Modelling and monitoring techniques are advancing for both water and energy and these advancements are likely to contribute to closing these data gaps in the future. These advancements can also prove useful in developing new sorts of urban metabolism analyses that can provide a systemic understanding of urban resource flows and that are tailored to urban planning and design.

Highlights

The notion of urban metabolism (UM) has inspired new ideas about how cities can be made sustainable and it has fostered quantitative approaches to the analysis of urban resource flows (Agudelo-Vera et al, 2012; Castán Broto et al, 2012; Zhang, 2013)
Multiple scholars have argued that the latter type of UM analyses, the flow quantifications associated with the mainstream UM approach, are useful for urban planning and design (Castán Broto et al, 2012; Chrysoulakis et al, 2013; Kennedy et al, 2011; Moffatt and Kohler, 2008; Pincetl et al, 2012)
These authors argue that major efforts are still needed to make UM analyses useful for informing urban planning and design aiming at optimization of urban resource flows (Kennedy et al, 2011)

Summary

Introduction

The notion of urban metabolism (UM) has inspired new ideas about how cities can be made sustainable and it has fostered quantitative approaches to the analysis of urban resource flows (Agudelo-Vera et al, 2012; Castán Broto et al, 2012; Zhang, 2013). Multiple scholars have argued that the latter type of UM analyses, the flow quantifications associated with the mainstream UM approach, are useful for urban planning and design (Castán Broto et al, 2012; Chrysoulakis et al, 2013; Kennedy et al, 2011; Moffatt and Kohler, 2008; Pincetl et al, 2012). The theoretical potential of UM analysis for urban planning and design is increasingly addressed in the scientific literature, scientific reports that illustrate how this potential can be realised with practical implementation remain limited far

Results

Discussion

Conclusion