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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Tourism is a critical component of the economic framework in Thailand and numerous other countries worldwide, acting as a significant revenue generator. In the year 2022, the tourism industry made a significant contribution to Thailand's Gross Domestic Product, representing 22.92 percent of the total. However, the emphasis on urban development and management in order to boost visitor numbers can worsen urban metabolism, leading to an escalation in resource. The urban administration needs to know how much waste must be managed to plan for effective environmental and public health management. The focus of this study is on the construction of an artificial neural network forecasting model that takes into account socioeconomic and demographic variables to anticipate the management of municipal solid waste in a city known for tourism. METHODS: Models were generated by synthesizing and integrating municipal solid waste collection quantities with 17 inputs of socioeconomic, demographic, event occurrences, and tourism-specific metrics variables from 2015-2021 in Chiang Mai municipality. Deep learning techniques were used to create the models. Socioeconomic characteristics were derived using nosecount data at the provincial and municipal levels. Data preprocessing involved the implementation of knowledge discovery in database strategy to ensure the creation of datasets with sufficient numbers and quality for modeling. This issue involved calculating the correlation coefficient between 17 inputs and the quantities of municipal solid waste collected. RapidMiner® computer software was used to construct a model incorporating frameworks using artificial neural network techniques. To ensure robustness and prevent overfitting, the dataset was divided into training and validation sets. The model was trained using backpropagation methods, and the evaluation of the model's performance was based on the correlation between the observed and predicted values of the mean municipal solid waste collection rate. FINDINGS: The waste prediction model achieved optimal performance by incorporating eight input variables across two hidden layers, one consisting of ten nodes and the other of five nodes. Across eight trials, this arrangement produced the lowest correlation coefficient (0.67), mean absolute error (320.779 +/- 22.080), and root mean square error (16.5). On the other hand, the chosen model used 17 input variables split across two hidden layers, each with 8 or 4 nodes. The model yielded a correlation coefficient of 0.69, a mean absolute error of 461.953 +/- 706.680, and a root mean square error of 21.9. The current daily amount of municipal solid waste collected is 340 metric tonnes, while the projection model anticipates an increase to 348 metric tonnes per day by 2023, with a margin of error of 2 percent. The model further predicts a daily garbage collection of 361 metric tons through 2030. CONCLUSION: Future waste management strategies may be planned, and various environmental impacts in tourism cities can be analyzed using the forecasting process and framework for the municipal solid waste collection rate described in this research. These characteristics are harnessed by the model to gain a thorough insight into waste dynamics in metropolitan regions with high tourist activity, ultimately facilitating the adoption of more sustainable urban planning and management approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urban heat island (UHI) effect, where the temperature in an urban area is higher than in the surrounding rural areas, is becoming a major concern. The concept of a Local Climate Zone (LCZ) system was devised to provide an objective framework for UHI research, which allows for a microscale definition of the UHI effect within urban areas by considering 'urban' and 'rural' as a continuum versus a dichotomy. However, most LCZ types are classified only by surface structure and coverings, which seem irrelevant to climatological and microscale concepts. In addition, microclimate is influenced by urban metabolism related to human activities as well as structural effects, but the LCZ-classification system does not incorporate these functional concepts. Therefore, this study proposes a novel urban-classification system that addresses the limitations of the LCZ concept by quantifying structural and functional elements of the city at the pedestrian level using S-DoT sensors and semantic segmentation techniques. This study holds significance as it suggests a New-LCZ (N-LCZ) system to support the classification framework of highly valid urban types and follow-up studies related to the UHI. Moreover, the N-LCZ offers a regional urban-planning strategy for sustainable development through a more valid classification system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Re-considering the interactions between society and natural resources is fundamental in pursuing sustainability and adaptation to climate change in cities. The representation in urban planning instruments reveals an inadequate consideration of valley hillslopes as interface systems or as 'places' with possible multiple roles and meanings for populations. Beyond landslide and flooding considerations, valley hillslopes are scarcely identified as distinct entities from the valley and the plateau, investigated as sites of diverse possible uses, and analysed in terms of which variables related to the relief's forms influence their use. Confronting urban planning instruments that reduce slopes to building spaces, this contribution advocates for a specific representation of valley hillslopes, highlighting the environment's variety within which the system interacts, the diversity of uses, and the interrelationships between form and land cover. By combining GIS mapping and statistical analysis, this research proposes a multi-scalar approach based on identifying valley hillslopes delineated through minimum units (geochore), integrated with land cover clustering and an analysis of the potential relations between land cover and six explanatory variables. The research points out the singularity and complexity of valley hillslopes, which should be incorporated into urban planning policy as potential cultural, ecological, or recreational resources for populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the backdrop of urbanization and its environmental impacts, this study expands urban metabolism research by integrating knowledge from the ecosystem service (ES) concept. A framework was put forward to capitalize on ES knowledge in metabolic studies and material flow analysis in particular while supporting dynamic analysis of ES supply and demand flows through factors such as pressure, state, and drivers. This framework is tested in the city of Lima, Peru, to evaluate six ESs and express their contribution in a standard economy‐wide material flow analysis of the city. Moreover, simulations were deployed to forecast spatiotemporal variations of resource flows and emissions until the year 2050. Findings indicate a gap between the city's ES demand and the availability of its local natural resources. Demand exceeds local supply ES flows in Lima, with the exception of surface water provision and cane‐mats for construction materials, representing 141% and 128% of the total supply, respectively. However, they are projected to reduce by the year 2050: 19% and 22% respectively. Carbon sequestration supply represents 0.01% of the total demand (carbon emissions). Peri‐urban agriculture production represents 4.3% of the total food consumption. Our findings offer a new perspective on the role of nature in cities and highlight the need to implement urban sustainability policies that can help overcome metabolic deficiencies while prioritizing resource efficiency, decarbonization, and conservation/generation of green infrastructure in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the prospects of urban mining for a steadily developing city "Thane," located in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region of India, through building material stock accounting (BMSA). A novel bottom‐up approach for stock accounting was developed for the cities with limited data availability, through the integration of geodata spatial analysis, archetype identification through statistical modeling, and regional building design assessment for material intensity calculation. This study is the first of its kind in the Indian context and focuses on the stock estimation of the most common building materials: concrete, reinforcement steel, and masonry bricks within the boundaries of a typical Indian urban area. The results showed that the total built‐up stock in Thane city in 2018 amounts to 84.7 million metric ton (MT) by weight; concrete 57.7%, bricks 40.4%, steel 1.9%. Such reservoirs of raw material can be harnessed to fulfill the future material requirements of the construction industry through proposed circular economy interventions such as material bank creation, local recycling facilities, and development of a secondary material market. The material stock estimated in this study was 46.1 MT/capita for permanent building dwellers and with potential infrastructural developments underway, urban mining application can be ensured by redefining design and demolition strategies and multi‐level collaboration for generating alternative material sources for the construction sector. This work of BMSA intends to provide meaningful insights into exploring the potentials of urban mining and help chart the future roadmaps of sustainable construction in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revue d'Économie Régionale & urbaine is the property of Librairie Armand Colin and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: Life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) are state-of-the-art methods used to holistically measure the environmental and economic performance of industrial symbiosis networks (ISNs). Existing methodologies face a challenge in unifying LCA and LCC of an ISN in a single model that can disaggregate the network-level results to the entity and resource flow levels. This study introduces UM3-LCE3-ISN, a methodology for multi-level matrix-based modeling for life cycle environmental and economic evaluation of ISNs. Methods: The UM3-LCE3-ISN methodology is designed to conduct a process-based LCA and LCC of any ISN scenario. The methodology constructs a single matrix-based model that represents the physical and monetary flows of an ISN across the entire life cycle. The demand and price vectors in the model can be manipulated to produce LCA and LCC results of an ISN at the levels of the entire network, individual companies, and specific resource flows. A formalism is provided that outlines the steps for model construction and multi-level analysis. Verification of the model constructed can be done by producing scaled technology and monetary matrices of an ISN. UM3-LCE3-ISN is tested through a case study of an urban agri-food ISN comprising five entities engaged in open and closed-loop recycling. Results and discussion: The case study results demonstrated that UM3-LCE3-ISN can be used to compute the life cycle environmental impacts and net present value of ISNs at the three different stakeholder levels. Only one matrix model was required for each scenario to compute the LCA and LCC results for multiple stakeholders through one computation as opposed to several computations in multiple separate models. UM3-LCE3-ISN can produce granular LCA and LCC results regarding specific waste-to-resource conversion processes within an ISN and their contribution to the environmental and economic performance of specific entities. Overall, UM3-LCE3-ISN is able to unify potential conflicting assumptions and data used by different models and obtain more holistic LCA and LCC results that are harmonized for stakeholders across different levels. Conclusion: The UM3-LCE3-ISN methodology can be