IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i21p13964-d954882.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rural–Urban Metabolism: A Methodological Approach for Carbon-Positive and Circular Territories

Author

Listed:
  • Angelica Pianegonda

    (Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, Via Mesiano 77, 38123 Trento, Italy)

  • Sara Favargiotti

    (Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, Via Mesiano 77, 38123 Trento, Italy)

  • Marco Ciolli

    (Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, Via Mesiano 77, 38123 Trento, Italy
    C3A—Center for Agriculture, Food, and Environment, Via Edmund Mach 1, 38010 San Michele all’Adige, Italy)

Abstract

Cities are responsible for about 75% of the global greenhouse gas emissions. Various materials and energy sources, which are mostly produced by the rural areas rather than the cities, are consumed by the cities, and their waste is released back into the rural areas, thereby causing evident environmental damages. The Rural–Urban Metabolism approach can offer a comprehensive tool to understand the flux of resources that cross the urban environments and plan for more sustainable cities. Considering the strength of the relationship between the urban and rural areas, this paper offers a new perspective regarding the Rural–Urban Metabolism and its application in the Autonomous Province of Trento is discussed. The methodological approach consists of four main steps: data collection and management to support strategic territorial/urban plans; data assessment to critically evaluate the existing context; data mapping to visualize the data and territorial dynamics; and finally, the definition of the strategic and integrated development plan and actions. The Rural–Urban Metabolism proved to be a strategic approach for urban planning and design to monitor the flow of it, assess the impacts of it and promote more sustainable and circular urban policies.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:21:p:13964-:d:954882
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/21/13964/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/21/13964/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mattia Andreola & Angelica Pianegonda & Sara Favargiotti & Francesca Forno, 2021. "Urban Food Strategy in the Making: Context, Conventions and Contestations," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-25, February.
    2. Arnold Tukker & Bart Jansen, 2006. "Environmental Impacts of Products: A Detailed Review of Studies," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 10(3), pages 159-182, July.
    3. Anastasia Nikologianni & Alessandro Betta & Angelica Pianegonda & Sara Favargiotti & Kathryn Moore & Nick Grayson & Elisa Morganti & Martin Berg & Anna Ternell & Marco Ciolli & Michela Angeli & Anders, 2020. "New Integrated Approaches to Climate Emergency Landscape Strategies: The Case of Pan-European SATURN Project," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-11, October.
    4. Giles Thomson & Peter Newman, 2021. "Green Infrastructure and Biophilic Urbanism as Tools for Integrating Resource Efficient and Ecological Cities," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(1), pages 75-88.
    5. Ilse M. Voskamp & Sven Stremke & Marc Spiller & Daniela Perrotti & Jan Peter Hoek & Huub H. M. Rijnaarts, 2017. "Enhanced Performance of the Eurostat Method for Comprehensive Assessment of Urban Metabolism: A Material Flow Analysis of Amsterdam," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 21(4), pages 887-902, August.
    6. 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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. Taiwo Temitope Lasisi & Kayode Kolawole Eluwole & Uju Violet Alola & Luigi Aldieri & Concetto Paolo Vinci & Andrew Adewale Alola, 2021. "Do Tourism Activities and Urbanization Drive Material Consumption in the OECD Countries? A Quantile Regression Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-13, July.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. 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," Post-Print hal-02507504, HAL.
    7. Bahers, Jean-Baptiste & Tanguy, Audrey & Pincetl, Stephanie, 2020. "Metabolic relationships between cities and hinterland: a political-industrial ecology of energy metabolism of Saint-Nazaire metropolitan and port area (France)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    8. Attahiru, Yusuf Babangida & Aziz, Md. Maniruzzaman A. & Kassim, Khairul Anuar & Shahid, Shamsuddin & Wan Abu Bakar, Wan Azelee & NSashruddin, Thanwa Filza & Rahman, Farahiyah Abdul & Ahamed, Mohd Imra, 2019. "A review on green economy and development of green roads and highways using carbon neutral materials," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 600-613.
    9. Mária Csutora & Ágnes Zsóka, 2011. "Maximizing the Efficiency of Greenhouse Gas Related Consumer Policy," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 67-90, March.
    10. 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.
    11. Jui-Che Tu & Yukari Nagai & Min-Chieh Shih, 2018. "Establishing Design Strategies and an Assessment Tool of Home Appliances to Promote Sustainable Behavior for the New Poor," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-21, May.
    12. Colin M. Rose & Julia A. Stegemann, 2018. "From Waste Management to Component Management in the Construction Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-21, January.
    13. Chad M. Baum & Christian Gross, 2017. "Sustainability policy as if people mattered: developing a framework for environmentally significant behavioral change," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 53-95, April.
    14. Rafaela Tirado & Adélaïde Aublet & Sylvain Laurenceau & Mathieu Thorel & Mathilde Louërat & Guillaume Habert, 2021. "Component-Based Model for Building Material Stock and Waste-Flow Characterization: A Case in the Île-de-France Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-34, November.
    15. 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.
    16. Francesca Forno & Mikko Laamanen & Stefan Wahlen, 2022. "(Un-)sustainable transformations : everyday food practices in Italy during COVID-19," Post-Print hal-03625699, HAL.
    17. Kristin Jürkenbeck & Achim Spiller, 2020. "Consumers’ Evaluation of Stockfree-Organic Agriculture—A Segmentation Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-19, May.
    18. Asterios Papageorgiou & Rajib Sinha & Björn Frostell & Cecilia Sundberg, 2020. "A new physical accounting model for material flows in urban systems with application to the Stockholm Royal Seaport District," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 24(3), pages 459-472, June.
    19. Yosuke Shigetomi & Keisuke Nansai & Shigemi Kagawa & Susumu Tohno, 2016. "Influence of income difference on carbon and material footprints for critical metals: the case of Japanese households," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 5(1), pages 1-19, December.
    20. Yingjie Lai & Chaemoon Yoo & Xiaomin Zhou & Younghwan Pan, 2023. "Elements of Food Service Design for Low-Carbon Tourism-Based on Dine-In Tourist Behavior and Attitudes in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-21, May.

    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:14:y:2022:i:21:p:13964-:d:954882. 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.