IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v8y2016i3p275-d65905.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Are People Responsive to a More Sustainable, Decentralized, and User-Driven Management of Urban Metabolism?

Author

Listed:
  • Lorenzo Chelleri

    (GSSI Social Sciences, Gran Sasso Science Institute, Viale Francesco Crispi, 7, L’Aquila 67100, Italy)

  • Harn Wei Kua

    (Department of Building, School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore, 4 Architecture Drive, Singapore)

  • Juan Pablo Rodríguez Sánchez

    (Environmental Engineering Research Center, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá 111711, Colombia)

  • Kh Md Nahiduzzaman

    (Department of City and Regional Planning, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia)

  • Gladman Thondhlana

    (Department of Environmental Science, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa)

Abstract

Smart, green, and resilient city paradigms have been mainly promoted through top-down and technocratic approaches. However, based on the notion to return to “the right to the city”, emerging community-driven initiatives are providing self-managed infrastructures contributing to urban sustainability transitions. This paper explores the relevance of the behavioral aspects of people-centered approaches in dealing with two different facets of urban metabolism: physical infrastructure (involvement with the management of decentralized infrastructures) and consumption patterns (involvement in proactive reduction of resources used). In the first case we assessed community perceptions about the roles, benefits, and willingness to proactively engage in the management of decentralized green infrastructures in Bogotá City, Colombia. For the second facet, we measured the effectiveness of change agents in re-shaping energy consumption decisions within urban social networks in South Africa and Saudi Arabia. This paper’s results show that pre-determined and standardized strategies do not guarantee positive, nor homogeneous, results in terms of meeting sustainability targets, or promoting community involvement. Hence, a better integration of people-centered and top-down approaches is needed through context-dependent policies, for enhancing both users’ appreciation of and commitment to urban metabolism participative management.