applied in industrial symbiosis facilitation tools that allow diverse stakeholders such as policy-makers, urban planners, businesses, and product designers to operate on a common platform to determine the life cycle environmental and economic performance of an ISN from multiple perspectives of interest. This would allow diverse stakeholders to make holistic evidence-based decisions and strategies for developing ISNs in different sectors that enable a large-scale transition to a circular economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In recent decades, there has been significant advancement in scholarly research focused on detecting pollutants in marine environments and assessing the potential risks associated with seafood, particularly marine fish. The advancement has been predominantly influenced by the detection of microplastics, which have the ability to permeate food webs via both direct and indirect pathways. Microplastic pollution poses a substantial health risk to organisms at all levels of the food chain, including humans, who are top consumers. Despite the global concern, there is a lack of extensive research on microplastics in fish in Indonesia. The reliance of coastal communities in Indonesia on marine resources raises concerns regarding the potential impact of microplastic contamination. This study sought to assess the extent of microplastic pollutants in commercially caught marine fish from Jakarta Bay, a densely populated and industrialized coastal area accommodating more than 35 million inhabitants.METHODS: The study was conducted at five nearby fresh seafood markets in the northern part of Jakarta, where marine fish specimens were collected between December 2023 and January 2024. In total, 160 samples were gathered, with 20 individuals representing each of the eight diverse marine fish species. The approved protocol for extracting microplastics, which incorporates biological digestion, density separation, and microplastic identification, was strictly followed, although some adaptations were made as the process unfolded. Preventative actions were enacted in order to decrease the risk of microplastic cross-contamination.FINDINGS: It was determined through analysis that 93.75 percent (150 out of 160) of the fish studied contained microplastics, which were detected in samples obtained from both the gut and gill samples. On average, each fish had 3.65 ± 2.34 particles per individual, or approximately 0.12 ± 0.21 particles per gram. Microplastics were found in 81.25 percent of gut samples and 79.38 percent of gill samples. The abundance of microplastics in gut (1.79 ± 1.19 particles per individual) was slightly lower than in gills (1.86 ± 1.30 particles per individual). The variance in microplastic content between the two organs did not reach statistical significance. Fish with carnivorous feeding habits demonstrated a higher average microplastic content when contrasted with those utilizing omnivorous and planktivorous feeding strategies. Fish living in the benthopelagic region tended to have slightly more microplastic particles than those in benthic coastal water and pelagic coastal water. Most of the microplastics detected in commercial marine fish were in the size range of 2000-5000 micrometers, with the majority being in the form of fragments and fibers. The study also pinpointed seven specific polymer classifications, which consist of polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, nylon, polyester, polybutadiene, and polyethylene terephthalate.CONCLUSION: The escalating levels of microplastics in the environment present a substantial threat to food security, marine ecosystems, and human health. It is imperative to develop a standardized risk assessment mechanism utilizing advanced tools and methodologies to quantify the levels of microplastics in the environment and living organisms as the study moves forward. It is imperative that both capture fisheries and aquaculture undergo thorough assessments of risks and hazards. This study underscores the significance of monitoring plastic waste in the Greater Jakarta area and its adjacent coastlines. Further study is essential to evaluate the magnitude of plastic pollution in fish tissues that are consumed by humans, and to assess the potential consequences for food safety.

With urbanization trends impacting on levels of greenhouse gas emissions, environmental degradation, resource consumption and associated waste; the quest for stronger mitigation and adaptation approaches has put more pressure on solutions to be viewed at the city scale. A plethora of concepts has emerged under the umbrella of sustainable cities, aiming to make cities greener, smarter, resilient, eco-friendly, decarbonized, and more recently, 'Circular'. This research aims to contextualize the alignment of the circular economy to socio-spatial issues by leveraging the discussions on the implications of circularity in urban planning and design. Drawing on a combination of methods: literature review, stakeholder interviews and the exploration of Glasgow as a case study; a synthetic view of an urban circularity framework is aided by the visualization of four urban systems (building and property assets, social-productive, energy and mobility, and natural and ecological) and initiatives affecting them (policies, plans, projects) enabling a socio-spatial perspective to circularity. Applied to Glasgow, the maps showcased current practices and their potential for moving towards a circular city, promoting inclusive, collaborative planning and stakeholder engagement not only on the macro scale (city) but at the meso (neighbourhood) and micro (buildings/sites/citizens) scales. The framework presents the potential for advancing urban metabolism in a way that is visual and relatable to urban decision-making, and encourages a more holistic interpretation of circularity in the built environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Engineering (17264073) is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: This