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2017 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

6. Produce a More Cyclical and Regenerative Metabolism

Authors : Peter Newman, Timothy Beatley, Heather Boyer

Published in: Resilient Cities

Publisher: Island Press/Center for Resource Economics

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Abstract

As we approach the end of this book, we look toward some more visionary unfinished agendas for resilient cities that are also related to overcoming fossil fuel dependence. In recent years there has been a focus on the nine “planetary boundaries” that show how human activities, mostly in cities, are setting up limits to our growth. The constraints are dominated by climate change and biophysical integrity, which we have addressed so far, but the main agenda is that more focus is needed on the metabolism of our cities. How can we reduce the flow of nutrients and materials that end up in wastewater and landfill and also reduce the flow of fossil fuels into greenhouse gases and waste heat? Can cities take up the urban metabolism agenda in new and creative ways, maybe even creating a regenerative metabolism?

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Footnotes
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8
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9
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12
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13
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14
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16
IPCC, Climate Change 2014; National Research Council of the National Academies, Climate Intervention: Carbon Dioxide Removal and Reliable Sequestration (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2015); United Nations Environment Programme, Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD), “UN Biodiversity Report Identifies Risks and Uncertainties of Novel Strategies to Tackle Climate Change,” press release, October 31, 2016, https://​www.​cbd.​int/​doc/​press/​2016/​pr-2016-10-31-ts84-en.​pdf.
 
17
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18
See William McDonough, “Carbon Is Not the Enemy,” Nature 539, no. 7629 (November 14, 2016): 349–351, doi:10.​1038/​539349a.
 
20
Peter Newman and Jeffrey Kenworthy, Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1999).
 
21
Peter Newton and Peter Newman, “Critical Connections: The Role of the Built Environment Sector in Delivering Green Cities and a Green Economy,” Sustainability 7, no. 7 (2015): 9417–9443, doi:10.​3390/​su7079417.
 
22
Peter Newton and Peter Newman, “Low Carbon Green Growth: Tracking Progress in Australia’s Built Environment Industry Towards a Green Economy” (Melbourne and Perth: Swinburne University of Technology and Curtin University, September 2013), https://​www.​gbca.​org.​au/​gbc_​scripts/​js/​tiny_​mce/​plugins/​filemanager/​Low_​Carbon_​Green_​Growth_​BE_​Report_​16Sept.​pdf; Jemma Green and Peter Newman, “Citizen Utilities: The Emerging Power Paradigm, a Case Study in Perth, Australia,” Energy Policy (2017), forthcoming; Giles Thomson and Peter Newman, “Urban Fabrics and Urban Metabolism: From Sustainable to Regenerative Cities,” Resources, Conservation, and Recycling (online February 13, 2017), doi:10.​1016/​j.​resconrec.​2017.​01.​010; University of California, Davis, “UC Davis West Village Energy Initiative Annual Report 2013–2014” (Davis: University of California, Davis, 2014), http://​sustainability.​ucdavis.​edu/​local_​resources/​docs/​wvei_​annual_​report_​2013_​14.​pdf.
 
23
Peter Newman and Jeffrey Kenworthy, The End of Automobile Dependence: How Cities Are Moving Beyond Car-Based Planning (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2015).
 
24
David Brownstone and Thomas F. Golob, “The Impact of Residential Density on Vehicle Usage and Energy Consumption,” Journal of Urban Economics 65, no. 1 (January 2009): 91–98, doi:10.​1016/​j.​jue.​2008.​09.​002; Chao Liu and Qing Shen, “An Empirical Analysis of the Influence of Urban Form on Household Travel and Energy Consumption,” Computers, Environment, and Urban Systems 35, no. 5 (September 2011): 347–357, doi:10.​1016/​j.​compenvurbsys.​2011.​05.​006.
 
25
Hugh Gardner and Peter Newman, “Reducing the Materials and Resource Intensity of the Built Form in the Perth and Peel Regions” (Perth: Arup and Curtin University Sustainability Policy [CUSP] Institute, June 2013), https://​www.​environment.​gov.​au/​system/​files/​resources/​012e6df0-dce8-4bb2-9861-dad1dfc0f779/​files/​built-form.​pdf.
 
26
Newman and Jennings, Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems.
 
Metadata
Title
Produce a More Cyclical and Regenerative Metabolism
Authors
Peter Newman
Timothy Beatley
Heather Boyer
Copyright Year
2017
Publisher
Island Press/Center for Resource Economics
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-686-8_7