Urban Consumption Research Articles

Phosphorus flow analysis for megacities using a coupled city-hinterland approach: Case study of Beijing

Rapid urbanization has decoupled phosphorus (P) urban consumption and hinterland production, which has accelerated the need for a broader perspective that includes the city and hinterland in managing the P cycle. However, there is a scarcity of frameworks for the combined city and hinterland approach, aimed at quantifying the transboundary P flow between the city and hinterland. In this study, we developed a coupled city-hinterland framework (using Beijing as a case study) to assess the P flow pattern at the source, waste, and transboundary flow using substance flow analysis, and proposed a pathway to identify the key subsystem in the coupled system by sensitivity analysis. Results shows that the P waste within Beijing is due to human consumption, rather than production, while P waste in the hinterland was nearly twice that observed in Beijing. Further, hinterland crop production subsystems were identified as the key subsystem to reduce P rock demand for the whole coupled system; 39% of P rock demand could be reduced by optimizing fertilizer use in the hinterland. In the scenarios that consider an improvement in technology both in Beijing and its hinterland, 64% and 60% of the total P rock demand and waste were reduced, respectively. Therefore, we provided suggestions to reduce P waste in the coupled system. This study provides a broader perspective to evaluate the impacts of urban consumption on the hinterland, which will serve as a basis for policy decisions for sustainable P flow in the supply chain of other similar cities.

Fifty Years of Water Resource Management Policies in Tunisia: From Supply Management to Territorial Equity

Water resources in Tunisia are scarce and unevenly distributed between regions. As well, rainfall varies year-to-year. This study deals with the development of water resource management policies in Tunisia during the last five decades, starting with supply and mobilization management programs that transferred water resources from the interior to the coastal territories where the most important cities are and most economic activity takes place. This policy resulted in the establishment of an interconnected water system that remained in place until the end of the last century. The study also reviews the success of the demand management system the government has been forced by the increase in both urban consumption of water and agricultural needs to adopt. We also review the many challenges that set the current situation apart from previous periods of stress on the system, including high demand, climate change and social movements in the inner cities demanding the right for water, protected in the 2014 Constitution, be respected. The study highlights these challenges and suggests elements for a new resource governance that would draw on the accumulated good governance of the last five decades

Wild Meat Is Still on the Menu: Progress in Wild Meat Research, Policy, and Practice from 2002 to 2020

Several hundred species are hunted for wild meat in the tropics, supporting the diets, customs, and livelihoods of millions of people. However, unsustainable hunting is one of the most urgent threats to wildlife and ecosystems worldwide and has serious ramifications for people whose subsistence and income are tied to wild meat. Over the past 18 years, although research efforts have increased, scientific knowledge has largely not translated into action. One major barrier to progress has been insufficient monitoring and evaluation, meaning that the effectiveness of interventions cannot be ascertained. Emerging issues include the difficulty of designing regulatory frameworks that disentangle the different purposes of hunting, the large scale of urban consumption, and the implications of wild meat consumption for human health. To address these intractable challenges, wepropose eight new recommendations for research and action for sustainable wild meat use, which would support the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Improving the Production Quality Processes at Bread SMEs in Jakarta

The consumption pattern of the people in Indonesia is experiencing a shift. Consumption patterns that are influenced by socio-cultural factors today make people tend to consume food and drinks that are practical and easy to obtain. This pattern began in 2014 until now, making the percentage of food consumption increase by 2.5% per year. Bread is a finished food whose demand pattern has also increased. Due to the development of the middle-class population, an increase in the income of young people, and society's consumption pattern, which is increasingly shifting to a practical urban consumption pattern. The bread industry in Indonesia is still classified as the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector. Small and medium enterprises (SME) is a business sector with a significant impact on improving the economy in developing countries. The products are distributed to offices that work with bakeries and are sold in stores. This shows that the shop production must work quickly to meet consumer demand in the surrounding area. In fulfilling consumer demand, a production quality control process is required in the workstation to reduce defective products. This study aims to carry out a quality control process to reduce faulty products by using a control chart and the concept of kaizen to control and maintain the production process in bread SMEs so that quality and work effectiveness can be realized.