study aims to investigate how the coupling of Material and Energy Flow Analysis (MEFA) with Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) under an urban metabolism (UM) perspective (referred to as the UM-LCA approach) can support the design, evaluation, and monitoring of urban-level circular strategies. For this purpose, we apply the UM-LCA approach to the urban area of Umeå (Sweden) by expanding the goal and scope of a recent MEFA study conducted by the authors of the article. Methods: The modeling combines MEFA with LCA and is performed both retrospectively and prospectively. The MEFA was performed in the prior study following a bottom-up approach to map and quantify material and energy flows in the urban system at the sectoral level. The quantified flows are used in the present study to construct the life cycle inventory (LCI) model of the urban system. The LCI model is first used as a basis of the retrospective LCA (rLCA), which is conducted to assess the environmental performance of the urban system with its sectors. The LCI model is then modified according to future scenarios and is used as a basis of the prospective LCA (pLCA), which is performed to assess the environmental implications of implementing circular strategies in the future. Results and discussion: The rLCA shows that the construction and household sectors are major drivers of environmental impacts in the urban system, with households being the largest contributors to 11 out of 12 analyzed impact categories. It also reveals the most impacting flows within these sectors, including food in households and steel in the construction sector. These findings indicate that the construction and household sectors and their most impacting flows should be prioritized in a circular strategy. Furthermore, the pLCA highlights that a future circular strategy promoting reductions in the material used in these two sectors could lead to higher reductions in all impact categories, ranging from 4.3 to 8.6%, than a strategy focused only on recycling, which could lead to reductions ranging from 0.2 to 1.2%. Conclusions: This study concludes that the UM-LCA approach has great potential to comprehensively analyze, both retrospectively and prospectively, the environmental performance of an urban system providing valuable insights that could support policy makers in designing, assessing, and monitoring urban-level circular strategies. However, further research should address identified limitations of the UM-LCA approach (e.g., limited available data, inability to consider social and economic aspects) to facilitate its applicability and enhance its comprehensiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study employs a multidisciplinary methodology across natural and social sciences to examine relationships between biodiversity loss at sea and urban consumption with a focus on sea cucumber and dried seafood markets in New York City (NYC). The study identified 34 dried seafood retailers across three NYC Chinatown boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. Samples of sea cucumber were collected with Chinese-language labels indicating the commodity was from South America, a region of conservation concern. Comparison samples were taken from sea cucumbers labeled from Mexico and Japan. A mitochondrial DNA barcoding method was used to examine the taxonomic origin of 103 samples. Sequence data were successfully obtained from 74 of the samples, 8 of which were classified as brown sea cucumber (Isostichopus fuscus), an endangered species for which harvest is banned in several locations. Semi-structured interviews with dried seafood retailers and consumers (n = 64), moreover, revealed associations between consuming sea cucumber and enhancing human health and limited knowledge of product origins. Collectively, the findings reveal socio-ecological dynamics wherein endangered species on the market coupled with geographic market labeling practices and varying degrees of retailer and consumer knowledge negatively bear on marine biodiversity. Furthermore, given that brown sea cucumbers are abundant on the market, there is a need for developing genetic markers that can trace geographic origin to determine if species were legally harvested. These results indicate that more robust market labeling, training, genetic research, and public outreach are required to advance One Health in urban seafood markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing urban population and the restructuring of urban economies are the main aspects that determine urban development in the twenty-first century. Rapid urbanization is among the most significant anthropogenic factors that impact ecosystems and sustainability. Urbanization is a "double-edged sword." Even though it contributes to economic prosperity and social development, at the same time, it poses severe challenges to the natural environment and social system. The scientific community emphasizes the need to investigate the relationship between cities and the environment to comprehend their dynamic interactions related with problems such as climate change, consumption of natural resources, and life quality degradation. Population growth and urbanization are central considerations of the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 11, dealing with making cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. Moreover, the new circular economy model is receiving increasing attention globally as a solution to the current production and consumption model, which is based on constant growth and increasing resource input. The objective of this paper was to identify the major challenges occurred due to the rapid urbanization in a coastal city though a qualitative and quantitative waste compositional analysis. The ultimate goal is to propose the waste compositional analysis as a new indicator in the literature for determination of the degree of metabolism in an island region. According to the compositional analysis, the higher the population density in a region, the