Metabolism of Cities
  • About

    About Us

    • Our Story
    • Mission & Values
    • Team
    • Task Forces
    • Services

    Connect With Us

    • ContributeJoin Us
    • Subscribe
    • Contact Us
  • Community

    Research

    • Projects
    • Theses
    • ContributeAdd Research
    • People

    Updates

    • Events
    • News
  • Resources

    Getting Started

    • About Urban Metabolism
    • Starter Kit

    Multimedia

    • Photos
    • Videos

    Publications

    • Library
    • Journals
    • ContributeAdd Publication

    Data

    • Datasets
    • Data Visualisations

    Tools

    • Online Material Flow Analysis Tool (OMAT)
    • MOOC
  • Cities

    MultipliCity - Data Portals

    • Introduction
    • Video
    • Add DataContribute
    • Data Collection Events
    • Development Roadmap
    • Datasets

    Existing Data Portals

    • Prototype: Cape Town, South Africa
    • Prototype: The Hague, Netherlands
    • Prototype: Beijing, China
    • Overview page

    Upcoming Data Portals

    • Apeldoorn, Netherlands Coming soon
    • Bødo, Norway Coming soon
    • Brussels, Belgium Coming soon
    • Høje Taastrup, Denmark Coming soon
    • Mikkeli, Finland Coming soon
    • Porto, Portugal Coming soon
    • Sevilla, Spain Coming soon
    • Toronto, Canada Coming soon
    • Your city?
    • Orange Theme
    • Blue Theme
    • Metabolism of Cities
    • Metabolism of Islands

Publications

  1. Resources
  2. Publications
  3. Publication #486

Bibtex

@article{reference_tag,
  author = "Clark, Susan Spierre and Chester, Mikhail V.",
  title = "A Hybrid Approach for Assessing the Multi-Scale Impacts of Urban Resource Use: Transportation in Phoenix, Arizona",
  journal = "Journal of Industrial Ecology",
  year = 2017,
  abstract = "Life cycle assessment (LCA) and urban metabolism (UM) are popular approaches for urban system environmental assessment. However, both approaches have challenges when used across spatial scales. LCA tends to decompose systemic information into micro-level functional units that mask complexity and purpose, whereas UM typically equates aggregated material and energy flows with impacts and is not ideal for revealing the mechanisms or alternatives available to reduce systemic environmental risks. This study explores the value of integrating UM with LCA, using vehicle transportation in the Phoenix metropolitan area as an illustrative case study. Where other studies have focused on the use of LCA providing upstream supply-chain impacts for UM, we assert that the broader value of the integrated approach is in (1) the ability to cross scales (from micro to macro) in environmental assessment and (2) establishing an analysis that captures function and complexity in urban systems. The results for Phoenix show the complexity in resource supply chains and critical infrastructure services, how impacts accrue well beyond geopolitical boundaries where activities occur, and potential system vulnerabilities.",
  doi = "10.1111/jiec.12422",
}

RIS

TY  - JOUR
T1 - A Hybrid Approach for Assessing the Multi-Scale Impacts of Urban Resource Use: Transportation in Phoenix, Arizona
AU - Clark, Susan Spierre and Chester, Mikhail V.
Y1 - 2017
DO - 10.1111/jiec.12422
N2 - Life cycle assessment (LCA) and urban metabolism (UM) are popular approaches for urban system environmental assessment. However, both approaches have challenges when used across spatial scales. LCA tends to decompose systemic information into micro-level functional units that mask complexity and purpose, whereas UM typically equates aggregated material and energy flows with impacts and is not ideal for revealing the mechanisms or alternatives available to reduce systemic environmental risks. This study explores the value of integrating UM with LCA, using vehicle transportation in the Phoenix metropolitan area as an illustrative case study. Where other studies have focused on the use of LCA providing upstream supply-chain impacts for UM, we assert that the broader value of the integrated approach is in (1) the ability to cross scales (from micro to macro) in environmental assessment and (2) establishing an analysis that captures function and complexity in urban systems. The results for Phoenix show the complexity in resource supply chains and critical infrastructure services, how impacts accrue well beyond geopolitical boundaries where activities occur, and potential system vulnerabilities.
ER - 

Journal Article

2017

Author(s)

  • Mikhail V. Chester
  • Susan Clark

Reference

  • Bibtex
  • RIS
  • RefWorks

Search

  • Google Scholar
  • Google

More options

Add a publication

Report error

A Hybrid Approach for Assessing the Multi-Scale Impacts of Urban Resource Use: Transportation in Phoenix, Arizona

Journal of Industrial Ecology

Journal of Industrial Ecology

Life cycle assessment (LCA) and urban metabolism (UM) are popular approaches for urban system environmental assessment. However, both approaches have challenges when used across spatial scales. LCA tends to decompose systemic information into micro-level functional units that mask complexity and purpose, whereas UM typically equates aggregated material and energy flows with impacts and is not ideal for revealing the mechanisms or alternatives available to reduce systemic environmental risks. This study explores the value of integrating UM with LCA, using vehicle transportation in the Phoenix metropolitan area as an illustrative case study. Where other studies have focused on the use of LCA providing upstream supply-chain impacts for UM, we assert that the broader value of the integrated approach is in (1) the ability to cross scales (from micro to macro) in environmental assessment and (2) establishing an analysis that captures function and complexity in urban systems. The results for Phoenix show the complexity in resource supply chains and critical infrastructure services, how impacts accrue well beyond geopolitical boundaries where activities occur, and potential system vulnerabilities.

Tags

  • Case Study
  • Hybrid MFA-LCA
  • Single point in time
  • Transportation
  • Urban

More information

10.1111/jiec.12422

  • Literature
  • Publications
  • Journals
  • Events
  • Publishers

Latest news

Reflections on the first Actionable Science for Urban Sustainability (un)conference (AScUS) 2020
June 23, 2020

Read more

Do you have data on resource flows?

Share data

We can use your help

Join us

Metabolism of Cities

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

Our source code is available on
Gitlab

Contact us

Follow Us

Metabolism of Islands

Visit our twin site:
Metabolism of Islands