New peer-reviewed paper published: Urban Metabolism MFA Eurostat
Recently, the Journal of Industrial Ecology published the first article that presents results from the Urban Pulse project. In the article, titled Enhanced Performance of the Eurostat Method for Comprehensive Assessment of Urban Metabolism – A Material Flow Analysis of Amsterdam we propose modifications to the Eurostat method to enhance its performance for comprehensive analysis of urban metabolism.
The majority of European urban MFA studies are based on the method described by Eurostat, but for a comprehensive assessment of the urban metabolism the method has its limitations. Consequently, the usefulness of the Eurostat MFA results for urban policymakers and planners striving for sustainable urban resource management are limited. We analysed the metabolism of Amsterdam municipality for the year 2012, employing the Eurostat MFA and the modified Eurostat method.
Results of the two MFAs were compared and results were compared with an MFA of Amsterdam of 1998 and with MFAs of Hamburg and Vienna. Results show that Amsterdam’s metabolism is dominated by water flows and by port-related throughput of fossil fuels. Although the city’s environmental pressure has decreased since 1998 in terms of per capita waste generation and drinking water consumption, the majority municipal waste generated in the city’s is still incinerated.
Reference: Voskamp, I.M., Stremke, S., Spiller, M., Perrotti, D., Van Der Hoek, J.P., Rijnaarts, H.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
Access the article here