Suggested Citation

  • Lorenzo Chelleri & Harn Wei Kua & Juan Pablo Rodríguez Sánchez & Kh Md Nahiduzzaman & Gladman Thondhlana, 2016. "Are People Responsive to a More Sustainable, Decentralized, and User-Driven Management of Urban Metabolism?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-12, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:3:p:275-:d:65905
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/3/275/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/3/275/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jared Braiterman, 2011. "City Branding through New Green Spaces," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Keith Dinnie (ed.), City Branding, chapter 0, pages 70-81, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. W. Neil Adger, 2003. "Social Capital, Collective Action, and Adaptation to Climate Change," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 79(4), pages 387-404, October.
    3. McPhearson, Timon & Kremer, Peleg & Hamstead, Zoé A., 2013. "Mapping ecosystem services in New York City: Applying a social–ecological approach in urban vacant land," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 5(C), pages 11-26.
    4. Kua, H.W. & Wong, S.E., 2012. "Lessons for integrated household energy conservation policies from an intervention study in Singapore," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 49-56.
    5. Alberto Vanolo, 2014. "Smartmentality: The Smart City as Disciplinary Strategy," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(5), pages 883-898, April.
    6. Christopher Kennedy & John Cuddihy & Joshua Engel‐Yan, 2007. "The Changing Metabolism of Cities," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 11(2), pages 43-59, April.
    7. United Nations UN, 2015. "Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," Working Papers id:7559, eSocialSciences.
    8. Jansson, Åsa, 2013. "Reaching for a sustainable, resilient urban future using the lens of ecosystem services," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 285-291.
    9. Gómez-Baggethun, Erik & Barton, David N., 2013. "Classifying and valuing ecosystem services for urban planning," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 235-245.
    10. Smith, Adrian & Voß, Jan-Peter & Grin, John, 2010. "Innovation studies and sustainability transitions: The allure of the multi-level perspective and its challenges," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 435-448, May.
    11. He, H.Z. & Kua, H.W., 2013. "Lessons for integrated household energy conservation policy from Singapore’s southwest Eco-living Program," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 105-116.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Daniela Perrotti & Sven Stremke, 2020. "Can urban metabolism models advance green infrastructure planning? Insights from ecosystem services research," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 47(4), pages 678-694, May.
    2. Kerstin Krellenberg & Florian Koch, 2021. "Conceptualizing Interactions between SDGs and Urban Sustainability Transformations in Covid-19 Times," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 200-210.
    3. Chiara Garau & Paola Zamperlin & Ginevra Balletto, 2016. "Reconsidering the Geddesian Concepts of Community and Space through the Paradigm of Smart Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-16, September.
    4. Md Arif Hasan & Kh Md Nahiduzzaman & Adel S. Aldosary & Kasun Hewage & Rehan Sadiq, 2022. "Nexus of economic growth, energy consumption, FDI and emissions: a tale of Bangladesh," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(5), pages 6327-6348, May.
    5. Katariina Koistinen & Satu Teerikangas, 2021. "The Debate If Agents Matter vs. the System Matters in Sustainability Transitions—A Review of the Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-32, March.
    6. Paul Pierce & Francesca Ricciardi & Alessandro Zardini, 2017. "Smart Cities as Organizational Fields: A Framework for Mapping Sustainability-Enabling Configurations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-21, August.
    7. Vera Ferreira & Ana Paula Barreira & Luís Loures & Dulce Antunes & Thomas Panagopoulos, 2020. "Stakeholders’ Engagement on Nature-Based Solutions: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-27, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thomas Elliot & Javier Babí Almenar & Samuel Niza & Vânia Proença & Benedetto Rugani, 2019. "Pathways to Modelling Ecosystem Services within an Urban Metabolism Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-22, May.
    2. Tapio Riepponen & Mikko Moilanen & Jaakko Simonen, 2023. "Themes of resilience in the economics literature: A topic modeling approach," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(2), pages 326-356, April.
    3. Nikodinoska, Natasha & Paletto, Alessandro & Pastorella, Fabio & Granvik, Madeleine & Franzese, Pier Paolo, 2018. "Assessing, valuing and mapping ecosystem services at city level: The case of Uppsala (Sweden)," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 368(C), pages 411-424.
    4. De Valck, Jeremy & Beames, Alistair & Liekens, Inge & Bettens, Maarten & Seuntjens, Piet & Broekx, Steven, 2019. "Valuing urban ecosystem services in sustainable brownfield redevelopment," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 139-149.
    5. Luederitz, Christopher & Brink, Ebba & Gralla, Fabienne & Hermelingmeier, Verena & Meyer, Moritz & Niven, Lisa & Panzer, Lars & Partelow, Stefan & Rau, Anna-Lena & Sasaki, Ryuei & Abson, David J. & La, 2015. "A review of urban ecosystem services: six key challenges for future research," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 14(C), pages 98-112.
    6. Ya-Ching Chang & Hsing-Lung Lien, 2020. "Mapping Course Sustainability by Embedding the SDGs Inventory into the University Curriculum: A Case Study from National University of Kaohsiung in Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-21, May.
    7. Spandagos, Constantine & Yarime, Masaru & Baark, Erik & Ng, Tze Ling, 2020. "“Triple Target” policy framework to influence household energy behavior: Satisfy, strengthen, include," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    8. Sharma, Rozi & Malaviya, Piyush, 2023. "Ecosystem services and climate action from a circular bioeconomy perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    9. Uzziah Mutumbi & Gladman Thondhlana & Sheunesu Ruwanza, 2022. "Co-Designed Interventions Yield Significant Electricity Savings among Low-Income Households in Makhanda South Africa," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-17, March.
    10. Chen, Wendy Y. & Hua, Junyi, 2017. "Heterogeneity in resident perceptions of a bio-cultural heritage in Hong Kong: A latent class factor analysis," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 170-179.
    11. Scott, Alister & Carter, Claudia & Hardman, Michael & Grayson, Nick & Slaney, Tim, 2018. "Mainstreaming ecosystem science in spatial planning practice: Exploiting a hybrid opportunity space," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 232-246.
    12. Silvia Ronchi, 2021. "Ecosystem Services for Planning: A Generic Recommendation or a Real Framework? Insights from a Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-17, June.
    13. Pekka Halla & Albert Merino‐Saum, 2022. "Conceptual frameworks in indicator‐based assessments of urban sustainability—An analysis based on 67 initiatives," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(5), pages 1056-1071, October.
    14. Clement, Jessica & Ruysschaert, Benoit & Crutzen, Nathalie, 2023. "Smart city strategies – A driver for the localization of the sustainable development goals?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    15. Kuhmonen, Tuomas, 2017. "Exposing the attractors of evolving complex adaptive systems by utilising futures images: Milestones of the food sustainability journey," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 214-225.
    16. Joshua Long & Jennifer L Rice, 2019. "From sustainable urbanism to climate urbanism," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(5), pages 992-1008, April.
    17. Kronenberg, Jakub, 2015. "Why not to green a city? Institutional barriers to preserving urban ecosystem services," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 218-227.
    18. Jiří Schneider & Hana Kubíčková, 2020. "The State of the Art of Use of the Concept of Ecosystem Services within Spatial Plans in the Czech Republic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-17, October.
    19. Joanna Williams, 2019. "Circular Cities: Challenges to Implementing Looping Actions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-22, January.
    20. Uzziah Mutumbi & Gladman Thondhlana & Sheunesu Ruwanza, 2021. "Reported Behavioural Patterns of Electricity Use among Low-Income Households in Makhanda, South Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-17, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:3:p:275-:d:65905. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.