Social-ecological analysis of urban systems in terms of metabolic flows

The overall objective of our research is to develop, establish, and implement quantitative methods for urban metabolism, on the basis of which to propose urban resource cycles and allocation schemes, and to provide theoretical and methodological foundation for building urban resilience to potential social, economic, and environmental shocks. The presentation identifies the roles, opportunities, and pathways for cities to reduce energy, water and material resource use, and the related environmental impacts and to become more livable for growing populations in different urbanization contexts in China and Europe. Specifically, it applies network and analysis and footprint analysis to consider cases in Vienna, Austria, Malmö, Sweden, and Beijing and Shanghai, China. The project uses novel scenario analyses (i.e., policy exercise) to identify pathways and key opportunities where cities can foster the transformation to be more livable, circular, and resilient, and furthermore, assess the impact footprints of future scenarios in the studied cities that embrace a circular economy/industrial symbiosis approach. Urban metabolism studies are transdisciplinary by design. The project starts with economic input-output data of the monetary exchange between sectors in a region. These data must first be downscaled for the city scale, and then environmental coefficients are used to calculate how much energy is associated with the transactions and then further converted into GHG emissions. From this layer of different dimensions, one can assess how much GHG are embodied in the flows along all direct and indirect pathways of exchange, thus giving a measure of the embodied GHG for the transactions. Results show that three sectors, electricity production, manufacturing, and transportation are responsible for the most emissions. Furthermore, the Chinese cities are mostly exporting those flows domestically while the European cities are sending the embodied emissions trans-nationally. Network control analysis shows the strong role of the construction sector in the fast-growing Chinese cities. Comparatively, recreational activities are higher in the European cities indicating a more service sector-based economy. The human element is considered in the analysis in surveys and interviews that were conducted to elicit the shared values and preferences of stakeholders in Vienna and Shanghai. Viennese residents value the following features of their city: Nature-caring and nature-demanded; Small groups and families are central; Good & just, social care and safety; and Diversity. The following ideals emerged from discussions with Shanghai residents: Support for my family; Long-term mindset; Mistakes and learning; Personal growth and achievement; Recognition; Respect and be respected; Solve problems at the roots; Common vision and working together ; and Expression and communication. These values give priority to the acceptable policies and lower thresholds of what would be undesirable from a livability perspective. Special attention was paid to the transportation sector of Vienna with input from policy-makers to envision alternative scenarios that could reduce GHG footprint ranging from increased parking fees to expansion of carfree zones.