Urban Ecology - Urban Metabolism / Resilience

This working paper examines the concept of metabolism and its potential as a critical analytical lens to study the contemporary city from a political perspective. The paper illustrates how the metabolism concept has been used historically, both as a metaphor to describe the technological, social, political and economic dimensions of human-environment relations, and as a concrete analytical tool to quantify and better understand how flows of matter and energy shape the territorial and spatial configurations of cityscapes. Drawing on the example of the urban water metabolism of the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA), the paper shows how the metabolism concept can be applied to study the politics of water in the city.

The importance of urban universities in civic ecology education and the transformation of urban spaces and mindsets has been little explored. With as many as 1475 colleges, universities, and communities colleges in large cities around the United States, many of which possess significant land holdings, it is conceivable that these institutions could make a significant contribution to the "greening" of cities. This paper posits that urban universities, especially those with environmental science and studies or sustainability-related programs, can be a locus for civic ecology education and can contribute, not only to the transformation of urban landscapes but also to the training of future environmental leaders, and ultimately to the transformation of urban young people. The paper describes an urban gardening project undertaken at University of St. Thomas in Houston as an example of this kind of social-ecological transformation and as a potential model for other urban univers...

The Markov chain, named after A.A. Markov (1856-1922), is a discrete event stochastic process with Markov properties in exponentials. In the process, given the current knowledge or information, the past (ie, the current previous historical state) is irrelevant for predicting the future (ie, the current future state).
At each step of the Markov chain, the system can change from one state to another based on the probability distribution, or it can maintain the current state. The change in state is called transfer, and the probability associated with different state changes is called the transition probability. A random walk is an example of a Markov chain. The state of each step in a random walk is a point in the graph, and each step can be moved to any adjacent point where the probability of moving to each point is the same (regardless of the previous stroll path).

Material flow accounting and analysis (MFA) has been established as an influential framework for quantifying the use of natural resources by modern societies. So far, however, no reference data for overall scale and trends of global extraction of natural resources and their distribution between different world regions has been available. This paper presents the first comprehensive quantification of the material basis of the global economy, i.e. used domestic extraction in a time series from 1980 to 2002. We analyse time trends for major material groups (fossil fuels, metals, industrial and construction minerals, and biomass) disaggregated into seven world regions. This allows for (a) an illustration of the global economy's physical growth driven by worldwide processes of economic integration over the past decades, and (b) an indication of the worldwide distribution of environmental pressures associated with material extraction. The results show that annual resource consumption of the world economy increased by about one third between 1980 and 2002. This indicates that scale effects due to economic growth more than compensated for other effects, such as the relative increase of the service sectors' contribution to GDP (structural effect) and the use of new production technologies with higher material and energy efficiency (technology effect). The observed growth of natural resource extraction is unevenly distributed over the main material categories, with metals showing the highest growth rate. The regional analysis shows the increasing importance of Asia and Latin America in global resource extraction. On the global level, material intensity, i.e. resource extraction per unit of GDP, decreased by about 25%, indicating relative decoupling of resource extraction from economic growth. The paper concludes with policy recommendations for a more sustainable use of natural resources.

The City of Athens, a venerable yet intricate city of
near 700.000 residents, part of a 3.75 million people metropolis, is for several years now facing a serious socio-economic crisis. Through concerted e orts, the city has managed to survive, to adapt and to transform into a more creative and collaborative city. The struggle is by no means over. This last year, calling on the insights and expertise of hundreds of stakeholders, from opinion leaders and academics to women migrants and the homeless, the city drafted its Resilience Strategy. This is a set of practicable actions which  rst of all strengthen and scales up what has made our city stronger: formal and informal networks and alliances. Athens Resilience Strategy o ers a set of new integrated ways to prepare and protect our most vulnerable from future shocks and stresses that the city will face.
Boosting the city’s resilience means creating new as well as revitalizing existing open and green public spaces. This is vital for our densely built and populated city, threatened by both intense heat (climate change) and earthquakes. The city needs to become more forward thinking and proactive, turning its challenges into resources (vacant buildings, newly arrived refugee and migrant populations, energy and waste). Around such resources it will build capacity and start to develop economies that, together with tourism and the creative sector, will generate
the city’s future. Finally the city will strengthen its government, through becoming more transparent and accountable, opening streams of communication, creating a digital agenda and innovation strategy.

