Pistoni and Bonin City Territ Archit (2017) 4:20

[Link]

CASE STUDY Open Access

Urban metabolism planning

and designing approaches
between quantitative analysis and urban
landscape
Roberta Pistoni1* and Sophie Bonin2

Abstract
Introduction: Nowadays, urban metabolism (UM) is believed to provide new insights for more sustainable resource
management in cities and their hinterlands. UM studies, however, focalize chiefly on quantitative resource input
and output (e.g. energy, materials) and tend to neglect the element of space and the qualitative characteristics of
the urban landscape. This paper explores the use of UM as a basis for planning and design, focusing on the design
process and on landscape configuration, in an attempt to bridge the gap between such an approach and the percep-
tions of urban inhabitants.
Case description: Two case studies on the metropolitan scale based on UM quantification which aim to develop
projects that can improve urban sustainability are analyzed: the International Architecture Biennale of Rotterdam and
the Amsterdam Urban Pulse project. Subsequently, De Ceuvel is explored, an experimental neighborhood in Amster-
dam that deployed the UM approach to develop a participatory design and implementation process.
Discussion and Evaluation: The method consists in a case study analysis centered on field work, document analysis,
and semi-structured interviews with the designers involved, while the inhabitants’ points of view are also polled on
the neighborhood scale.
Conclusions: The key results highlight how the UM approach can be integrated with spatial design in two different
ways, according to the scales implicated. On the metropolitan scale, UM provides a means of identifying key locations
and proposing interventions that can improve a city’s global metabolism. On the scale of the neighborhood, however,
the UM approach aims to close the energy and material cycles on the design plot, though without necessarily con-
necting the neighborhood to the city network.
Keywords: Netherlands, Resource management, Urban landscape, Inhabitant, Perception, Designers, Sustainability

Background fossil fuels, climate change, and increasing pollution has

Since the publication of “Our Common future” in 1987 highlighted the need for more efficient and sustainable
(Commission and on Environment and Development resource management.
1987), the importance of sustainable development has The awareness that the problems that we are facing
been broadly recognized. Nowadays increasing urbani- today cannot be solved solely with technological solu-
zation and the concomitant problems of the depletion of tions is becoming increasingly widespread (Pahl-Wostl
2007) and it is now realized that planning for a sustain-
able future presents a major challenge for both research
*Correspondence: [Link]@ecole‑[Link] and practice (Vandevyvere and Stremke 2012).
1
LAREP, École Nationale Supérieure de Paysage de Versailles- Meanwhile, the links between sustainable resource
AgroParisTech, 10, Rue du Maréchal‑Joffre, 78000 Versailles, France
Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
management and spatial planning have been recognized

© The Author(s) 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
([Link] which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license,
and indicate if changes were made.
Pistoni and Bonin City Territ Archit (2017) 4:20 Page 2 of 11

