From flows to workflows: integrating spatially explicit urban metabolism assessment techniques into the urban landscape infrastructure planning process

Luciano Brina; Lynette Cheah

doi:10.1007/s44498-026-00056-6

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From flows to workflows: integrating spatially explicit urban metabolism assessment techniques into the urban landscape infrastructure planning process

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

From flows to workflows: integrating spatially explicit urban metabolism assessment techniques into the urban landscape infrastructure planning process

Luciano Brina and Lynette Cheah

Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol.Advanced access

13-May-2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s44498-026-00056-6

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Abstract

industrial ecology

landscape architecture

urban planning

geographic information science

landscape

socio-economic metabolism

urban metabolism

The operational convergence between urban metabolism (UM) and urban landscape infrastructure planning (ULIP) can contribute to the informed visualization, spatialization, implementation, evaluation and maintenance of nature-based solutions, circular and climate-sensitive designs, and virtuous urban food-water-carbon nexuses. However, such integration remains underdeveloped and unstructured due to dissonances regarding spatial scales of analysis and intervention, unclear operational entry points of each party along the planning process, and divergent standpoints concerning the role of quali-quantitative landscape metabolism data. To bridge these gaps, we present a comprehensive yet open-ended workflow aiming to overcome critical shortcomings of UM and ULIP: lack of common data visualization cultures; arbitrariness implementing UM data into resource-aware planning decisions; and deficient sociometabolic scenario building capabilities. It does so by identifying shared interpretations of space, spatiality and spatialization ; suitable spatial scales of interdisciplinary collaboration; and UM concepts, frameworks, models and instruments applicable to each stage of said process, emphasizing [geo]spatial and visually explicit, geographic information science-reliant approaches. This paper uses 52 records retrieved through a bias-aware, iterative bibliometric analysis using the Web of Science Core Collection (years 2015 to 2025), in accordance with the PRISMA Statement 2020.

Details

Title: From flows to workflows: integrating spatially explicit urban metabolism assessment techniques into the urban landscape infrastructure planning process
Authors: Luciano Brina - Singapore University of Technology and Design
Lynette Cheah (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
Publication details: Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol.Advanced access
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc.
DOI: 10.1007/s44498-026-00056-6
ISSN: 1530-9290
Copyright note: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Data Availability: The data that support the findings of this study is available as Supporting Information.
Organisation Unit: School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991231424702621
Output Type: Journal article

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