greater the volume of garbage produced and, consequently, the infrastructure necessary for waste management. Also, the increased seasonal tourist activity leads to an increase in the number of tourist accommodations and services. The results provided may also be applicable in other cities with similar characteristics related with tourism habits and the challenges they may face as a result of the waste production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This practice review describes the social fiction method, utilized in combination with debriefing, as a tool to boost imagination and facilitate deep reflection on the social dimension of spatial imaginaries of circular cities and urban metabolism. Using critical social science theories and methods, the educator developed an interactive workshop that prompted adult students to reflect on how their backgrounds and values influence their imagination of what a circular city could be. The study concludes that social fiction can be an effective tool for promoting inclusivity and sustainability in urban planning education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As we approach an era where more than 60% of the global population lives in cities, urban areas must be our focal point in the transition to the flourishing societies of future decades. While much attention has been paid to understanding urban consumption patterns over the past decade, the overwhelming majority of recent urban metabolism research has focused on larger cities with populations over 1 million inhabitants. Meanwhile, estimates show that more people live in urban areas with populations between 300,000 and 1 million people than in mega cities. Indeed, given their relatively small size, there are many more of these cities to study than larger cities; many more urban governments need to be informed of the solutions that are relevant to the context of their less dense populations. Our goals to decarbonize and dematerialize societies require discussions of measures that are applicable to different types of urban areas across various population scales. We take the example of the town of Reading, United Kingdom to illustrate how per capita urban metabolic flows differ within small‐ and medium‐sized cities, as well as for megacities. For example, relative to Reading, we find that there is substantial variability in energy demand for small cities (i.e., Le Mans is 150% higher) and for larger cities (50% higher for other European and North American megacities). This underscores the need to explore this under‐researched area of urban metabolism, as well as the development of a typology to enable comparisons and differentiate strategies for sustainability transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: to propose two enhancements for the European Union's Circular Material Use rate (CMU): inclusion of Preparation for Reuse (PfR) flows and enhanced reproducibility across lower levels of analysis. Methods: PfR flows are added to the material flow Sankey Diagram. The Local Circularity Rate (LCR) is based in the CMU and is broke down in three waste-related ratios: recovered-to-treated (RCV-to-TRT), treated-to-end-of-life and end-of-life-to-overall-material-use (EoL-to-OMU). LCR, CMU and CMU', an alternate version of CMU, are computed and compared in the macro-level for EU27 member states and in the meso-level for Germany's sixteen states. LCR is computed and broke down for regions in Belgium, The Netherlands and Greece. In the micro-level, LCR is computed for a network modelled around a Textile Sorting Centre (TSC) in Amsterdam. Results: LCR showed closer average results to CMU in comparison to CMU'. Considering RCV-to-TRT and EoL-to-OMU, The Netherlands and Luxembourg are the best performing countries in the EU27. Eight countries performed worse than 0.4 in both ratios. In total, twelve German regions showed negative results, either for CMU or CMU'. Saxony-Anhalt is the most circular region in Germany, while Berlin is the less circular. The Amsterdam textiles' network features an LCR of 12%, with the TSC contributing to 63% of all textiles recovered. Conclusion: The revised circular Sankey Diagram comprehensively illustrates the circularity gap. LCR's three ratios enhances in-depth analysis, allowing better prioritisation of public policies. Limitations remain in data availability and harmonisation across regional and national databases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea of the research came from the importance of the issue of energy consumption in cities as the cities of the world, in general, and Iraqi cities in particular, face significant environmental challenges from carbon emissions. The research problem revolves around the increase in the consumption of non-renewable energy using traditional methods, as is the case in the city of Zaafaraniya and this leads to an increase in the carbon footprint locally and globally and poses a threat to the lives of residents. This requires verification to find solutions through understanding the city’s input and output processes as the urban metabolism. The research will summarize the concept of greenhouse gases, types of energy sources, measure the energy footprint of the case study, and the relationship of land use to energy. The research provided results that indicate the continuing population increase in cities, as the population of the Al- Zaafaraniya reached (889,000 people) in 2023. This was related to a continuous rise in energy consumption. The electricity footprint amounted to (491,507 tCO2) which is the highest, and the fuel footprint of gasoline consumption amounted to (477,988 tCO2). At the same time, the diesel footprint amounted to (411,877 tCO2). There is a variance between different land uses. Residential use consumes 40% of energy. By following strategies to reduce energy consumption through an efficient city layout that encourages public transportation, walking, waste recycling, and using clean, renewable energy. It leads to lowering the carbon footprint.