Exploring carbon footprint reduction pathways through urban lifestyle changes: a practical approach applied to Japanese cities

Cities and urban consumers play a central role in the transition to a decarbonized society. Building on existing studies that identify the significant contributions of lifestyle changes, this study proposes a practical methodology for modeling and exploring city-specific carbon footprint reduction pathways through lifestyle changes to decarbonization. It uses an input–output approach with mixed-unit consumption data and the concept of adoption rates, which is applicable to multiple cities with widely available subnational household consumption data. This paper illustrates the use of this methodology by exploring the consumption-based mitigation pathways of 52 Japanese cities with 65 lifestyle change options covering mobility, housing, food, consumer goods, and leisure domains. The results revealed that city-specific impacts of a variety of lifestyle change options can differ by as much as a factor of five among cities, even in the urban context within the same country. Due to this city-level heterogeneity, the priority options of decarbonized lifestyles, such as among shared mobility, low-carbon diets, and longevity of consumer goods, have shifted between cities. The analysis suggests that ambitious urban lifestyle changes can potentially reduce their carbon footprints to meet the 1.5 °C target. However, due to the overlaps of mitigation potentials between multiple lifestyle change options, the necessary levels of adoption and coverage are extensive (i.e. adoption rates of 0.6–0.9). Importantly, adopting lifestyle changes with an efficiency strategy (e.g. the introduction of end-use technologies) or sufficiency strategy (e.g. behavioral changes in consumption amounts and modes) alone is not enough; the only way to succeed is through the combination of both strategies. This paper calls for a target-based exploration and identification of city-specific priorities of lifestyle change options to facilitate consumption-oriented mitigation policies and stakeholder actions to address the climate impacts of urban consumption.

Food Regeneration, Substitution and Urban Consumption in Bologna

This paper traces the recent transformations that have taken place in the city of Bologna to critically redefine the meaning and scope of the changes related to commerce and consumption, and including the city’s more general practices and promotional rhetoric. It will show how, starting from the increase in tourism and the strategic planning and policies to render the city more attractive, the city has undergone a reconfiguration through important regeneration processes linked to food. It will highlight the limited range of political and economic values which, through new ways of regulating public space and access to consumption, have redefined the socio-spatial fabric of certain areas of the city. The processes described will trace a path for deconstructing the reductively optimistic way in which Bologna is being portrayed, which ends up producing forms of displacement and exclusion.

Modeling water consumption in multifamily buildings: a case study in Southern Brazil

ABSTRACT Urban water consumption can be analyzed by means of applied research to help promote the development of environmentally sustainable cities. In this study, water consumption models are established for multifamily residential buildings in Southern Brazil using multiple linear regression analysis and cross-validation techniques. Sociodemographic and building characteristics were analyzed in a sample of 78 buildings for a period of 25 months. Six forecast models were obtained which met the assumptions of constant error variance, multicollinearity, autocorrelation, residual diagnosis, and generalization ability, explaining the variations in up to 90.61% of the building monthly water consumption and 68.72% of the per capita daily water consumption. The most significant variables were building age, number of stories, total area per floor and per person, dwellers per room and per apartment, number of bedrooms, type of metering system, presence of swimming pools and presence of alternative water-supply systems.

CONTINUOUS MONITORING OF POWER CONSUMPTION IN URBAN BUILDINGS BASED ON INTERNET OF THINGS

ABSTRACT Buildings account large portion of energy consumption out of total final energy, the major consumption is due to improper usage of electrical equipment. Thus, energy efficiency in buildings has become a priority at every level within the building environment. Previous approaches to energy saving methods were based on the human occupancy and placing a human occupancy detecting sensor in urban buildings pose a significant challenge. To overcome the challenges in the placing human occupancy sensor in Urban buildings, the proposed work consisted of the development of a Building Automation System (BAS) to automate the power monitoring and control of electrical loads using Internet of Things (IoT) and thermal sensor. Proposed framework, predict human presence using thermal sensor with machine learning method and regular activity data of the building. In the proposed approach, IoT is implemented to screen power consumption and optimize the power consumption based on the human occupancy, work schedule in the building. The system is evaluated to estimate the human occupancy with machine learning methods at various sensor sites, the number of inhabitants, environments, and human distance.

