Postgrowth Cities

Urban metabolisms are organized by regulations. These regulations establish who is allowed to use, reuse, process, collect, and dispose of materials in the city, and how.

These regulations are political because they organize how profits and costs are distributed. They are key to explaining why urban growth is still a linear process that exploits nature and labor in areas far from cities.

The project focuses on three material streams: construction, food, and heat. These are the largest such streams circulating in cities today, both as raw materials and as waste. They are also the most essential resources for the survival of urban inhabitants. They are necessary for housing, eating, and heating homes. Currently, only a small fraction of these materials are reused.

We study how regulations are contested, defended, and negotiated by practices that downscale the urban metabolism. We look at movements, collectives, public, private, and civic actors that wish to devise more circular and just ways of using urban materials and the built environment.

UvA researchers