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Abstract
Urban metabolism is a concept employed to understand the flow of energy and materials through urban areas. However, applying this approach at the city level has been limited by the lack of data at this scale. This paper reviews the current application of the urban metabolism concept and proposes the concept of a “smart urban metabolism” (SUM). Through integrating ICT and smart-city technologies, the SUM model can provide real-time feedback on energy and material flows, from the level of the household to the urban district. This is highlighted through an example of its application in the Stockholm Royal Seaport, Sweden.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Swedish Government Agency for Innovation Systems, VINNOVA, under Grant “Challenge-driven innovation B—Spring 2012.” Thanks to Karoliina Pilli-Sihvola for comments on the manuscript.
Notes on Contributors
Hossein Shahrokni is a PhD student in the Division of Industrial Ecology, KTH—Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden.
David Lazarevic is a post-doctoral researcher in the Division of Industrial Ecology, KTH—Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden.
Nils Brandt is an associate professor in the Division of Industrial Ecology, KTH—Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden.
Notes
1 Energy, transport, district heating, waste management.
2 See Kennedy et al., Citation2007, for a summary of these studies.
3 Assessment of the potential environmental impact of product/service systems using energy and mass flows for the main production and supply chain processes.
4 The study of the relationship between humans and technology (computers): Hilty et al., Citation2011.
5 Data driven animations that display ecological information in real-time (such as consumption statistics of key environmental resources) for the goal of promoting ecological literacy: Holmes, Citation2007.
6 Improving and enhancing ones’ perception of their surroundings by combining sensing, computing, and display technologies: Olwal, Citation2009.
7 As part of a contract between the building owner and Stockholm City.