This booklet is the result of a three-year funded programme at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) titled “Urban Resilience Assessment for Sustainable Urban Development”.  The Programme was developed with the specific intention of giving support to local government in South Africa. This was done with the recognition that municipalities have a potentially vital role in proactively managing processes of change.
The idea of resilience arguably adds a new and compelling dimension to policy and planning, but there is also a danger that, as its use multiplies, it will become an increasingly fuzzy, catch-all term that we pay homage to as a form of lip-service.
The specific purpose of this document is to assist municipalities in South Africa in applying ideas of urban resilience in a thoughtful, intelligent and critical, way. It is not designed as a “manual” or “tool box”, but rather as a tool to promote urban resilience thinking.
The booklet is the result of this three-years, trans-disciplinary Research  is divided into five major thrusts, being:
1. Resilience and urban governance
2. Resilience in urban form and fabric
3. Resilience in urban infrastructures
4. Resilience of natural assets and ecological systems
5. Green economies for resilience

How do the flows of goods, people, waste, biota, energy, food, freshwater, sand and air function in Rotterdam? What influence do these flows have on the quality of life in the city, and how do they relate to spatial developments? Can an insight into the metabolism of Rotterdam help us develop into a sustainable region? And what opportunities are there for a circular economy? This publication details the results of the IABR–PROJECT ATELIER ROTTERDAM. The analyses, the strategies developed and the specific design proposals detailed, provide answers to the questions posed above. The results obtained offer not only the municipality but also other parties in the city specific pointers for continuing to work on the metabolism of Rotterdam.
Publisher: Mediacenter Rotterdam © 2014 ISBN: 978-90-822436-1-1

Three building analysis software programs, DOE-2 eQUEST, IESVE Revit Plug-in and Autodesk Green Building Studio, are used to quantify the predicted energy savings of a scheduled envelope retrofit on a university dormitory. The study includes investigating the potential energy savings created by the removal and replacement of all original windows and exterior non-structural infill brick panels coupled with installation of supplementary insulation materials between the new brick panels and the interior concrete masonry unit walls. The rehabilitation will take place in four over 7000 m2 seven-storey residence halls originally constructed in 1965. Reports generated from baseline design simulations are compared with real energy consumption data in order to ascertain the accuracy of the three modelling programmes. Analysis of the retrofit proposal is carried out by comparing results of each retrofit design alternative against the baseline and assessing CO 2 emissions reduction resulting from the proposed retrofit process. Advantages and disadvantages of each modelling programme are also discussed.

Keywords: energy modelling, building simulation tools, retrofit, eQUEST, IESVE Revit Plug-in, Green Building Studio

Placemaking is an approach to designing and planning public spaces, including their management, which is becoming widespread not only in the United States but worldwide. The idea of placemaking is revolutionary because of its approach to urban issues that opens up new possibilities of participatory design. The focus of the practice is on the place, consequently on the community that uses and lives in it because public space symbolizes the “connective tissue” of communities, hence the importance of its care. This paper outlines the issues and major trends emerging from recent placemaking experiences.

It is vitally relevant and important that all planning, design, construction, and operation of human environments are conducted in ways to facilitate solutions for environmental issues. Some of the most pressing concerns that need to be addressed by sustainable planning and design are: preventing further environmental degradation and deterioration in Nature; containing the population growth and urban expansion; controlling the ecological footprint of humans; and minimizing the depletion of natural resources. Environmentally sustainable future of human civilization needs to be holistically planned and incrementally implemented through urban in-fill and redevelopment opportunities. The urban environment needs to harmoniously integrate neighborhoods, mixed-use districts, and civic facilities that consume less, that generate more renewable energy and food than consumed, and that are seamlessly connected to systems and spaces of Nature.

