74
Inside the authors include a city public works director in a conversation amongst six
professionals about the challenges of implementing IE. A chapter on opportunities
for governments in applying IE discusses the need to develop integrated models of
urban communities. Several pages on local government then describe how practical
applications of IE in cities can lead to waste reduction, extended capacity to local
infrastructure, development of resource exchange markets and related economic
development – all of which should be pursued within strategic community green
planning. As part of this planning, Lowe et al . also encourage the study of urban
metabolism (although they call it the industrial metabolism of the community).
In A Handbook of Industrial Ecology (Ayres and Ayres 2002 ), cities are explicitly recognized as being relevant to IE – at least to a small extent – by the inclusion
of 3, out of 46, chapters relating to urban issues. The fi rst of these, by Ian Douglas
and Nigel Lawson ( 2002 ), shows sensible understating of the dominant material
fl ow processes being entitled Material fl ows due to Mining and Urbanization . With
respect to the urban end, Douglas and Lawson distinguish between the urban fabric
of buildings and infrastructure with slow turnover of materials and the other materials such as food, clothing, packaging, water and energy that fl ow relatively rapidly
through cities. They also note how, over centuries, the in situ deposition of construction and demolition waste in cities gradually raises the elevation of cities. The
authors also make reference to a limited number of ecological footprint studies and
urban material fl ow balances, but concede like others previously, that these are challenging to conduct. They resort to presenting a few measures of Earth moved or
materials placed in major tunnels, airports runways or similar projects in the United
Kingdom or otherwise present national level data.
In Industrial Ecology and Spatial Planning , Clinton Andrews ( 2002a ) explains
some of the important linkages between industrial ecology and the activities of
urban planners. He begins by recognizing that geography matters because it brings
details of scale and the level of analytical resolution to IE. Challenges in applying
IE to cities sometime occur, however, because of misalignment between natural and
political boundaries and the existence of multiple levels of government. Andrews
notes the wide variation in physical characteristics of cities worldwide and also
comments that planning practices are just as varied – e.g. ranging from pure regulatory roles to those who are active in shaping urban form. He then discusses several
intersections between spatial planning and IE: (1) connection between urban patterns and the environmental performance of cities; (2) the signifi cant role for planners in eco-industrial developments, which are subject to a several regulatory issues;
(3) urban waste management; (4) several ways in which the design of the built
environment impacts eco-effi ciency; (5) the use of non-toxic, biocompatible materials in cities; and (6) the potential for industrial ecologists to study behavioural attributes of citizens, linked to policy interventions. Andrews concludes with a warning
that IE should be careful to learn from some of the ill-conceived, utopian interventions that urban planners implemented in previous decades.
Like planning, prescriptive IE is in danger of cycling from hubris to despair before discovering humility and effectiveness…..Until the grand visions of IE are tempered by implementation experience they will be a poor basis for public decisions. (Andrews 2002a : 487)
C.A. Kennedy
Inside the authors include a city public works director in a conversation amongst six
professionals about the challenges of implementing IE. A chapter on opportunities
for governments in applying IE discusses the need to develop integrated models of
urban communities. Several pages on local government then describe how practical
applications of IE in cities can lead to waste reduction, extended capacity to local
infrastructure, development of resource exchange markets and related economic
development – all of which should be pursued within strategic community green
planning. As part of this planning, Lowe et al . also encourage the study of urban
metabolism (although they call it the industrial metabolism of the community).
In A Handbook of Industrial Ecology (Ayres and Ayres 2002 ), cities are explicitly recognized as being relevant to IE – at least to a small extent – by the inclusion
of 3, out of 46, chapters relating to urban issues. The fi rst of these, by Ian Douglas
and Nigel Lawson ( 2002 ), shows sensible understating of the dominant material
fl ow processes being entitled Material fl ows due to Mining and Urbanization . With
respect to the urban end, Douglas and Lawson distinguish between the urban fabric
of buildings and infrastructure with slow turnover of materials and the other materials such as food, clothing, packaging, water and energy that fl ow relatively rapidly
through cities. They also note how, over centuries, the in situ deposition of construction and demolition waste in cities gradually raises the elevation of cities. The
authors also make reference to a limited number of ecological footprint studies and
urban material fl ow balances, but concede like others previously, that these are challenging to conduct. They resort to presenting a few measures of Earth moved or
materials placed in major tunnels, airports runways or similar projects in the United
Kingdom or otherwise present national level data.
In Industrial Ecology and Spatial Planning , Clinton Andrews ( 2002a ) explains
some of the important linkages between industrial ecology and the activities of
urban planners. He begins by recognizing that geography matters because it brings
details of scale and the level of analytical resolution to IE. Challenges in applying
IE to cities sometime occur, however, because of misalignment between natural and
political boundaries and the existence of multiple levels of government. Andrews
notes the wide variation in physical characteristics of cities worldwide and also
comments that planning practices are just as varied – e.g. ranging from pure regulatory roles to those who are active in shaping urban form. He then discusses several
intersections between spatial planning and IE: (1) connection between urban patterns and the environmental performance of cities; (2) the signifi cant role for planners in eco-industrial developments, which are subject to a several regulatory issues;
(3) urban waste management; (4) several ways in which the design of the built
environment impacts eco-effi ciency; (5) the use of non-toxic, biocompatible materials in cities; and (6) the potential for industrial ecologists to study behavioural attributes of citizens, linked to policy interventions. Andrews concludes with a warning
that IE should be careful to learn from some of the ill-conceived, utopian interventions that urban planners implemented in previous decades.
Like planning, prescriptive IE is in danger of cycling from hubris to despair before discovering humility and effectiveness…..Until the grand visions of IE are tempered by implementation experience they will be a poor basis for public decisions. (Andrews 2002a : 487)
C.A. Kennedy