The Metabolism of the Industrial City
The Metabolism of the Industrial City
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工业城市的新陈代谢
DOI：
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发表时间：
2002
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
J. Tarr
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
J. Tarr
新陈代谢的概念来自生物学，指的是生物体内的生理过程，这些过程提供有机体所需的能量和营养，作为生命本身的条件。这些过程可以用投入物(阳光、化学能、养分、水和空气)转化为生物质和废物来描述。虽然本质上是一个起源于科学的概念，但我发现它作为理解城市环境历史的一种手段很有用。正如生物需要上述投入一样，城市也是如此。也就是说，没有这些投入，城市就不能存在--城市人需要清洁的空气、水、食物、燃料和建筑产品来生存，而城市工业则需要用于生产的材料。这些材料最初可能来自城市遗址本身，但随着时间的推移，它们越来越多地来自城市腹地甚至更远的地方。也就是说，随着城市的发展，它将其生态足迹延伸到越来越深的腹地。生态学家尤金·奥德姆曾写道，“这座城市是自然和驯化环境中的寄生虫”，因为它不种植食物，空气和水都是污垢。人们还可以注意到，它重塑并消耗了土地。奥德姆观察到，寄生虫“如果杀死或损坏宿主，它的寿命不会很长”。因此，为了让寄生虫生存下来，它必须建立对宿主和自己都有利的交换系统。虽然有些人可能反对将城市描述为环境中的寄生虫，从而引发邪恶城市和自然乡村的古老幽灵，但从纯粹描述性的角度来看，这个概念是正确的。城市确实在消耗他们的环境，除非它们在空气、水和土地资源的消耗方面与其所在地和腹地达到平衡点，否则它们无法生存。2今天，我们把这样的目标称为寻求可持续发展的城市。
The concept of metabolism has been adopted from biology and refers to physiological processes within living things that provide the energy and nutri- ents required by an organism as the conditions of life itself. These processes can be described in terms of the transformation of inputs (sunlight, chemical energy, nutrients, water, and air) into biomass and waste products. While essentially a concept originating in science, I have found it useful as a means to comprehend the environmental history of cities. Just as living things require the inputs mentioned above, so do cities. That is, cities cannot exist without those inputs—urbanites require clean air, water, food, fuel, and construction goods to subsist while urban industries need materials for production pur- poses. These materials may initially come from the area of the urban site itself, but increasingly over time they are derived from the urban hinterland or even farther. That is, as the city grows, it extends its ecological footprint deeper and deeper into its hinterland. The ecologist Eugene Odum has written that "the city is a parasite on the natural and domesticated environments," since it does not grow food, and dirt- ies its air and water. One can also note that it reshapes and consumes the land. Odum observes that a parasite "does not live for very long if it kills or damages its host." Therefore, for a parasite to survive, it must develop systems of exchange that benefit both its host and itself. 1 While some may object to char- acterizing the city as a parasite on the environment, thus raising the ancient specter of the evil city and the natural countryside, from a purely descriptive perspective, the concept is a valid one. Cities do consume their environments and cannot survive unless they reach a point of equilibrium with their sites and their hinterlands in regard to the consumption of air, water, and land resources. 2 Today we call such a goal seeking a sustainable city.