This paper explores infrastructure projects that present a conscious merging between urban transformation, community development, culture, and technology through sustainable design. When urban projects successfully and meaningfully include all these dimensions, we refer to them as "blended infrastructure" projects, since they offer much more than just infrastructure. A literature review pertaining to the rejuvenation and renewal of cities reveals that infrastructure projects have the potential to be at once, smart and ecological as well as cultural and deeply integrated urban interventions. We, therefore, propose that 'blended infrastructure' projects are those that profoundly integrate anthropological and technological dimensions. These two poles are the basis of our analysis method. Our methodology, which includes a mapping tool, is used to cartograph a series of design projects. We select two sets of projects for analysis. First, we select "light infrastructure" projects that are not yet built, still in an imaginary phase, which have a common underlying positive intention of bringing sustainability to the city. Second, we select heavier, already built, infrastructure projects, those subjected to real-world constraints, i.e., economic, political, etc. These polarities (light and imagined vs. heavy and realized) will help test the applicability of this mapping approach on different types of infrastructures. By studying projects on either side of a spatial design spectrum, we aim to understand which types of projects have a potential to be "blended infrastructure" projects-and therefore, deeply integrated sustainable urban interventions, as key contributions to the future of our cities.

IUMAT (Integrated Urban Metabolism Analysis Tool) is a system-based sustainability analysis tool. It quantifies and aggregates the social, economic and environmental capitals of urban activity in an integrated framework focusing on the metabolic flows of urban development. This paper builds on previous work on urban metabolism and advances an analytical framework that defines how the consumption of resources and resulting environmental impacts are calculated as indices of sustainability in an urban region. The benefits of integrated urban modeling using the proposed framework as well as the data sources are detailed. The underlying analytical framework for the proposed tool applies the dynamics of choice, time, and scale towards dynamically interpreting demographic and economic factors. IUMAT's calculative modules for land cover, transportation, and energy/water/resource use are described as well as the modality of connections between the modules.

A Bruxelles, dans le fond de la vallée de la Senne, une dynamique écologique et populaire a mis en échec la dynamique foncière et immobilière. Un marais a surgi, avec ses habitants, sur un site à bâtir. Pourtant la démocratie urbaine représentative et participative s'avère incapable de reconnaître ce commun. La personnalité juridique pour un étant naturel peut-elle constituer un instrument de légalisation d'un commun multispécifique ? A quelles conditions ? Quid de l'intérêt à agir et de la représentation des puissances d'agir non-humaines ?

The recent proliferation of resilience discourses invited critical inquiries into the concept and its ability to construct policy narratives of "certainty." Critical works have deconstructed and debated the instrumentalist notions of resilience as overly simplified, raised to the forefront questions of power, emphasised the linkages of the concept to dominant political and economic regimes, and underscored the absence of any real call for transformative action, hence leading to the reproduction of perpetuating crises over the long run. To explore the structure of the critical literature on resilience, we map the ways in which critical trajectories developed and travelled across thematic communities. We use bibliometric analysis to examine 49 years of resilience literature from international relations, geography , political ecology, and other social science disciplines that foremost focused on questions of power, inequality, and social justice. As a result, this paper delves into the composition of different types of critique mobilised in resilience scholarship and identifies the interdependencies between modes of critical thought and their degree of interdisciplinary connectivity.

The process to de-urbanise and restore La Pletera marsh in Torroella de Mongrí (Girona) is a Project that invites reflection on two principles that can govern de-urbanibation processes: metabolic approach and transitional architectural practice.

The importance of urban universities in civic ecology education and the transformation of urban spaces and mindsets has been little explored. With as many as 1475 colleges, universities, and communities colleges in large cities around the United States, many of which possess significant land holdings, it is conceivable that these institutions could make a significant contribution to the "greening" of cities. This paper posits that urban universities, especially those with environmental science and studies or sustainability-related programs, can be a locus for civic ecology education and can contribute, not only to the  transformation of urban landscapes but also to the training of future environmental leaders, and ultimately to the transformation of urban young people. The paper describes an urban gardening project undertaken at University of St. Thomas in Houston as an example of this kind of social-ecological transformation and as a potential model for other urban universities.