In the city of Messina, the multiplicity of vulnerable situations is a distinctive feature and is representative of the pervasiveness of the risk conditions present in the Italian territory. The critical residential tissues are part of an extended geography in which, to the conditions of seismic and hydro geomorphological vulnerability, are added additional criticalities including altered natural resources, abandoned infrastructure, brownfields, quarries, and unregulated landfills, etc. Despite this, for Messina, there is still no urban planning tool capable of interpreting in an integrated way the risks present, which instead continue to be addressed on an emergency basis and individually, without considering the interactions that are generated and of further damage. For these reasons, Messina was chosen as a prototypical case study, at the national level, to start an experimentation aimed at developing an urban planning tool capable of a new integrated approach to risk interpretation and management. In this process, a decisive role was aimed at building an updated knowledge of the territory through the identification of widespread critical conditions using multiple GIS tools and thanks to the interaction of some analytical-specialist readings from different sources. The results of this process are represented in a system of maps that are strongly integrated with each other and constitute a working document for the interdisciplinary group drafting the General Urban Plan.

The urban heat island (UHI) effect, where the temperature in an urban area is higher than in the surrounding rural areas, is becoming a major concern. The concept of a Local Climate Zone (LCZ) system was devised to provide an objective framework for UHI research, which allows for a microscale definition of the UHI effect within urban areas by considering ‘urban’ and ‘rural’ as a continuum versus a dichotomy. However, most LCZ types are classified only by surface structure and coverings, which seem irrelevant to climatological and microscale concepts. In addition, microclimate is influenced by urban metabolism related to human activities as well as structural effects, but the LCZ-classification system does not incorporate these functional concepts. Therefore, this study proposes a novel urban-classification system that addresses the limitations of the LCZ concept by quantifying structural and functional elements of the city at the pedestrian level using S-DoT sensors and semantic segmentation techniques. This study holds significance as it suggests a New-LCZ (N-LCZ) system to support the classification framework of highly valid urban types and follow-up studies related to the UHI. Moreover, the N-LCZ offers a regional urban-planning strategy for sustainable development through a more valid classification system.

Re-considering the interactions between society and natural resources is fundamental in pursuing sustainability and adaptation to climate change in cities. The representation in urban planning instruments reveals an inadequate consideration of valley hillslopes as interface systems or as ‘places’ with possible multiple roles and meanings for populations. Beyond landslide and flooding considerations, valley hillslopes are scarcely identified as distinct entities from the valley and the plateau, investigated as sites of diverse possible uses, and analysed in terms of which variables related to the relief’s forms influence their use. Confronting urban planning instruments that reduce slopes to building spaces, this contribution advocates for a specific representation of valley hillslopes, highlighting the environment’s variety within which the system interacts, the diversity of uses, and the interrelationships between form and land cover. By combining GIS mapping and statistical analysis, this research proposes a multi-scalar approach based on identifying valley hillslopes delineated through minimum units (geochore), integrated with land cover clustering and an analysis of the potential relations between land cover and six explanatory variables. The research points out the singularity and complexity of valley hillslopes, which should be incorporated into urban planning policy as potential cultural, ecological, or recreational resources for populations.

Cities and their dependence on fossil fuels have alarming implications for the health of communities, and the continued growth of these linear systems has led to unlimited resource consumption. Urban metabolism is an approach centered on the efficiency of resources and energy in the form of sustainable principles and aims to change the attitude of current approaches from a linear to a circular one that emphasizes the efficiency of resources and energy. Based on this, there is a causal relationship between the reduction of urban metabolism and the principles of the sustainability of cities. By introducing the principles of sustainability in the form of an ecological perspective, the approach of a regenerated city can facilitate the movement of urban metabolism towards a sustainable circularity and the integrated development of the city in connection with its ecosystem. help. The interpretative research method is based on a mixed approach. Content analysis is a research strategy, and the data collection method is based on library studies. Structural Interpretive Modeling (ISM) was used to stratify the indicators. The aim of this research is to achieve a conceptual-theoretical framework (by presenting the relevant indicators and their leveling) to measure the sustainability of urban metabolism by using the reborn city approach. The results of the research show that a change of attitude is necessary in the current development patterns Ecological methods such as sustainable urban metabolism and regenerative city can provide a suitable solution to change such an attitude. In this way, sustainability criteria in the form of sustainable urban metabolism from the perspective of regenerative city can guide the achievement of sustainable standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization boosts the material demand of cities and leads to serious environmental problems, such as water shortage and air pollution. To achieve better governance of cities, stakeholders need to deeply understand urban material utilization. Taking 327 cities in China as examples, this study analyzes the urban material characteristics from a metabolic perspective. We investigated the spatiotemporal changes in the material base of these cities from 2000 to 2020, including material flow and material stock. We further explored the allometric growth patterns of urban material flow and material stock at different scales (e.g., individual, group, and community). Results show that cities have metabolic processes as natural organisms; they differentiate into many types and exhibit allometric growth patterns. There is a consistency of material metabolic patterns in most cities. The growth of material flows (+43%) and material stocks (+135%) was evident in all cities during 2000–2020. However, the material metabolism