Sustainable Cities on an Interconnected Planet

如果城市要更加环保并希望增加人类福祉，就需要改变它们采购和使用资源的方式。这种转变是困难的，因为城市活动的影响隐藏在远离城市的地方，因为改善城市的一个方面可能会在其他方面产生不可预见的权衡。该研究计划旨在开发创新方法，捕捉当代城市的复杂性，并提供决策支持，以实现可持续的城市未来。鉴于在全球环境变化和资源日益稀缺的背景下，城市人口和经济活动不断聚集，因此，对此类方法的需求至关重要。 加拿大及其他地区的城市没有足够的工具来支持有关其资源使用和环境影响的决策，因为现有的工具：（一）缺乏关于城市资源使用的基线数据;（二）忽视城市活动如何在遥远的地方造成环境变化;（三）难以捕捉城市子系统之间的相互作用（例如农业和水的使用）。因此，这些工具几乎没有应用。 我的长期研究目标（>10年）是开发新的和有用的方法和模型，以诊断和补救复杂的城市可持续性挑战。这项为期五年的探索资助研究计划包括三个目标，旨在解决当前决策支持工具的缺点。 估算城市资源使用的方法：我将开发统计模型来估算个人和家庭的资源使用。有了空间数据，我将把估计扩展到社区和城市。 城市环境影响的空间模型：利用国际贸易和运输网络的数据，我将把第1部分中确定的城市消费与供应城市的工厂、农场和森林联系起来，并估计这些地点的环境影响。可持续的城乡未来（SURF）：我将开发动态模型，以捕捉城市子系统之间的相互作用。公民科学方法将探索长期方案，以优化城市资源利用，并最大限度地减少第2部分确定的城市以外的环境影响。决策者将使用网络工具“次区域资源中心“来探讨这一模式。" 该方案将培训10名HQP。学员将使用数据科学，空间科学和批判社会理论的工具在工程和地理的交界处工作。 这项研究的重点是生物资源-可再生材料和能源来自生物过程-这是必不可少的应对气候变化和资源稀缺。特别是，两种生物资源（粮食、木材）和两种材料（混凝土、钢铁）已经成熟，可以被生物资源替代。试验平台将是大湖大都市，一个庞大的城市和农村地区（包括城市和农村）相互连接的系统。芝加哥、多伦多、蒙特利尔）拥有6000万居民，6万亿加元的经济，巨大的资源需求和环境影响。

Cities need to change how they procure and use resources if they are to be more environmentally friendly and wish to increase human wellbeing. This transition is hard because urban activities have hidden consequences far away from cities and because improving one aspect of a city can have unforeseen tradeoffs in other areas. This research program aims to develop innovative methods that capture the complexities of contemporary cities and provide decision-support to bring about a sustainable urban future. The need for such methods is critical given the continued accumulation of people and economic activity in cities against a backdrop of global environmental change and growing resource scarcity.    Cities in Canada and beyond have inadequate tools to support decisions regarding their resource use and environmental impacts because existing tools: (i) lack baseline data on resource use in cities; (ii) neglect how urban activities cause environmental change at distant locations; and (iii) poorly capture interactions between urban sub-systems (e.g. agriculture and water use). As such, these tools see little application. My long-term research goal (>10 yrs) is to develop novel and useful methods and models to diagnose and remedy complex urban sustainability challenges. This five-year Discovery Grant research program consists of three goals aimed towards addressing the shortcomings of current decision-support tools. Methods to Estimate Resource Use in Cities: I will develop statistical models to estimate resource use by individuals and households. With spatial data, I will scale estimates to the neighbourhood and city. Spatial Models of Environmental Impacts of Cities: With data on international trade and transport networks, I will connect urban consumption determine in Part 1 to the factories, farms, and forests that supply cities, and estimate environmental impacts at these locations. Sustainable Urban-Rural Futures (SURF): I will develop dynamic models to capture interactions between urban sub-systems. A citizen science approach will explore long-term scenarios to optimize urban resource use and minimize environmental impacts outside the city determined in Part 2. Decision-makers will explore the model using a web-tool, "SURF."    This program will train 10 HQPs. Trainees will work at the juncture of engineering and geography using tools from data science, spatial science, and critical social theory.    This research focuses on bioresources - renewable materials and energy derived from biological processes - which are essential to combating climate change and resource scarcity. In particular, two bioresources (food, wood) and two materials ripe for substitution by bioresources (concrete, steel). The testbed will be the Great Lake Megalopolis, a massive system of interconnected urban and rural areas (incl. Chicago, Toronto, Montreal) with 60 million residents, a $6 trillion CAD economy, and immense resource demands and environmental impacts.