A taxonomy of cities - using urban typologies to understand the infrastructural dynamics of the UK heat supply

该博士研究项目涉及使用城市代谢框架探索英国城市的资源需求；这包括对城市能源、水、材料和粮食需求的驱动因素及其与当地基础设施的关系的调查。这项研究将使用有机体比喻来评估英国城市，发展城市地区的“分类学”。当考虑到不断变化的建筑/技术存量以及城市形式和区域经济概况时，将开发空间和时间上明确的城市代谢模型。分类学的考虑和这些城市代谢模型将被用于一组选定的英国案例研究城市，以检查未来低碳系统的基础设施变化。本研究将侧重于向无碳供暖方案的过渡，扩大我们对哪些方案最适合英国不同情况的理解。该项目将与选定的英国城市合作，作为验证所开发的代谢谱的案例研究。这些将包括一组不同的案例，具有不同的代谢需求，以服务于各种经济活动和基础设施系统。最终，对这些因素之间的相互关系及其时空动态的探索将为区域向低碳系统过渡的规划提供新的见解。

This doctoral research project involves an exploration of resource requirements in UK cities using the frame of urban metabolism; this involves an investigation of drivers of urban energy, water, material and food demands and their relationship to local infrastructure. This research will evaluate UK cities using the organism metaphor, developing a "taxonomy" of urban areas. When a consideration of changing building/technology stocks are made, along with urban form and regional economic profiles, spatially and temporally explicit urban metabolic models will be developed. Considerations of taxonomy and these urban metabolism models will then be used in a group of selected UK case study cities to examine infrastructural change for the low-carbon systems of the future. This examination will focus on the transition to carbon-free heating options, widening our understanding of which options are most suitable in different UK contexts. The project will involve collaboration with selected UK cities to serve as case studies for the validation of metabolic profiles developed. These will include a diverse set of cases, with varying metabolic needs to serve a variety of economic activities and infrastructure systems. Ultimately the exploration of the interrelationship between these and their temporal and spatial dynamics will enable new insight in planning for regional transitions to low-carbon systems.