Assessment of domestic water consumption in Valencia city through fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis

ABSTRACT The influence of quantitative and qualitative population conditions needs to be jointly considered in the assessment of urban water demand. Through fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), quantitative and qualitative conditions can be jointly analysed to obtain the patterns or recipes that explain the hypothesis tested. This work assesses the influence of water price, income level, ageing index, number of members in household, household antiquity and household surface on the urban water consumption from a district-level approach. The approach proposed is a novelty since it is focused on urban water demand and the related socioeconomic conditions in Valencia city. Results obtained show the influence of water price and members in household as main conditions that explain the water consumption of Valencia districts. This work highlights the relationship between the conditions analysed and water consumption, allowing the identification of the water consumption patterns in a developed urban area from a district-level approach.

Au-delà de la forêt : la géo-dynamique de l’açaí brésilien dans la ville de Paris

Originaire du palmier Euterpe oleracea, l'açaí est un fruit endémique de la forêt amazonienne, dont la consommation s’est fortement développée au Brésil depuis les années 1990 et est émergente dans d'autres régions du monde. Consommé surtout sous forme de pulpe et érigé en « superfruit » par des acteurs du marketing pour son potentiel antioxydant et nutritionnel, la baie d'açaí traverse un processus dynamique englobant à la fois son circuit spatial de production et de distribution internationale ainsi que sa composition de produits dérivés. Dans le cas de Paris, des entretiens et des travaux de terrain ont été menés afin de mieux comprendre la dynamique commerciale et les principales relations spatiales établies par les produits dérivés du fruit dans la capitale française. Ces analyses nous montrent qu’il existe un « axe de l’açaí » à Paris dû à la forte concentration de points de vente sur la rive-droite de la ville. Les résultats montrent l’importance d’une consommation urbaine relevant de classes sociales aisées de la population. Paris illustre un phénomène de consommation de l’açaí dans les métropoles mondiales.

Nonlinear Effect Analysis of Electricity Price on Household Electricity Consumption

The household energy consumption has been a hot field in the study of household energy consumption in recent years. With the increase of residents’ income level and the pushing of urbanization, there is a complex nonlinear relationship between energy price and energy consumption. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the scenario effect of per capita income and regional differences in urbanization development on the relationship between electricity sales price and urban household electricity consumption. To this direction, based on the regional characteristics of economic development in China, with the residents’ disposable income and the urbanization level as the conversion variables and the electricity sales price as the core explanatory variable, the panel smooth transition regression (PSTR) model of electricity sales price and urban household electricity consumption from the perspectives of income level and urbanization has been constructed in this paper. The empirical results show the following: (1) Under the consideration of regional difference of residents’ income level, with the increase of residents’ disposable income level, there is a significant negative correlation between electricity sales price and urban household electricity consumption in the whole country, the eastern region, and the central region, while such correlation is significantly positive in the western region. (2) Under the consideration of the difference of urbanization development level, the national regional electricity sales price and the urbanization level are positively related to the urban household electricity consumption, and the urbanization level in the western region plays the biggest role in promoting the urban household electricity consumption, followed by the eastern region and then the central region which plays the smallest role. This paper discusses the effect of electricity sales price on urban household electricity consumption from the perspective of regional difference in income and urbanization, which provides the decision-making basis and empirical support for developing regional electricity price policy and household energy consumption policy.