(Agudelo-Vera et al. 2011), and the fact that the spatial “Écosystème Urbs” (Duvigneaud and Denaeyer-De Smet
organization of cities and regions and their infrastruc- 1977) in Brussels, shows how the large quantity of rain-
tures influence resource management practices has been water runoff pouring into sewers is due to “the predomi-
acknowledged (Bélanger 2009). nance of stone or other hard and impermeable materials,
Urban metabolism (UM) is a concept, directly bor- as against soft and water-permeable soil”.1
rowed from biology and biochemistry and applied to The recognition of the connection between the spa-
urban studies (Wachsmuth 2012), that today suggests tial component of urban flow and the characteristics of
new paths towards city sustainability (Castán-Broto et al. the urban landscape opens up new paths for the UM
2012). approach to planning and design. UM is thus shifting
The history of the expression Urban Metabolism itself from a descriptive picture, affording a global understand-
shows that what is at stake here is the advent of the ing of how an urban system works to a planning and
environmental sciences—and not only engineering— design tool capable of providing operational strategies
in a field that was until now mainly political. The field for more sustainable urban development (Kennedy et al.
of urban thinking has been dominated by social ideol- 2011).
ogy or at best by concerns such as safety and hygiene, or The need to escape the “black box” city model neglect-
socio-economic organization (e.g. resource proximity); in ing urban networks that has long characterized UM stud-
brief, considerations developed by humans for humans. ies (Zhang 2013), recognizes the role of designers such as
It is hard not to see this as an outcome of Patrick Ged- landscape architects and urban planners in understand-
des’ thinking about the city as a living organism or of the ing resource flows in connection with land use and spa-
ideas of Christopher Alexander, which, if formulated dif- tial quality regulations (Pincetl et al. 2012). In this regard,
ferently, possess similar resonances (Batty and Marshall the FP7 project BRIDGE has developed a decision sup-
2017). For urban metabolism thinking, however, the con- port system factoring in UM principles that inform the
sequences of these ideas may emerge as the polar oppo- planning process (Chrysoulakis et al. 2013).
site what urban organicists advocated: not to privilege UM studies have chiefly been developed on the wider
vernacular or spontaneous processes, but, on the con- regional or metropolitan scale (Niza et al. 2009; Barles
trary, to pilot, in accordance with scientific models, the 2009), with only a handful of analyses on the local scale
future of urban forms. Though this rather overdraws the (Codoban and Kennedy 2008), mainly because of dif-
distinction between top-down and bottom-up policies in ficulties in data accessibility (Codoban and Kennedy
urban planning and design, the following case studies will 2008). Analyses on the metropolitan and wider scales are
help to rethink these positions in their complexity. important for the general orientation and the definition
Developed in 1965 (Wolman 1965), UM describes the of strategies for the city. At the same time, the neighbor-
impact of the urban system on the environment and hood has a role to play in improving the metabolism of
is defined as the total sum of processes for which cities the city at large (Kennedy et al. 2005), because it remains
mobilize, consume, and transform the resources they the scale on which projects are implemented concretely.
need to function and develop, together with the resultant Energy and material flows exist in cities, interacting to
waste and pollution (Barles 2008). create economical and societal patterns as well as spatial
Urban metabolism has been primarily been deployed and geographical patterns (Perrotti and Pouteau 2013).
to calculate the amount of input and output of selected Models for flow management might be modified in
resources (e.g. energy, raw materials, water, phospho- keeping with energy transition and sustainability issues
rus), using increasingly defined methods (e.g. Eurostat addressing from a new perspective, for example, in terms
2001) and commonly with no account taken of the spa- of waste recycling, the circular economy, energy and
tial dimension (Kennedy et al. 2007) or the urban land- resource savings, renewable energy production, etc. The
scape in general. Furthermore, referring to landscape as impact of such modifications will influence urban form
defined by the European Landscape Convention (Council (amenities, infrastructure), which is a key factor in any
of Europe 2000), we use urban because the context of our effort to consider or understand the extent of the trans-
inquiry consists of densely built-up areas (Berque 2006). formation envisaged. In this context this research aims to
Thinking about UM in the context of the urban landscape analyze the planning and design process on two scales of
would thus make it possible to address the form of a city projects advocating conscious resource management on
from the perspective of its spatial organization (Sanson the basis of an urban metabolism quantitative model so
2007).
The relation between flow quantity and the nature of
the city in question is addressed in only a few studies. To 1
“[L]a dominance de la pierre ou des matériaux durs et imperméables sur
la terre molle et perméable à l’eau”. Duvigneaud and Denaeyer-De Smet
give one example, Duvigneaud, in his study of the (1977), p 581.
Pistoni and Bonin City Territ Archit (2017) 4:20 Page 3 of 11

