European household material footprints decrease with the degree of urbanisation if passenger mobility infrastructure is considered

Abstract Urbanisation influences resource use through increasing affluence and dense infrastructure, enabling different lifestyles. Previous literature has highlighted the benefits of material efficiency that cities can provide. However, there is little research on household material footprints (MFs) in this context. MFs cover all material requirements throughout global supply chains and allocate these to the final consumer of a product or service. The study aims to fill this literature gap by analysing how household MFs and their different categories vary in Europe according to socioeconomic variables and the degree of urbanisation. Furthermore, we adjust our baseline model to see how adding the MF of transport infrastructure use affects the outcomes. The MFs decrease strongly with an increasing degree of urbanisation when infrastructure is taken into account, but much less so, when only household material consumption is considered. Surprisingly, household metal footprints are higher in rural than urban areas. This is mainly because household vehicles have a larger impact on metal footprints than electronic devices, for example. Differences in the MF patterns between countries highlight the importance of tailored material efficiency policies considering local characteristics.