of Chinese cities exhibits diverse allometric growth patterns across the individual, group, and community scales. This study can provide simple but effective quantitative indicators for the investigation of urban material utilization, and can support distinct policy implications for sustainable urban material‐based planning and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the city of Messina, the multiplicity of vulnerable situations is a distinctive feature and is representative of the pervasiveness of the risk conditions present in the Italian territory. The critical residential tissues are part of an extended geography in which, to the conditions of seismic and hydro geomorphological vulnerability, are added additional criticalities including altered natural resources, abandoned infrastructure, brownfields, quarries, and unregulated landfills, etc. Despite this, for Messina, there is still no urban planning tool capable of interpreting in an integrated way the risks present, which instead continue to be addressed on an emergency basis and individually, without considering the interactions that are generated and of further damage. For these reasons, Messina was chosen as a prototypical case study, at the national level, to start an experimentation aimed at developing an urban planning tool capable of a new integrated approach to risk interpretation and management. In this process, a decisive role was aimed at building an updated knowledge of the territory through the identification of widespread critical conditions using multiple GIS tools and thanks to the interaction of some analytical-specialist readings from different sources. The results of this process are represented in a system of maps that are strongly integrated with each other and constitute a working document for the interdisciplinary group drafting the General Urban Plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout history, nature and organisms have served as analogies for both design and the contemplation of architecture and cities. In this paper, the concept of metabolism as an organic analogy in architecture and the built environment is discussed by juxtaposing the two approaches. Literal imitation seen in interdisciplinary studies of urban metabolism offers a new applicative perspective for sustainable cities. On the other hand, the historical reference of Japanese Metabolism, from the 1960s, offers a relevant metaphoric example with an added poetic humanist spirit. Regarded through an infrastructure prism, the organic analogy of metabolism is discussed by employing themes of the relationship between organisms and environment, the correlation between organs, the relationship between form and function, and the principle of vitality. Furthermore, the concept of metabolic infrastructure is presented as a way of bridging the literal and metaphorical approach and as a possible tool to mitigate the metabolic rift. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic-calming measures (TCMs) are non-invasive devices designed to improve road mobility and urban areas on a human scale. Despite their potential, they have been in use for a long time and now have to deal with the latest technological innovations in the automotive field, such as cooperative driving technologies (CDTs), to improve energy efficiency in cities. The goal of this study is to explore the safety and operational performances of TCMs featuring CDTs in urban areas. An urban-scale road network close to a seaside area in the City of Mazara del Vallo, Italy, was properly redesigned and simulated in AIMSUN to assess several design solutions, where connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) have been employed as a more energy-efficient public transportation system. Preliminarily, the fine-tuning process of model parameters included CAVs and human-operated vehicles (HOVs) flowing through the network up to saturation conditions. The safety of the planned solutions was tested by using surrogate measures. The micro-simulation approach allowed us to know in advance and compare the operational and safety performances of environmentally friendly solutions involving TCMs and CDTs. These results can also support urban road decision makers in pivoting urban-traffic-calming-based design solutions featuring cooperative driving technologies toward energy efficiency transitions for smart cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Getting to net-zero-carbon cities while advancing well-being (W), health (H), social equity (E), and climate resilience (R) (referred to as the WHER outcomes) is critical for local and global sustainability. However, science is nascent on the linkages between zero-carbon pathways and WHER outcomes. This article presents a transboundary urban metabolism framework, rooted in seven key infrastructure and food provisioning systems, to connect urban decarbonization strategies with WHER outcomes. Applying the framework along with a literature review, we find the evidence for co-beneficial decarbonization to be strong for health; limited for well-being; uncertain for resilience; and requiring intentional design to advance equity, including distributional, procedural, and recognitional aspects. We describe the evidence base, identify key knowledge gaps, and delineate broad parameters of a new urban nexus science to enable zero-carbon urban transitions with WHER co-benefits. We highlight the need for fine-scale data encompassing all seven sectors across scales, along with multiple and multiscale climate risks, accompanied by next-generation multisector, multiscale, multioutcome nexus models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few studies have succeeded in illustrating the relationships between resources, socio-territorial dynamics, and the environs in protected island environments of Outstanding Value, a quality that positions them as experimental laboratories for the study of human evolution and the planet's ecosystems. The literature reviewed refers to different scientific productions where the analysis of the flow of matter and energy is applied to study urban metabolism. As a methodology, three important phases were established. First, four authors with different approaches to urban metabolism were identified. Second, the study was delimited with a list of seven protected island territories, which meet the following requirements: small scale, possessing human settlements, and having a Cultural/Natural Heritage nomination by UNESCO. Third, the socio-territorial dynamics of the settlement were analyzed with the instrument of five variables: biophysical, demo-geographical, socioeconomic, sociocultural, and regulatory/legislative. A qualitative description of Santa Cruz Island (Galapagos) is made in light of the studies conducted by the authors cited above. The results obtained in this review are the identification of management indicators and positive aspects generated from the transfer of knowledge, based on a qualitative analysis of the measurable relationships that exist between variables-human settlement-territory.