as to improve urban sustainability. The landscape config- A group of stakeholders studied the metabolism of
uration of these projects is similarly questioned, in order Rotterdam (Tillie et al. 2014), quantifying several types
to investigate the role and perception of the inhabitants of flow (goods, people, waste, biota, energy, food, fresh-
as end-users. water, etc.). This methodology opened up the abovemen-
As an exercise in bridging the gap, employing complex tioned “black box”, with the addition of several maps that
quantitative models and integrating the perceptions and represent the flows constituting Rotterdam’s network
participation of the inhabitants calls for further inquiry, through its infrastructure spatially. These maps, however,
since modifications in energy, technology, and spatial remain highly abstract and geometric, and features of the
management/planning choices brought by energy tran- land (water, land, relief, etc.) are not evident (Fig. 1). We
sition impact directly on the living environment of the discern a focus on the flows that backgrounds the other
inhabitants, as well as on their social norms and ways of characteristics of the area, despite the importance of
life. Contrariwise, the perception of both the issues and these features for adequate spatial planning and design.
the solutions that need to be developed also influences If the descriptive features of the area are lost in the flow
the options mentioned above and therefore the changes map on the metropolitan scale, they reappear at the level
affecting the living environment. of the project site. Indeed, even if flow analysis takes little
account of the land features, it can still lead to the devel-
Three case studies on two scales in the Netherlands opment of new planning and design principles that mod-
The research analyses case studies (Francis 2001) on the ify the landscape, at least in that it inserts new elements
metropolitan scale in Rotterdam and Amsterdam and on into the city.
the neighborhood scale in the latter city. The goal is to Combined with the flow maps, UM quantification has
highlight differences and similarities in how projects can improved the understanding of the geothermal poten-
be developed and in their finalities. A protocol (Kauf- tial of the region and demonstrated the extent of energy
mann 2011; Bryman 2012) has been set up that frames waste in the harbor. In consequence, technical ele-
semi-structured interviews with the designers involved ments have been designed, called Heat Hubs, which act
on the scales of the metropolis (architect/urban planner, as switch points for residual heat from the harbor and
landscape architect) and neighborhood (architect, land- produces geothermal heat (Brugmans and Strien 2014).
scape architect), to which are added an environmental Located in the city in a regular square grid (Fig. 2), closer
engineer, involved on the neighborhood scale. examination of the insertion of the Heat Hubs in the city
These professionals were questioned on the reasons shows that designers have adapted them as public ameni-
for setting up this sort of project, about the processes ties. For example, a Heat Hub near a sports center also
involved, and on how collaboration is directed within the functions as a sports facility (Fig. 3). The visibility and
project team and the kinds of knowledge bases and skills use of these new technical facilities designed to ensure
applied. Furthermore, ten semi-structured interviews a more circular management of energy in the city is
were undertaken with the inhabitants on the scale of the also believed to promote better understanding and even
district. This number was decided upon after a measure raise awareness among the inhabitants of the problem of
of redundancy was detected in the answers. The inter- urban resource management. As an architect interviewed
views were undertaken in English. The findings from the argued regarding the design of the Heat Hubs: “You use
interviews were triangulated with field study observa- it, it’s your infrastructure, it’s not from a faraway com-
tions and design document analyses, such as studies and pany that does some mystical stuff and sends you the bill.
planning and design reports. You can actually use it every day, if you want to, it’s an
The choice of the Netherlands was motivated by that open public space” (D1).
country’s enduring tradition of spatial planning and From the point of view of design methodology the
design (Buitelaar and Bregman 2016) and by the fact that designers also highlight how “the design part of the pro-
the perspectives of energy transition and sustainability cess wasn’t very different from what we normally do, the
are there actively encouraged by the public authorities difference being the starting point: the analysis of flows”
through urban experimental projects (Masboungi 2016). (D1). The flow analysis maps help them focalize on quan-
titative aspects that are not necessarily central to the
Metropolitan scale and local landscape effects: diagnostic processes normally rolled out by designers
increasing visibility for raising awareness (architect, planner, etc.) that usually focus more on mor-
We first analyze the “International Architecture Biennale phology, topography, land use, etc. In this respect, urban
of Rotterdam” (IABR) of 2014, Urban by Nature, which metabolism is perceived as an element in the project
employed UM-related analysis in developing an urban that can strength the role of designers who are not there
design. “just to make nice places” (D1), but who might “make a
Pistoni and Bonin City Territ Archit (2017) 4:20 Page 4 of 11

Fig. 1 Rotterdam metropolitan region energy flow map (Source: Tillie et al. (2014), pp 50–1)

meaningful link between science, engineering and spatial spatio-temporal data availability and utility. This data are
design” (D1). not translated into visible spatialized maps.
The second project analyzed is the ongoing “Amster- As one of the landscape architects interviewed involved
dam Urban Pulse: Understanding the dynamics of remarked: “if we really want to design, it [UM] needs to
resources flows in Amsterdam”. This kick-off project by have spatial references, but also temporal references. We
Advanced Metropolitan Solutions Institute (AMS) in have to know when flows are there and when they are not
Amsterdam started in 2014 and is coordinated by Wage- there” (D2). For the landscape architects the advantage
ningen University and developed by academic, public, of having designers involved in the process is to reflect
and private partners. on what closing the cycles might mean in terms of how
The project studies Amsterdam’s UM through adapted housing, and more generally the urban landscape, might
“Material Flow Analysis” (MAF), in order to detail appear, when “working technically, but also esthetically
improved quantitative methods for improved sustainable and socially, and landscape architects can help bring
urban resource management (Voskamp et al. 2016b). At those aspects into metabolism” (D2). However, the com-
the same time, it also inquired into space–time infor- plexity of the challenge emerges with the understand-
mation analysis (Voskamp et al. 2016a), with the goal of ing that collaboration between experts and the use of
identifying the kinds of data that might provide planners improved technical knowhow is a fundamental prereq-
and designers with meaningful information for imple- uisite. Designers can help to engage the inhabitants as
menting urban projects. end-users of the city by considering “how new solutions
The Landscape Architecture Group at Wageningen impact on people’s daily life and how people might inte-
University is involved in the coordination and devel- grate it into their lifestyles” (D2). Here we found that the
opment of the project by bringing a planning and spatial component in the form of data analysis and the
design perspective, even though it is related more to preoccupation of urban landscape effects is linked in the
Pistoni and Bonin City Territ Archit (2017) 4:20 Page 5 of 11

Fig. 2 Heat Hubs grid in Rotterdam (Source: Tillie et al. (2014), pp 108–9)

