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Optimizing Urban Material Flows and Waste Streams in Urban Development through Principles of Zero Waste and Sustainable Consumption

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  • Steffen Lehmann

    (Zero Waste SA Research Centre for Sustainable Design and Behaviour (sd+b), University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia)

Abstract

Beyond energy efficiency, there are now urgent challenges around the supply of resources, materials, energy, food and water. After debating energy efficiency for the last decade, the focus has shifted to include further resources and material efficiency. In this context, urban farming has emerged as a valid urban design strategy, where food is produced and consumed locally within city boundaries, turning disused sites and underutilized public space into productive urban landscapes and community gardens. Furthermore, such agricultural activities allow for effective composting of organic waste, returning nutrients to the soil and improving biodiversity in the urban environment. Urban farming and resource recovery will help to feed the 9 billion by 2050 (predicted population growth, UN-Habitat forecast 2009). This paper reports on best practice of urban design principles in regard to materials flow, material recovery, adaptive re-use of entire building elements and components (‘design for disassembly’; prefabrication of modular building components), and other relevant strategies to implement zero waste by avoiding waste creation, reducing wasteful consumption and changing behaviour in the design and construction sectors. The paper touches on two important issues in regard to the rapid depletion of the world’s natural resources: the built environment and the education of architects and designers (both topics of further research). The construction and demolition (C&D) sector: Prefabricated multi-story buildings for inner-city living can set new benchmarks for minimizing construction wastage and for modular on-site assembly. Today, the C&D sector is one of the main producers of waste; it does not engage enough with waste minimization, waste avoidance and recycling. Education and research: It’s still unclear how best to introduce a holistic understanding of these challenges and to better teach practical and affordable solutions to architects, urban designers, industrial designers, and so on. How must urban development and construction change and evolve to automatically embed sustainability in the way we design, build, operate, maintain and renew/recycle cities? One of the findings of this paper is that embedding zero-waste requires strong industry leadership, new policies and effective education curricula, as well as raising awareness (through research and education) and refocusing research agendas to bring about attitudinal change and the reduction of wasteful consumption.

Suggested Citation

  • Steffen Lehmann, 2011. "Optimizing Urban Material Flows and Waste Streams in Urban Development through Principles of Zero Waste and Sustainable Consumption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-29, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:3:y:2011:i:1:p:155-183:d:10895
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    1. World Commission on Environment and Development,, 1987. "Our Common Future," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192820808.
    2. repec:dau:papers:123456789/2907 is not listed on IDEAS
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    Cited by:

    1. Dixit, Manish K., 2017. "Life cycle embodied energy analysis of residential buildings: A review of literature to investigate embodied energy parameters," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 390-413.
    2. Evidence Akhayere & Ashok Vaseashta & Doga Kavaz, 2020. "Novel Magnetic Nano Silica Synthesis Using Barley Husk Waste for Removing Petroleum from Polluted Water for Environmental Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-16, December.
    3. Premalatha, M. & Tauseef, S.M. & Abbasi, Tasneem & Abbasi, S.A., 2013. "The promise and the performance of the world's first two zero carbon eco-cities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 660-669.
    4. Mignacca, Benito & Locatelli, Giorgio & Sainati, Tristano, 2020. "Deeds not words: Barriers and remedies for Small Modular nuclear Reactors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    5. Daniel Otero Peña & Daniela Perrotti & Eugene Mohareb, 2022. "Advancing urban metabolism studies through GIS data: Resource flows, open space networks, and vulnerable communities in Mexico City," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(4), pages 1333-1349, August.
    6. Mignacca, Benito & Locatelli, Giorgio & Velenturf, Anne, 2020. "Modularisation as enabler of circular economy in energy infrastructure," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    7. Xin Jin & Geoffrey Q. P. Shen & Qian-Cheng Wang & E. M. A. C. Ekanayake & Siqi Fan, 2021. "Promoting Construction Industrialisation with Policy Interventions: A Holistic Review of Published Policy Literature," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-23, November.
    8. Saskia Van Broekhoven & Anne Lorène Vernay, 2018. "Integrating Functions for a Sustainable Urban System: A Review of Multifunctional Land Use and Circular Urban Metabolism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-24, June.
    9. Piotr Sulewski & Karolina Kais & Marlena Gołaś & Grzegorz Rawa & Klaudia Urbańska & Adam Wąs, 2021. "Home Bio-Waste Composting for the Circular Economy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-25, September.
    10. Chris Turner & John Oyekan & Lampros K. Stergioulas, 2021. "Distributed Manufacturing: A New Digital Framework for Sustainable Modular Construction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-16, February.
    11. Magnus Andersson & Maria Ljunggren Söderman & Björn A. Sandén, 2019. "Adoption of Systemic and Socio-Technical Perspectives in Waste Management, WEEE and ELV Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-26, March.
    12. C. Rita Chen & Rachel J. C. Chen, 2018. "Using Two Government Food Waste Recognition Programs to Understand Current Reducing Food Loss and Waste Activities in the U.S," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-23, August.
    13. Mirko S. Winkler & Samuel Fuhrimann & Phuc Pham-Duc & Guéladio Cissé & Jürg Utzinger & Hung Nguyen-Viet, 2017. "Assessing potential health impacts of waste recovery and reuse business models in Hanoi, Vietnam," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 62(1), pages 7-16, February.
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