Sustainable Cities on an Interconnected Planet

如果城市想要更加环保，并希望增加人类福祉，就需要改变它们获取和使用资源的方式。这种转变很困难，因为城市活动在远离城市的地方产生了隐藏的后果，而且改善城市的一个方面可能会在其他领域产生意想不到的权衡。这项研究计划旨在开发创新的方法，捕捉当代城市的复杂性，并为实现可持续的城市未来提供决策支持。鉴于在全球环境变化和资源日益稀缺的背景下，城市中的人口和经济活动不断积累，因此对这种方法的需求至关重要。加拿大及其他地区的许多城市没有足够的工具来支持关于其资源使用和环境影响的决策，因为现有的工具：(1)缺乏关于城市资源使用的基线数据；(2)忽视城市活动如何导致遥远地点的环境变化；以及(3)没有很好地捕捉城市子系统(例如农业和水使用)之间的相互作用。因此，这些工具几乎看不到应用。我的长期研究目标(10年)是开发新的有用的方法和模型来诊断和补救复杂的城市可持续发展挑战。这项为期五年的探索赠款研究计划由三个目标组成，旨在解决目前决策支持工具的缺点。估算城市资源利用的方法：我将开发统计模型来估算个人和家庭的资源利用。有了空间数据，我会根据社区和城市进行估计。城市环境影响的空间模型：根据国际贸易和交通网络的数据，我将把第一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。可持续城乡未来(SURF)：我将开发动态模型来捕捉城市子系统之间的相互作用。公民科学的方法将探索长期情景，以优化城市资源利用，并将第二部分确定的对城市以外环境的影响降至最低。决策者将使用网络工具SURF探索该模型。该项目将培训10名HQP。学员将使用数据科学、空间科学和批判性社会理论的工具，在工程学和地理学的交界处工作。这项研究的重点是生物资源-可再生材料和来自生物过程的能源-对于应对气候变化和资源稀缺至关重要。特别是，两种生物资源(食物、木材)和两种可被生物资源取代的材料(混凝土、钢铁)。试验床将是大湖大城市，一个巨大的城乡互联系统(包括。芝加哥、多伦多、蒙特利尔)，拥有6000万居民，6万亿加元的经济，以及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.