Panarchistic Architecture proposes that the wildland urban interface is populated by architecture and urban infrastructure which, modelled on fire-adapted flora that is native to the regional fire regimes, coevolves with the 'rhythms' of those regimes. Both materially and informatically, and conceptually and technically, the proposed WUI schema synthesises architectural and urban systems with ecological and wider Earth systems, such that the biochemistry, behaviours, and overall functioning of the former are synchronous to those of the latter. Further information is available at www.panarchiccodex.com

And interview between Seth Denizen, a researcher and design practitioner trained in landscape architecture and evolutionary biology, and Qui Rongliang, distinguished scholar and dean of the School of Environmental Science and Engineering, at Sun Yat-sen (Zhongshan) University in Guangzhou.

Cities embody both networks and physical entities and live on production, consumption and waste rejection. A vital part of their metabolism is how water is managed, to the point that the water cycle develops characteristics that are exclusive to the urban context—what is known as the “urban water cycle”. Yet current planning strategies rarely acknowledge water management as essential, and are instead dominated by land-use considerations.
This paper will attempt to shed light on some of the particularities of Athens’s urban water cycle by focusing on Eleonas’s ‘urban void’. Specifically, this paper will scrutinise the relations of causality between urban form and the recurrence of flooding events and the deterioration of surface water quality. By deconstructing Eleonas—a paragon of a previously industrious region— into smaller in scale entities that constitute the zone, this paper will attempt to both discern to which extent they affect the urban water cycle locally and expose the potential that small scale interventions can have in transforming the city as a whole.
A strong correlation has thus far been found between the worsening conditions of the urban void and the quality of its water management. After a series of survey visits, we found that water-related issues not only affect the urban setting but are also induced and exacerbated by its form and quality of infrastructure. Therefore, if urban voids are developed appropriately, they can play a meaningful role in the urban setting and enhance its global condition. Such conclusions imply that if planning is fostered by a water-sensitive mindset, the environmental quality of the metropolis should increase in the long-term. Consequently, a change of paradigm towards a more integrated and flexible water management is suggested in order to attain more adaptable cities.

O desenvolvimento e popularização das tecnologias de informação e comunicação vem modificando as práticas espaciais urbanas, levando a processos decisórios e a modelos de resolução de problemas menos centralizados. É possível observar em cidades do mundo todo a emergência de movimentos no sentido bottom-up amparados pelos recursos surgidos do avanço das tecnologias de base microeletrônica e da ubiquidade das redes. Por meio de uma revisão da literatura, este artigo descreve e discute as razões, práticas e implicações da atual cultura digital na promoção de diálogos urbanos e nos processos de formação de redes atuantes na melhoria e democratização do ambiente urbano. São descritas iniciativas que demonstram que a apropriação das tecnologias de informação e comunicação emergentes é capaz de efetuar mudanças positivas de baixo para cima, podendo interferir no sentimento de pertença do indivíduo e de seu senso de responsabilidade para com a cidade, fortalecendo laços comunitários. Essas iniciativas, no entanto, indicam também que uma exploração realmente inclusiva de suas possibilidades passa pela resolução de problemas de ordem e complexidade diversas, tais quais a promoção da alfabetização tecnológica e o desenvolvimento de estratégias significativas para o envolvimento e engajamento comunitário com intervenções cívicas.

The starting point of this paper emanates from Jason Moore’s statement on the binary Nature-Society: “[..] nature is not “just there.” It is historical.” (2015, p.12). In the light of climate change, ecosystem derangement and debasement of local economies in the name of globalisation and free trade, capitalism has almost exhausted its own source of subsistence: Nature. However, going beyond the widespread –and very popular- myth that humans act as destructive agents of the pure and delicate nature, instrumentalising the landscape to support various production models has always been the way to build human economies and societies. Today, our rupture with nature is still manifested in the antithesis between Economy and Ecology, as two opposing notions. In fact, the concept of placing humanity within natural processes [or, in the other way around, defining humans as custodians of nature’s ecological heritage] has strong supporters in theory and strict critics in practice. On the basis of this heated debate, this paper discusses in which way anthropogenic activities could intertwine harmoniously with ecosystems [a re-established human-nature equilibrium] and investigates a new pollution theorem: a projective ecology that overturns negative outputs of our current economic model (pollutants, waste flows) into inputs for new productive landscapes of the Anthropocene. The operative framework of such a shift, as examined and illustrated within the paper, could eventually lay a solid foundation for enhancing the adaptive capacity of local economies, ecosystems and socio-spatial constructs.

