The large growth of cities over the years has led to a greater resource demand in urban areas. Subsequently, those resources end up in large waste flows to be transferred to the outskirts of the city and its hinterlands. Resource demand in urban areas puts high pressure on existing urban systems, adding to their complexity. As a consequence of this, integration of systems is needed to move towards more sustainable cities.
Although cities are aware of the urgency, their building plans often seem to be in tension with the environmental aims set. For example, the city of Amsterdam has planned a significant number of new building projects in the coming years. At the same time, it has to comply with the national vision which states the ambition to decrease the amount of raw materials that are used. In order to meet both aims, interventions have to be found for Amsterdam’s building projects in which raw materials can be substituted by reused materials.
Author: Nono Leermakers
Please find the link to this document on our Figshare repository here.