IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/inecol/v27y2023i6p1626-1638.html

Chinese cities exhibit diverse allometric growth patterns in material metabolism

Author

Listed:
  • Mingyue Yang
  • Ningyin Liu
  • Xinjing Wang
  • Yan Zhang

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Mingyue Yang & Ningyin Liu & Xinjing Wang & Yan Zhang, 2023. "Chinese cities exhibit diverse allometric growth patterns in material metabolism," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(6), pages 1626-1638, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:27:y:2023:i:6:p:1626-1638
    DOI: 10.1111/jiec.13439
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.13439
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jiec.13439?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xu, Dongxiao & Zhang, Yan & Chen, Bin & Bai, Junhong & Liu, Gengyuan & Zhang, Boyu, 2022. "Identifying the critical paths and sectors for carbon transfers driven by global consumption in 2015," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PB).
    2. Emily Elhacham & Liad Ben-Uri & Jonathan Grozovski & Yinon M. Bar-On & Ron Milo, 2020. "Global human-made mass exceeds all living biomass," Nature, Nature, vol. 588(7838), pages 442-444, December.
    3. Xu, Gang & Xu, Zhibang & Gu, Yanyan & Lei, Weiqian & Pan, Yupiao & Liu, Jie & Jiao, Limin, 2020. "Scaling laws in intra-urban systems and over time at the district level in Shanghai, China," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 560(C).
    4. Jose Lobo & Luis MA Bettencourt & Michael E Smith & Scott Ortman, 2020. "Settlement scaling theory: Bridging the study of ancient and contemporary urban systems," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(4), pages 731-747, March.
    5. Krzysztof Cebrat & Maciej Sobczyński, 2016. "Scaling Laws in City Growth: Setting Limitations with Self-Organizing Maps," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(12), pages 1-11, December.
    6. Anu Ramaswami & Daqian Jiang & Kangkang Tong & Jerry Zhao, 2018. "Impact of the Economic Structure of Cities on Urban Scaling Factors: Implications for Urban Material and Energy Flows in China," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 22(2), pages 392-405, April.
    7. Zhang, Tao & Liu, Lili & Lv, Xiaodong, 2019. "The change in the material stock of urban infrastructures in China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 24-34.
    8. Sabine Barles, 2009. "Urban Metabolism of Paris and Its Region," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 13(6), pages 898-913, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Anthony FJ van Raan, 2024. "Simulating urban scaling with a term linkages network of a university," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 51(9), pages 2092-2107, November.
    2. Liu, Ningyin & Zhang, Yan & Fath, Brian D., 2021. "The material metabolism characteristics and growth patterns of the central cities of China's Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 448(C).
    3. Qingsong He & Lingping Huang & Jing Li, 2022. "Rediscovering the Scaling Law of Urban Land from a Multi-Scale Perspective—A Case Study of Wuhan," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-15, June.
    4. Sun, Lu & Fujii, Minoru & Li, Zhaoling & Dong, Huijuan & Geng, Yong & Liu, Zhe & Fujita, Tsuyoshi & Yu, Xiaoman & Zhang, Yuepeng, 2020. "Energy-saving and carbon emission reduction effect of urban-industrial symbiosis implementation with feasibility analysis in the city," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    5. Gary F. Templeton & D. Brian Blank, 2026. "Understanding non-normality in business, finance, and accounting research," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 66(2), pages 693-729, February.
    6. Seeram Ramakrishna & Wayne Hu & Rajan Jose, 2023. "Sustainability in Numbers by Data Analytics," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 643-655, June.
    7. Jean-Baptiste Bahers & Paula Higuera & Anne Ventura & Nicolas Antheaume, 2020. "The “Metal-Energy-Construction Mineral” Nexus in the Island Metabolism: The Case of the Extractive Economy of New Caledonia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-18, March.
    8. Lu Zhang & Xuehan Lin & Bingkui Qiu & Maomao Zhang & Qingsong He, 2022. "The Industrial Sprawl in China from 2010 to 2019: A Multi-Level Spatial Analysis Based on Urban Scaling Law," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-14, December.
    9. Juanjo Galan & Daniela Perrotti, 2019. "Incorporating Metabolic Thinking into Regional Planning: The Case of the Sierra Calderona Strategic Plan," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(1), pages 152-171.
    10. Margarita Ignatyeva & Vera Yurak & Alexey Dushin & Vladimir Strovsky & Sergey Zavyalov & Alexander Malyshev & Polina Karimova, 2021. "How Far Away Are World Economies from Circularity: Assessing the Capacity of Circular Economy Policy Packages in the Operation of Raw Materials and Industrial Wastes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-15, April.
    11. Xiaoxu, Xing & Qiangmin, Xi & Weihao, Shi, 2024. "Impact of urban compactness on carbon emission in Chinese cities: From moderating effects of industrial diversity and job-housing imbalances," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    12. Marco Bianchi & Carlos Tapia & Ikerne del Valle, 2020. "Monitoring domestic material consumption at lower territorial levels: A novel data downscaling method," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 24(5), pages 1074-1087, October.
    13. repec:plo:pone00:0243621 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Daan Francois Toerien, 2022. "Linking Entrepreneurial Activities and Community Prosperity/Poverty in United States Counties: Use of the Enterprise Dependency Index," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-16, February.
    15. Angelica Pianegonda & Sara Favargiotti & Marco Ciolli, 2022. "Rural–Urban Metabolism: A Methodological Approach for Carbon-Positive and Circular Territories," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-16, October.
    16. Angstmann, Marius & Gärtner, Stefan & Angstmann, Marius, 2023. "Abriss, Neubau oder Sanierung - CO₂-Emissionen im Gebäudesektor: Nicht nur sparsamer, sondern auch weniger," Forschung Aktuell 09/2023, Institut Arbeit und Technik (IAT), Westfälische Hochschule, University of Applied Sciences.
    17. Susan E. Lee & Andrew D. Quinn & Chris D.F. Rogers, 2016. "Advancing City Sustainability via Its Systems of Flows: The Urban Metabolism of Birmingham and Its Hinterland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-24, March.
    18. Huston, Simon, 2020. "Academic letter on French Indochina War: metaphors for strategic insight," OSF Preprints 2p9by, Center for Open Science.
    19. Stefano Di Bucchianico & Federica Cappelli, 2021. "Exploring the theoretical link between profitability and luxury emissions," Working Papers PKWP2114, Post Keynesian Economics Society (PKES).
    20. Allisa G. Hastie & Christopher M. Chini & Ashlynn S. Stillwell, 2022. "A mass balance approach to urban water analysis using multi‐resolution data," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(1), pages 213-224, February.
    21. Shuang Liu & Rui Liu & Nengzhi Tan, 2021. "A Spatial Improved-kNN-Based Flood Inundation Risk Framework for Urban Tourism under Two Rainfall Scenarios," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-18, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:bla:inecol:v:27:y:2023:i:6:p:1626-1638. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1088-1980 .

    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.