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The Boundaries of Urban Metabolism: Towards a Political-Industrial Ecology

CSS Publication Number
CSS15-23
Full Publication Date
December, 2014
Abstract

This paper considers the limits and potential of ‘urban metabolism’ to conceptualize city processes. Three ‘ecologies’ of urban metabolism have emerged. Each privileges a particular dimension of urban space, shaped by epistemology, politics, and model-making. Marxist ecologies theorize urban metabolism as hybridized socionatures that (re)produce uneven outcomes; industrial ecology, as stocks and flows of materials and energy; and urban ecology, as complex socio-ecological systems.We demarcate these scholarly islands through bibliometric analysis and literature review, and draw on cross-domain mapping theory to unveil how the metaphor has become stagnant in each. To reinvigorate this research, the paper proposes the development of political–industrial ecology, using urban metabolism as a boundary metaphor.

Research Areas
Urban Systems and Built Environment
Keywords

boundary object, industrial ecology, interdisciplinary research, metaphor, political ecology, urban ecology, urban metabolism

Publication Type
Journal Article
Digital Object Identifier
10.1177/0309132514558442
Full Citation

Newell, J.P. and J. Cousins. (2015) “The boundaries of urban metabolism: Towards a political-industrial ecology.” Progress in Human Geography, 39(6):702-728.