Urban Metabolism of Paris and Its Region by Sabine Barles (2009)

Urban Metabolism of Paris and Its Region

Title

Urban Metabolism of Paris and Its Region

Author(s)

Sabine Barles

Year

2009

Type

Journal Article

Source

Journal of Industrial Ecology, Volume 13, Issue 6, Pages 898-913

DOI

10.1111/j.1530-9290.2009.00169.x

Abstract

<p>The article presents the results of a research project aimed at (1) examining the feasibility of material flow analysis (MFA) on a regional and urban scale in France, (2) selecting the most appropriate method, (3) identifying the available data, and (4) calculating the material balance for a specific case. Using the Eurostat method, the study was conducted for the year 2003 and for three regional levels: Paris, Paris and its suburbs, and the entire region. Applying the method on a local scale required two local indicators to be defined in order to take into account the impact of exported wastes on MFA: LEPO, local and exported flows to nature, and DMCcorr, a modified domestic material consumption (DMC) that excludes exported wastes (and imported ones if necessary).</p><p>As the region extracts, produces, and transforms less material than the country as a whole, its direct material input (DMI) is lower than the national DMI. In all the areas, LEPO exceeds 50% of DMI; in contrast, recycling is very low. The multiscale approach reveals that urban metabolism is strongly impacted by density and the distribution of activities: the dense city center (Paris) exports all of its wastes to the other parts of the region and concentrates food consumption, whereas the agricultural and urban sprawl area consumes high levels of construction materials and fuel. This supports the use of MFA on an urban and regional scale as a basis for material flow management and dematerialization strategies and clearly reveals the important interactions between urban and regional planning and development, and material flows.</p>

More Information

http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/j.1530-9290.2009.00169.x

Various data points are available from this publication within our Global Urban Metabolism Dataset. Click the links below to see the datapoints that are available from this work.

Urban Metabolism of Paris and Its Region

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