City-Level Decoupling-Case Studies

CITY-LEVEL DECOUPLING: URBAN RESOURCE FLOWS AND THE GOVERNANCE OF INFRASTRUCTURE TRANSITIONS

About the Cities Working Group

The International Resource Panel (IRP) has as its main mission to provide independent, coherent and authoritative scientific assessments of policy relevance on the sustainable use of resources and their environmental impacts over the full life cycle, and to contribute to a better understanding of how to “decouple” economic growth from environmental degradation. The Panel’s first assessment on “Decoupling” clearly demonstrated that “absolute decoupling” is possible. Innovation and technology development, in principle, could produce 80% reductions in resource and emission intensity in some crucial activities within the housing, food and transport sector. Of course, investing in resource efficiency is necessary but not sufficient for sustainable natural resource use. Because of the scale of the challenge, resource efficiency needs to be complemented by systems sustainability–oriented innovation. Cities are home to a majority of the world’s population, accounting for an estimated 60-80 per cent of global energy consumption, 75 per cent of carbon emissions, 75 per cent of the world’s natural resources, and 80% of global GDP. The concentration of resource use and its environment impact is expected to further intensify as urbanization process proceeds. It is clear that many of those opportunities for decoupling are to be found within cities, both retrofitting existing cities and building new ones. This was therefore naturally a key issue for the IRP to explore in more depth. In late 2010, the Panel established the Cities Working Group with Professor Mark Swilling as the Working Group Coordinator. Members of the International Resource Panel who have also participated in the Cities Working Group include Maarten Hajer, who also takes a leadership role, Walter Pengue and Lea Kauppi. This first report from the Working Group explores how infrastructure directs material flows and therefore resource use, productivity and efficiency in an urban context. It makes the case for examining cities from a material flow perspective, while also placing the city within the broader system of flows that make it possible for it to function. It also highlights the way that the design, construction and operation of infrastructures create a socio-technical environment that shapes the way of life of citizens and how they procure, use and dispose of the resources they require. The Working Group on Cities will continue to explore the theme of resource use and material flows within an urban context.

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