Ports worldwide are shifting from their original locations, and the reasons behind these patterns of port development are multifaceted. Reasons for locational changes may include local factors such as natural conditions, or global trends like containerisation. This article argues that flows play a significant role in making and breaking metabolic relations between spaces. The authors use a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches to characterise the evolution of port and territory interactions. A historical sequencing illustrates the successive phases of connection and disconnection between port and non-port spaces over the years. Drawing from the urban metabolism framework, the analysis of a port’s traffic structure demonstrates how flows influence a port’s extraterritoriality. For this research, the case of the Loire estuary was chosen: the Grand Maritime Port of Nantes Saint-Nazaire is a polycentric port that originated in Nantes and extended coastward in Saint-Nazaire. The case study reveals that a port reaching an urban area does not necessarily mean it will engage or support metropolitan development. Moreover, it concludes that flows are active drivers of territorial development in port regions. The research more broadly discusses the extraterritoriality of large logistics and transport infrastructure, like that of ports.

We usually know for whom, for what and why people work... but we never ask « for where » and « with where » we actually work. What are the upstream and downstream spaces that make our work possible ? After justifying the conceptual hypothesis of « metabolic work », I present different scales and different relations to space that accompany volunteer clean-up actions in Lyon, Vienna and Athens. I critically analyse that these actions, if they produce an effective relation to the environment, only make the planetary scale the relevant scale to deal with the « waste problem ». The clean-up actions don’t allow people to know and understand, at the urban scale, that the problem of waste is not only its presence in public space, but also the way it is managed and produced. In this sense, we speak of territorial ignorance and we believe that this form of ignorance hinders any serious political discussion on waste.

This article analyzes urban socio-ecological conflicts in the Mexican metropolitan areas of the Valley of Mexico, Guadalajara and Monterrey from an Urban Political Ecology (UPE) approach. We identify the main triggers of such urban socio-ecological conflicts and the causal links between actors, resources and spaces which make up the uneven production of urban space. This focus includes unequal access to resources, uneven distribution of environmental impacts, and the rise of contestation. We outline UPE theoretically and conceptually, and delineate what is meant by urban socio-ecological conflict. UPE is then contextualized within Mexico's contemporary urbanization process as a prelude for characterizing case studies (including their metabolic profiles) and the analysis of prevailing socio-ecological conflicts. For the latter, we identify the main urban conflicts in the years 2012 and 2022, highlighting some of the main characteristics, similarities, and discontinuities across three metropolitan areas. In the face of an increasing metabolism of contemporary urbanization, we conclude with a brief consideration of the potential role of socio-ecological conflicts for enabling alternative forms of urban space production, particularly through the agency of social movements, including their capacity to propose and build "urban spaces of hope."

The 2020 coronavirus pandemic demonstrated that moderation in living and consumption styles can contribute towards a more environmentally sustainable and resilient future. However, such restrained lifestyles are associated with the risk of global economic stagnation. Transitioning from linear to circular economy can potentially provide a framework to decouple environmental benefits from economic stasis. Circular cities are placed in the centre of such efforts to cradle and nurture humanity’s shift towards a sustainable future. However, we investigated the current state of circular cities around the world finding that a bio-based focus is not always prioritised. The lack of emphasis on bio-based solutions could lead to missed economic and environmental opportunities. A symbiosis between “circular”, “regenerative” and “bio-based” is here proposed as the foundation for sustainable societies transitioning to circularity. This Short Communication discusses the vision of circular bio-based cities and proposes a definition based on a reductionist metabolic approach. The aim is to set the basis for an international dialogue on urban development models capable of delivering both human and environmental prosperity beyond the reuse, refurbish and recycle concepts, and towards fully integrated regenerative urban systems which foster symbiotic relationships between urban communities and the natural ecosystem.