Urban  metabolism  has  been  advanced  as  an  approach  to  quantifying  energy  and  resource  use and supply in the modern urban system. It is  a  multidisciplinary  approach  focused  on  providing  insight  into  the  behaviour  of  cities  for  drafting  effective  proposals  for  a  more  humane  and  ecologically  responsible  future. 
Urban  metabolism  indicators  could  play  an  important  role  in  promoting  the  science  and  practice  of  urban  metabolism  for  sustainability. This paper presents a systematic review of literature  centred  on  defining  sustainability-aimed  urban  metabolism  indicators  to  improve  the  integration  of  urban  metabolism  and  urban  sustainability.
  Furthermore,  this  paper  concentrates  on  two  indicator  sets 
(emergy  synthesis  and  material  flow  analysis  [MFA]),  examining  the  relationship  between  these  indicators  and  the  three  dimensions  of
sustainability  (environment,  economy,  and  society) in the literature. The paper thus builds a bridge between urban metabolism and urban
sustainability  in  the  hope  that  urban  metabolism  indicators  can  be  used  to  measure  and  assess urban sustainability.

The process of urbanization throughout the world is advancing at an unprecedented pace and India is not an exception. A number of urban centers have developed on the west bank of the River Hooghly in a narrow elongated strip in Hugli District. Chandernagore is one of those urban centers which is quite older than Kolkata and has been established by the French traders primarily as a trading port to avail the opportunities offered by the River Hooghly and as an easy route of fleets engaged in export and import of commodities and also continued even after India became independent. The city bears more or less the legacy of its past to be observed in its architectural and cultural exhibits. With its glorious socio-cultural heritage of past, the city has experienced phases of change in its urban morphology and planning. Almost complementary to the changes, the city is now experiencing a number of urban-ecological and environmental problems of variable magnitude, resulted mainly from ever increasing pressure of population which invites all other ecological crises subsequent to wanton demand on space and energy. The present study is an endeavor to explore the growth and expansion of the city and related issues.

Presentazione introduttiva della prima giornata della conferenza internazionale "Metabolismo urbano: il percorso possibile verso l'ecosostenibilità", tratta dei processi di trasformazione influenti sul metabolismo urbano, offrendo un quadro di riferimento unitario, aperto agli approfondimenti tematici che saranno proposti dai relatori. Il contributo delinea, specificamente: i fattori di eccellenza che connotano la straordinaria capacità di adattamento della città alla rapida variazione degli scenari; le cause strutturali di malfunzionamento; le sfide che le scelte di politica urbana devono affrontare per rispondere alla crisi di sostenibilità e competitività dell’organismo metropolitano.

Solid waste is diverse as any garbage, refuse, slush from waste plant, water supply handling plant,
air contamination manage serves and other resources, as well as solid, liquid, mushy, contained gaseous. The
aim of the paper is study the solid waste disease among the villagers. The result is concluded that if people
have more awareness and they look after their health and adopt safety habit for health they can be less
victimized of solid waste disease.

Нові підходи до формування фонтанів та зміна обсягів використовуваної
води суттєво впливають на клімат міського середовища. Поява нових
технологій та раціональне відношення до водних ресурсів - змінили
конструктивні особливості будівництва фонтанів. Будівництво фонтанів
розвивалися еволюційно, пройшло складний шлях змін від перших джерел
облицьованих природним камінням давнього світу до нових концепцій
розвитку фонтанів у ХХІ столітті.

