Urban Metabolism of Intermediate Cities: The Material Flow Analysis, Hinterlands and the Logistics‐Hub Function of Rennes and Le Mans (France)

Abstract

Summary Although urban metabolism has been a subject of renewed interest for some years, the related studies remain fragmented throughout the world. Most of them concern major cities (megacities and/or national capitals) and, more rarely, intermediate, medium‐sized or small cities. However, urbanization trends show that together with the metropolization process, another one is characterized by the proliferation of intermediate cities. We have studied the metabolism of two French intermediate cities for the year 2012: Rennes Métropole (400,000 inhabitants) and Le Mans Métropole (200,000 inhabitants). To this end, we used material flow analysis (MFA) based on the methodology developed by Eurostat, adapted to the subnational level. This has been made possible by the use, for the first time, of very precise statistical sources concerning freight. We have developed a multiscale approach in order to weigh the urban metabolism of those two cities and to compare it to other cases and larger territories. This allows a better understanding of the specific territorial metabolism of intermediate cities, their hinterlands, and their logistics‐hub function. We conclude with the “urban dimension” of social metabolism, and, thanks to the multiscale approach, to the debate regarding logistical hubs, dematerialization, and territorial autonomy.

Outsourcing of urban metabolisms and its consequences: A multiscale energy flow analysis of a French port-city

“…The objective of this work is to comprehensively address outsourcing issues in order to enhance their integration in urban metabolism studies. It contributes to the growing efforts in urban metabolism research to develop spatial approaches for flows' accounting, with the ultimate goal of better contextualizing urban policies' consequences at different scales (Athanassiadis et al, 2015;Bahers et al, 2018;Guibrunet et al, 2016;Huang et al, 2018). In this paper, a multiscale extended territory-based approach was developed, looking at both the dependency on external hinterlands and the generation of external hidden flows (embodied consumption and energy losses) due the city's demand in resources.…”

“…Material and energy flow analysis has been applied to many cities and metropolitan areas over the last two decades. Studies have been conducted on large cities, such as Paris (Barles, 2009;Kim and Barles, 2012), Stockholm (Rosado et al, 2016) and Singapore (Schulz, 2007), intermediate cities like Rennes and Le Mans in France (Bahers et al, 2018) and metropolitan areas like the Brussels Capital Region (Athanassiadis et al, 2016) and Los Angeles county (Ngo and Pataki, 2008). The metabolic profiles of several port-cities have also been analyzed including Amsterdam (Voskamp et al, 2017), Hamburg (Hammer et al, 2003), Gothenburg (Rosado et al, 2016) and Lisbon (Rosado et al, 2014).…”

The “Metal-Energy-Construction Mineral” Nexus in the Island Metabolism: The Case of the Extractive Economy of New Caledonia

“…We chose MFA to assess the trajectory of intra and extra-island flows by quantifying them, but also by spatializing them. This method also makes it possible to characterize stocks and material consumption by measuring flows of materials and energy entering the island, which are transformed and disposed of [45][46][47]. In addition, previous research has demonstrated the value of using MFA to understand resources nexus [21,48].…”

Vulnérabilité métabolique et potentialités des milieux insulaires. Le cas de l’île de Ndzuwani (Anjouan), archipel des Comores

“…), ce qui est très peu abordé par ce registre d'études. En effet, l'AFM nécessite, dans la plupart des cas, un croisement de nombreuses bases de données (Bahers, Barles, Durand, 2019). Comment établir une méthode de quantification des flux de matière et d'énergie lorsqu'une majorité des activités économiques est exercée par des acteurs informels ?…”