Sustainability Assessment of the Residential Land Use in Seven Boroughs of the Island of Montreal, Canada

Ricardo Enrique Vega-Azamar, Rabindranarth Romero-López, Mathias Glaus, Norma Angélica Oropeza-García and Robert Hausler
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Ricardo Enrique Vega-Azamar: Station Expérimentale des Procédés Pilotes en Environnement, École de Technologie Supérieure, Université du Québec, 1100, rue Notre-Dame Ouest Local A-1500, Quebec, MN H3C 1K3, Canada
Rabindranarth Romero-López: Unidad de Investigación Especializada en Hidroinformática y Tecnología Ambiental, Facultad de Ingeniería Civil, Universidad Veracruzana, Lomas del Estadio s/n, Zona Universitaria, Xalapa, 91000 Veracruz, Mexico
Mathias Glaus: Station Expérimentale des Procédés Pilotes en Environnement, École de Technologie Supérieure, Université du Québec, 1100, rue Notre-Dame Ouest Local A-1500, Quebec, MN H3C 1K3, Canada
Norma Angélica Oropeza-García: División de Ciencias e Ingeniería, Universidad de Quintana Roo, Boulevard Bahía s/n Esquina Ignacio Comonfort, Col. Del Bosque, Chetumal, 77019 Quintana Roo, Mexico
Robert Hausler: Station Expérimentale des Procédés Pilotes en Environnement, École de Technologie Supérieure, Université du Québec, 1100, rue Notre-Dame Ouest Local A-1500, Quebec, MN H3C 1K3, Canada

Sustainability, 2015, vol. 7, issue 3, 1-19

Abstract: High resource utilization in the residential sector, and the associated environmental impacts, are central issues in the growth of urban regions. Land-use urban planning is a primary instrument for the proper development of cities; an important point is the consideration of the urban form’s influence on resource utilization intensity. Emergy synthesis, an energy-based methodological approach that allows the quantification and integration of both natural and human-generated flows interacting in urban environments, was used to assess sustainability of the residential land use of seven boroughs on the Island of Montreal. Natural resources, food, water, acquired goods and services, electricity and fuels were the main flows considered in the analysis. Results suggest that income, household size and distance to downtown are the variables affecting resource utilization intensity more noticeably and that allocation of green area coverage is an important parameter for controlling land use intensity. With the procedure used for calculating resource use intensity in the seven boroughs, it is possible to generate a tool to support urban planning decision-making for assessing sustainable development scenarios. Future research should consider urban green space potential for accommodating local waste treatment systems, acting as a greenhouse gas emissions sink and promoting human health.

Keywords: emergy evaluation; residential land use; domestic consumption; resource utilization intensity; urban form; urban planning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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