Література
1. П’яте Національне повідомлення України з питань зміни клімату у 2009 році. - Міністерства охорони навколишнього природного середовища, Український науково-дослідний гідрометеорологічний інститут  МНС та Національна академія наук України, 2009. – 281 с.
2. Шевченко О. Г. Оценка уязвимости к изменению климата: Украина / О.Шевченко, О. Власюк, И. Ставчук, М. Ваколюк, О. Илляш, А. Рожкова // КФВП и РГ НУО ВИК, 2014 - Myflaer, Киев – 64 с.
3. Церковна О.Г. Вплив зовнішніх факторів на формоутворення фонтанів/ О. Г. Церковна// Сучасні проблеми моделювання. зб. наук. праць, 2018. - Вип. 12. - С. 156-162
4. Церковная О.Г. Основные функции фонтанов как единой самостоятельной системы/ О.Г. Церковная, Н.В. Ткач, А.А. Воронина  / Стратегія розвитку міст: молодь і майбутнє (інноваційний ліфт): матеріали Міжнародної науково-практичної конференції (11 квітня 2018 року) – Харків: Харківський національний університет міського господарства імені О.М. Бекетова – С. 75-78
5. You Jin. Lee Pyoung Jik. Jeon Jin Yong Evaluating water sounds to improve the soundscape of urban areas affected by traffic noise [Text] / Jin Y., Pyoung Jik P., Jin Yong J -  Institute of Noise Control Engineering, 58, Number 5, 1 September 2010, pp. 477-483(7), DOI: https://doi.org/10.3397/1.3484183

Бібліографічний опис для цитування:
Церковна О.Г.,  Вороніна А.О. (2018). Фонтани – специфічні споруди, спрямовані на пом’якшення наслідків зміни клімату в міському середовищі. Перспективи розвитку територій: теорія і практика: матеріали Всеукраїнської науково-практичної конференції здобувачів вищої освіти і молодих вчених. Харків : ХНУМГ ім. О.М. Бекетова. С. 279-281. URL: http://er.nau.edu.ua:8080/handle/NAU/39187

A 'Resilient Community'​ is one that is able to survive and adapt in the face of major disruption - i.e., societal collapse, political instability, climate change - to the grid. Local agriculture (in combination with regional food systems and nonprofits) is one key area of a Resilient Community, and vital for overcoming vulnerability.

In my thesis, I explore the foundations of the Resilient Community movement by taking a look at the literature on social-ecological resilience, providing case studies on community disasters, and critiquing the limitations of 'popular sustainability.'​ I then launch into a discussion on local food, with an examination of the historical roots (and potential future) of local agriculture in New England, ultimately showing how "know your farmer, know your food" is much more than a catchy USDA marketing tool.

The process to de-urbanise and restore La Pletera marsh in Torroella de Mongrí (Girona) is a Project that invites reflection on two principles that can govern de-urbanibation processes: metabolic approach and transitional architectural practice.

In the light of climate change, ecosystem derangement and debasement of local economies in the name of globalisation and free trade, capitalism has almost exhausted its own source of subsistence: Nature. However, going beyond the widespread –and very popular-myth that humans act as destructive agents of the pure and delicate nature, instrumentalising the landscape to support various production models has always been the way to build human economies and societies. Today, our rupture with nature is still manifested in the antithesis between Economy and Ecology, as two opposing notions. In fact, the concept of placing humanity within natural processes [or, in the other way around, defining humans as custodians of nature's ecological heritage] has strong supporters in theory and strict critics in practice. On the basis of this heated debate, this paper discusses in which way anthropogenic activities could intertwine harmoniously with ecosystems [a re-established human-nature equilibrium] and investigates a new pollution theorem: a projective ecology that overturns negative outputs of our current economic model (pollutants, waste flows) into inputs for new productive landscapes of the Anthropocene. The operative framework of such a shift, as examined and illustrated in the case of the Dutch-Flemish Delta, could eventually lay a solid foundation for re-instrumentalising deltaic landscapes and enhancing the adaptive capacity of local economies, ecosystems and socio-spatial constructs towards resource depletion, climate change and sea-level rise.