Using spatially explicit commodity flow and truck activity data to map urban material flows

Lih Wei Yeow; Lynette Cheah

doi:10.1111/jiec.12849

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Using spatially explicit commodity flow and truck activity data to map urban material flows

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Using spatially explicit commodity flow and truck activity data to map urban material flows

Lih Wei Yeow and Lynette Cheah

Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol.23(5), pp.1121-1132

2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12849

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Abstract

big data

geographic information systems

industrial ecology

truck driver activity survey

urban metabolism

To analyze and promote resource efficiency in urban areas, it is important to characterize urban metabolism and particularly, material flows. Material flow analysis (MFA) offers a means to capture the dynamism of cities and their activities. Urban-scale MFAs have been conducted in many cities, usually employing variants of the Eurostat methodology. However, current methodologies generally reduce the study area into a "black box," masking details of the complex processes within the city's metabolism. Therefore, besides the aggregated stocks and flows of materials, the movement of materials-often embedded in goods or commodities-should also be highlighted. Understanding the movement and dispersion of goods and commodities can allow for more detailed analysis of material flows. We highlight the potential benefits of using high-resolution urban commodity flows in the context of understanding material resource use and opportunities for conservation. Through the use of geographic information systems and visualizations, we analyze two spatially explicit datasets: (1) commodity flow data in the United States, and (2) Global Positioning System-based commercial vehicle (truck) driver activity data in Singapore. In the age of "big data," we bring advancements in freight data collection to the field of urban metabolism, uncovering the secondary sourcing of materials that would otherwise have been masked in typical MFA studies. This brings us closer to a consumption-based, finer-resolution approach to MFA, which more effectively captures human activities and its impact on urban environments.

Details

Title: Using spatially explicit commodity flow and truck activity data to map urban material flows
Authors: Lih Wei Yeow - Singapore University of Technology and Design
Lynette Cheah (Corresponding Author) - Singapore University of Technology and Design
Publication details: Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol.23(5), pp.1121-1132
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc.
Date published: 2019
DOI: 10.1111/jiec.12849
ISSN: 1530-9290; 1088-1980
Copyright note: © 2019 The Authors. Journal of Industrial Ecology, published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc., on behalf of Yale University. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
Data Availability: The code (in the R programming language) and data used in the analysis of construction material in the United States are available in the Figshare repository via the following link: https://figshare.com/articles/Intotheblackbox2018_zip/6854246.
Grant note: Singapore Ministry of National Development; L2NICTDF1-2016-1 / National Research Foundation, Prime Minister's Office under the Land and Liveability National Innovation Challenge
Organisation Unit: School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991029388102621
Output Type: Journal article