Urban sustainability issues - What is a resource-efficient city?
EEA Technical report 23/2015
The report introduces the concept of urban metabolism, the circular model and the role of compactness in urban resource efficiency. Cities require natural resources and energy to sustain the activities and daily life of the urban population.
First, the report focuses on the global and European context. It analyses the megatrends, such as resource efficiency and urbanisation, and the policy context.
Second, it presents the concept of urban metabolism and the main challenges and drivers. It examines the functioning of the urban system, in particular the interlinkages between the different drivers of urbanisation and the pressures and impacts.
Finally it demonstrates how urban morphology (form, density, compactness) can change the input flows of the resources consumed by cities and the output flows emitted. It analyses the interdependence between the spatial dynamics of a city and its material resource flows. Urban planning is mentioned often as a tool
to limit energy use and the city's spatial footprint but more rarely as a tool to reduce the city's use of material flows.
Source: EEA (2015): Urban sustainability issues - What is a resource-efficient city?. EEA Technical report 23/2015. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.