Project
PhD I Voskamp - Systemic understanding of Urban Water and Energy flows for the design of Green Blue Infrastructure
The PhD research of Ilse Voskamp builds upon the AMS Urban Pulse and is co-supervised by Sven Stremke of the Landscape Architecture Chair Group, Wageningen UR. The other supervisors involved are Jan Vreeburg and Huub Rijnaarts (promotor) of the sub-department of Environmental Technology, Wageningen UR. In this PhD research, a model will be developed that can provide insight in a cities resource flows, to inform resource efficient design of our cities.
In order to plan and design resource efficient cities, a sound understanding of urban resource flows is essential (Voskamp et al., 2016). One of the approaches used to analyse resource flows in cities is urban metabolism. Urban metabolism refers to the exchange processes whereby cities transform raw materials, energy, and water into the built environment, human biomass, and waste (Decker et al., 2000). It is argued that urban metabolism analyses can contribute to sustainable urban planning and design, but thus far this application remains limited (Kennedy et al., 2011).
In this research Ilse will explore three possible reasons for the lack of application of urban metabolism analyses in urban planning and design. Namely, that these analyses should (1) assess the urban metabolism more comprehensively, (2) provide detailed, spatial and temporal explicit data of resource flows, and 3) account for the multi-scale socio-ecological drivers that affect these flows. Informed by this research, Ilse will develop a model for analysing urban resource flows. The model will be tailored to evidence-based planning and design of ‘green blue infrastructure’ as effective intervention for enhanced urban resource efficiency. Green blue infrastructure refers to the hybrid networks of green and blue spaces that exist within and around cities, including both natural spaces and semi-natural, engineered elements. Because a detailed understanding of urban water and energy flows is of key importance when designing green blue infrastructure, the model application will be focused on these resource flows.
The research consists of a single-case embedded case study in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Region. Environmental managers, urban planners and designers will be involved to ensure usefulness of the model for urban planning and design that fosters sustainable resource management.
References
Decker, E.H., Elliott, S., Smith, F.A., Blake, D.R., Rowland, F.S., 2000. Energy and Material Flow. Through the Urban Ecosystem. Annu. Rev. Energy Environ. 25, 685–740.
Kennedy, C., Pincetl, S., Bunje, P., 2011. The study of urban metabolism and its applications to urban planning and design. Environ. Pollut. 159, 1965–73. doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2010.10.022
Voskamp, I.M., Stremke, S., Spiller, M., Perrotti, D., Van Der Hoek, J. P., Rijnaarts, Huub H.M., 2016. Enhanced performance of the Eurostat method for Comprehensive Assessment of the Urban Metabolism: A Material Flow Analysis of Amsterdam. Journal of Industrial Ecology, doi: 10.1111/JIEC.12461