BRIDGE sustainaBle uRban plannIng Decision support accountinG for urban mEtabolism

Country: EU Projects
Start Date:   1/2/2009         Duration: 36 months         Project Type: RTD
Contract Number: 
Organisation Type:  EC Project
Topics: 
Brownfields
Contaminated land-->Remediation options-->Recycling/reuse
Project objectives:
Like any living system, urban communities consume material and energy inputs, process them into usable forms, and eliminate the wastes from the internal processes. 
These processes comprise the 'metabolism' of industry, commerce, municipal operations and households. Understanding the pattern of these energy and material
flows through a community's economy provides a systemic reading of the present situation for goal and objective setting and development of indicators for
sustainability. At present, planning policies often reflect the logic of the market. They would better reflect a vision of urban development, in which environmental and
social considerations are fully embedded in spatial planning policies at all steps of the policy cycle from problem identification and policy design through
to the implementation and ex-post evaluation stages. Therefore, the widespread inclusion of sustainability objectives in urban planning at all scales (from
regional to site level) is necessary, providing the opportunity for the incorporation of bio-physical sciences knowledge into the planning process on a routine
basis. To this end, the BRIDGE project aims at bridging the gap between bio-physical sciences and urban planners and at introducing innovative planning strategies
for urban planning and design in Europe. The main objectives of the proposed project BRIDGE are: · BRIDGE the gap between bio-physical sciences and urban planners. · Provide the means to: -quantitatively estimate energy, water, carbon and pollutants fluxes at local scale. -quantitatively estimate the environmental impacts of the above components. -translate the above environmental impacts to socio-economic benefits. · Support the development of sustainable planning strategies. · Provide the means to optimise resources in urban planning. · Involve local and regional stakeholders in the project from the beginning. · Support the implementation of EU policy on urban environment. · Illustrate the economic advantages of accounting for environmental issues on a routine basis in urban planning decisions.
Project Summary:
Like any living system, urban communities consume material and energy inputs, process them into usable forms, and  
eliminate the wastes from the process. This can be seen as 'metabolism' of industry, commerce, municipal operations, and  
households. Understanding the pattern of these energy and material flows through a community's economy provides a  
systemic reading of the present situation for goal and objective setting and development of indicators for sustainability. At  
present, planning policies often reflect the logic of the market. They would better reflect a vision of urban development, in  
which environmental and social considerations are fully embedded in spatial planning policies at all steps of the policy cycle  
from problem identification and policy design through to the implementation and ex-post evaluation stages. Therefore, the  
widespread inclusion of sustainability objectives in urban planning at all scales (from regional to site level) is necessary,  
providing the opportunity for the incorporation of bio-physical sciences knowledge into the planning process on a routine  
basis. To this end, the proposed project BRIDGE (sustainaBle uRban plannIng Decision support accountinG for urban  
mEtabolism) aims at bridging the gap between bio-physical sciences and urban planners and to illustrate the advantages of  
accounting for environmental issues on a routine basis in design decisions. BRIDGE will provide the means to quantitative  
estimate the various components of the urban metabolism (observation of physical flows and modelling), the means for  
quantitative estimate their impacts (socio-economic and environmental impact assessments and indicators), as well as the  
means for resource optimisation in urban fabric (support the decision making in urban planning). BRIDGE will focus on the  
interrelation between energy and material flows and urban structure. 
            
Achieved Objectives:

            
Product Descriptions:

            
Additional Information:

            
Project Resources:
Weblink:
http://www.bridge-fp7.eu/
Funding Programme(s): 
EC FP7: Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development.
Link to Organisations:
Submitted by: EUGRIS Team Professor Paul Bardos  Who does what?  16/05/2012 14:48:00