Cities as ecosystems: Growth, development and implications for sustainability

Antonio Bodini, Cristina Bondavalli and Stefano Allesina

Ecological Modelling, 2012, vol. 245, issue C, 185-198

Abstract: Prescriptions for a more sustainable society are usually piecemeal. They are inspired by single issue criteria, no matter if sustainability is, rather, a whole system trait as it pertains to growth and development, that are overall system attributes. In this paper urban sustainability is discussed in a whole system perspective using the ecosystem approach as a framework. This required that urban systems were described as flow networks and investigated through ecological network analysis. Three cities are discussed as a case study and their network representation concerned water flows that were identified knowing water exchanges between city components (i.e. sectors of human activity). Network analysis yielded system level indices that condense the complexity of the flow structure (representing system's metabolism) in a few measures that provide information on how systems grow and develop; as such they allow to explore sustainability at the whole system scale.

Keywords: Ecosystem; Growth and development; Network analysis; Sustainability; Urban ecology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:245:y:2012:i:c:p:185-198

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2012.02.022

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