Analysis of the Response of Urban Water Consumption to Climatic Variables: Case Study of Khorramabad City in Iran

Iran is located in a dry climate belt. Such conditions have made the supply of urban water resources one of the most fundamental management challenges. The amount of water consumed in a city is affected by the weather conditions greatly such that as the weather changes, the amount of water consumed changes as well. In this study, several models including zero-order Pearson’s correlation coefficient, first-order Pearson’s correlation, generalized additive model (GAM), generalized linear model (GLM), support vector machine (SVM-Nu), and simplex optimization algorithm were used in order to identify linear/nonlinear reactions of monthly water consumption to the individual and combined associations of meteorological variables (temperature, air pressure, and relative humidity) in Khorramabad city. Zero-order and first-order correlations showed that, by controlling the air temperature, the effect of pressure and relative humidity on changes in water consumption increase. On the other hand, both individual and combined GAM models showed the same result in the nonlinear response of water consumption to the changes in relative humidity and air pressure. The spline method also revealed that, by eliminating the effect of air temperature, the nonlinear reaction of water consumption to changes in pressure and relative humidity was increasing, and by eliminating the effects of the relative humidity and air pressure, the nonlinear reaction of water consumption to the air temperature was intensified. In general, by decreasing the air pressure and temperature, the amount of urban household water consumption decreases drastically. These conditions are generally provided by entering low-pressure systems.

Decoding of Characteristics of Urban Consumption Based on “Brand Cluster”

Brand Cluster is proposed based on the background of evolved consumption modes and concepts as well as brand preferences of different categories of consumers. With the support of inter-urban, inter-category and inter-brand big data, after deep learning and profound analysis of consumption relations of different brands, Brand Cluster was born to reflect characteristics of diverse consumers. We try to understand the inner features of 18 clusters of brands and how these clusters look like in different cities, which underlies the practice of city siting of brand owners. Brand Cluster is believed to reveal the relationships between “allies” of brands in a whole new angel of view and in the large. In addition, the make-up of brand clusters in different cities indicate whether a new city is appropriate for brand owners to expand into.

The analysis of consumption pattern of household the oil palm farmers in labuhanbatu regency

The aim of this research is to recognize the income variable, the economic activity, and the family size determination, also differences in the location of living against oil palm farmer consumption in Labuhanbatu Regency, Indonesia. The Method that used to analyze the data is Multiple Linear Regression model, specified in Least Square Dummy Variable (LSDV) method. The estimation result found that all of independent variable positive significantly influenced the food consumption. Otherwise, the negative one significantly influenced the non-food consumption outcome. The estimation result also found that the level of consumption for many kinds of urban food was fewer than hinterland society food consumption about Rp.1.248.000. However, the urban consumption more excessively than coastal area society about Rp.1.323.000. While the level of consumption outcome for many kinds of non-food urban consumption larger than non-food hinterland consumption about Rp.2.248.000. Also larger than non-food coastal society consumption about Rp.1.376.000. The variation of independent variable capability to explain the food consumption about 92,5 % and non-food consumption outcome about 87,4 %. The specification models were appropriated which the model free of multicollinearity and Heteroscedasticity classic assumption collision

Consuming Leisure Time: How The Tourism Trend Has Changed the Village

This article elaborates on the issue of using leisure time, mainly connected with the tourism concept. The tourism agenda has shaped the trend of using leisure time, which at the same time has changed the appearance of particular places to attract consumers. The village area is a new tourist spot that discussed in this article. Again becomes crucial to see; the new economic features have changed social relations in rural areas. The changes also happened in Yogyakarta, especially villages in the Sleman area. Therefore, this paper aims to explore how the village experienced economic changes after it formed into a tourist area, how was the process. The approach used in this research is qualitative by collecting observational data and secondary data. Based on the research, the villages in Yogyakarta, especially Sleman, the changes in the economic pattern cannot separate from the tourist trend, which emphasizes the reformation of the classic pastoral nuances. The establishment of a restaurant or cafe that offers authentic characters imagined being a remedy for longing for memories. Without intending to confront rural and urban areas, this study argues that the tourism trend in rural areas has not only changed the economic complexion but has also emphasized the character of the village as a space for urban community consumption. It is undeniable that the economic turnover that arises from the tourism sector is assumed to be able to contribute to the new face of rural areas; however, it is not necessarily possible to realize sustainable regional development without being followed by creativity to compete with the emergence of new entertainment venues.
 Keywords: Tourism Transformation, Village, Leisure, Space Consumption.

