City-Level Decoupling-Full Report

City-Level Decoupling: Urban resource flows and the governance of infrastructure transitions

densification through revitalization and regeneration is taking place (the so-called ‘new urbanism'). These potential additional stages will probably have different energy and material consumption patterns from the earlier stages depicted in Figure 4.3.

curve may look similar albeit at lower levels. It also ignores the fact that a large number of cities around the world are now going through a fourth stage: a stage of de-densification through suburbanization and 'exurbanization'. A fifth stage is also possible, where re-

Figure 4.3 Conceptual representation of typical material consumption and energy consumption patterns over the life cycle of the development of a typical city 66 Figure 4.5. Conceptual representation of typical material consumption and energy consumption patterns over the life cycle of the development of a typical city

Material consumption

Energy consumption

Rapid urbanization

Stabilizing urbanization

Incremental densification

Energy

Materials

Time

Source: Fernandez 2007

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