Urban resource models increasingly rely on implicit network formulations. Resource consumption behaviours documented in the existing empirical studies are ultimately by-products of the network abstractions underlying these models. Here, we present an analytical formulation and examination of a generic demand-driven network model that accounts for the effectiveness of resource utilization and its implications for policy levers in addressing resource management in cities. We establish simple limiting boundaries to systems' resource effectiveness. These limits are found not to be a function of system size and to be simply determined by the system's average ability to maintain resource quality through its transformation processes. We also show that resource utilization in itself does not enjoy considerable size efficiencies with larger and more diverse systems only offering increased chances of finding matching demand and supply between existing sectors in the system. Thermodynamically speaking, the rate of utilization of resources in cities is then subject to the quality of the imported resources, i.e. their exergetic content, as well as the efficiency of such systems in extracting the exergetic content in their processes [2].As cities grow in size and complexity, self-organizational behaviours that are typical of open thermodynamic systems emerge. These include diversifying intra-system interactions and increasing their intensity in order to more effectively process the increased energy intake [3]. Such behaviours provide the capacity for growth and expansion prompting cities to seek and destroy more exergetic content. Given the limited nature of resource supplies, this is typically better achieved by prolonging the chain of transformation processes within systems, i.e. keeping materials in systems for longer, which in turn increases their capacity in retaining and circulating quality resources through these longer chains [4,5]. For complex dissipative thermodynamic systems like cities, measuring this gradient of exergy destruction in the overall system serves as a performance indicator of the systems' capability to use resources they import and re-circulate [6]. This very quality is echoed in and underpins the working principles of circular economy where reduce, maintain, re-use, refurbish and recycle are incorporated to address the overextraction of resources through maximizing transformation efficiencies (reduce), keeping resource in use (maintain) and prolonging next-use chains (re-use, refurbish and recycle) through various strategies. Applying circular-economic principles not only relieves the demand on resource use, but also promotes system adaptations and product design for cutting waste and carbon emissions [7]. The essence of the circular economy is to retain the usefulness of resources through a hierarchy of strategies where higher levels of resource management such as maintenance to extend the current life are preferred, with reuse for a second life, and then repair and remanufacturing further down the ...