Innovative Digital Technologies for Purchasing and Consumption in Urban and Regional Agro-Food Systems: A Systematic Review

The use of digital technologies in the agro-food sector is growing worldwide, and applications in the urban and regional food systems represent a relevant segment of such growth. The present paper aims at reviewing the literature on which and how digital technologies support urban and regional agro-food purchasing and consumption, as well as their characteristics. Data collection was performed on Scopus and Web of Science. Articles were selected using a research string and according to specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) flow approach was adopted to explain data screening and selection. The 57 resulting studies were included in the final qualitative analysis, which explored the characteristics of the research studies and of the digital technologies analysed. Most of the studies analysed concerned the implications of digital technologies on local food consumption, especially focusing on consumption, primary production and hotel-restaurant-café-catering sector (HORECA), and to a limited extent on the retail sector. Consumers and farmers are the main targets of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) tools, whose principal aims are providing information on agro-food products and enhancing networking along the food supply chain. Analysing digital technologies allows a better understanding of their most popular features in order to support their spread among citizens. Digital technologies, and particularly Apps, can be a valuable instrument to strengthen agro-food chain actor relations and to promote urban and regional food systems.

Estimation of waste outflows for multiple product types in China from 2010\u20132050

Material flow has been accelerated from underground natural minerals and is accumulating as aboveground waste stock. China is not only the largest producer and consumer of material-driven products, but also the largest generator of product waste. No official annual product waste data are released for China, which creates challenges especially in light of China’s emerging waste management policies. Previous studies have presented only estimations of waste streams for single products. In this study, we considered three product types and 33 technological products and collected all the available data. A Kuznets curve and Bass diffusion model were employed to forecast their future consumption. Based on urban consumption metabolism, we created one systematic estimation model of product waste generation related to material flow and social regulation. Typical technological product waste outflows were estimated from 2010 to 2050, which can assist further material flow and environmental impact research, as well as waste management policy-making and technology development. The created model can be potentially extended to other types of product waste estimation.

Urban consumption in modern Iran (Case study: City of Zanjan)

Abstract Numerous studies have been conducted on consumption within urban spaces. However, how people from different socio-economic classes consume urban spaces has not been sufficiently studied specially in Iran. To fill these gaps, the distinguishing feature of this paper is providing answer to how people consume urban spaces in everyday life and focusing on understanding style of consumption in urban spaces considering the dominant category of purchasing, taking heed of the various socio-economic classes in lieu of merely sex issues in modern life. To this end, abductive research strategy was employed. Using data encoding method in Grounded Theory, the results were analyzed which indicated four patterns for urban consumption and 24 consumption spaces in Zanjan. These consumption spaces were studied based on six styles of consumption. The results of the study indicated symbolic consumption is the most prominent style of consumption and that in many consumption spaces in Zanjan, different socio-economic classes are segregated and people from certain socio-economic classes are mostly present and the presence of people from other classes is insignificant. While social mixing was seen in some spaces, it was found that in urban space consumption people associate meanings with the spaces which convey their desired identities.

Analysis and Prediction of Water Consumption in Nanjing—A Comparative Study Based on Stepwise Regression and Nonparametric Mode

Accurate prediction of urban water consumption is of great significance to the management and improvement of water supply system. In this thesis, through correlation analysis on 16 factors affecting total water consumption in Nanjing from 2005 to 2019, the factors among them that have more obvious influence are selected, and then they are fitted by stepwise linear regression model and nonparametric regression model respectively. By comparing the fitting results, it is found that nonparametric regression model has better prediction effect than stepwise regression model. The analysis results show that the prediction of urban water consumption is very important for the rational allocation of water resources.

The Comparative Study on Elasticity of Traffic Congestion Delay Cost in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou

This paper proposes the traffic congestion delay cost elasticity concept based on the elastic theory, and analyzes the relationship between traffic congestion delay cost and other influence factors, these factors are: city scale, urban facilities, urban public transport, urban automobile volume, urban road accidents, urban exhaust and urban transportation energy consumption. In this paper, according to the data about Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou from 2016 to 2017, the quantitatively study of the elasticity of traffic congestion delay cost was conducted, and the relevant comparison and analysis are made. After that, we put forward countermeasures and suggestions to alleviate urban traffic congestion.