Fig. 3 Heat Hub with a sport public function (Source: Fabric [Link]
Pistoni and Bonin City Territ Archit (2017) 4:20 Page 6 of 11

discourse of the designers with the topic of the inhabit-

ants’ awareness of resource management.
The purpose of these two projects was the same: to
improve the UM of the city through careful planning
and design for resource management and to advocate the
importance of the contributions of designers. However,
the projects differ in terms of process. The one in Amster-
dam forms part of an academic debate, the method devel-
oped in the MFA affording a “scientific” credibility to the
study. On the other hand, the Rotterdam project, as part
of an architecture biennial, caters primarily for designers
and for the public, where communication and graphics
are central. This variance in approach also derives from
the different actors involved. Researchers with an exper-
tise in landscape architecture for Amsterdam Urban Fig. 4 Overview of De Ceuvel neighborhood (Source: Photo R. Pistoni
Pulse and designer offices for the Rotterdam project— April 2015)
though both act in collaboration with technical experts.
Nevertheless, for example, neither project studies in any
depth the influence on the quantities of resource that can
sustain urban life of urban form—such as the typology of As a result the neighborhood presents some particular
the building stock, an aspect that strongly characterizes characteristics, such as offices in old boats retrofitted in
the urban landscape. accordance with high efficiency standards (insulation,
Another common feature is that designers emphasize etc.) (Metaboliclab 2013) and placed on polluted non-
the importance of inhabitant perception of and involve- accessible land, where a phytoremediation system, called
ment in the urban landscape as something to be taken the “forbidden garden” designed by landscape architects
into account. has been set in train (Fig. 4). Access to the boat-offices is
ensured by an elevated walkway, through which also run
A participative urban metabolism project: local electricity cables and water supplies. Photovoltaic panels
scale and singular landscape creation in conjunction with solar thermal collectors on the boats’
The case analyzed on the neighborhood scale is De roofs supply renewable energy. Due to its exceptional sta-
Ceuvel: an experimental project developed in the Buik- tus as a “living lab” the neighborhood requires no sewers;
sloterham district in the north of Amsterdam. This small water is processed through the largely green and per-
neighborhood is one of the pilot projects for the creation meable soil, while the grey waters are cleaned by a bio-
of a “Circular Buiksloterham”. In this project, the “UM filtration system and dispersed into the ground (Fig. 5).
scan” diagnostic served as a starting point to understand Dry toilets are the norm and there is a specific area where
the current situation and to develop an UM quantifica- waste is collected to produce compost.
tion project able to pilot a design action plan for sustain- The processes designed to achieve improved UM are
ably redeveloping the area in 2034 (Gladek et al. 2015). different from those explored on the urban scale: here,
De Ceuvel is a small office neighborhood. With a small direct action is key, creating and experimenting with the
budget and with occupancy limited to 10 years, the point spatial design in response to local characteristics and
of departure here was planning for the conscious and sus- resources, and not in consequence of top-down exper-
tainable management of available resources, with the aim tise. This is a process of “design du faire”, as defined by
of ensuring their use and production became as circular Stéphane Vial (2010): “To do design is not only to think
as possible on the plot scale: “so to reuse, to produce on about doing; it is also doing for thinking”.2 The results of
the spot was a good idea” (D3). However, potential syner- such design activity become a form of knowledge, both in
gies with the rest of the city do not seem to have been a terms of the physical modification of the locality and as a
matter of concern. mental and conceptual construct (Viganò 2010).
The project was the result of pooling the expertise of For instance, the architect explains that “the first time
environmental engineers, landscape architects, and I came here it was just green and we thought it was so
architects, together with the participation of the future nice” (D3), but, since the ground was polluted, it was
users who were effectively “preselected” from among cre-
ative professionals engaged in sustainability and involved 2
“Faire du design, ce n’est pas seulement penser pour faire, c’est aussi faire
in constructing their own office environment. pour penser”. Vial (2010), p 90.
Pistoni and Bonin City Territ Archit (2017) 4:20 Page 7 of 11

(Pistoni 2016), “where boats float in a green sea” (D4), “so

different from the rest of the city” (H8), as was pointed
out by both designers and occupants.
In order to study the end-user viewpoint with respect
to the UM approach as it relates to their living environ-
ment and lifestyle we polled the inhabitants of De Ceuvel
and analyzed their responses. Several themes emerged:
(a) the relationship with the environment, (b) perceptions
of the locality, (c) modifications in habitual behavior with
respect to resource management. The remarks quoted
are representative of the chief lines of thought shared by
the interviewees.
The first finding is that users of De Ceuvel identify and
relate strongly to their neighborhood. They are proud
Fig. 5 Grey water bio-filter box outside an office-boat (Source: Photo of the living environment they helped create and which
R. Pistoni April 2015) reflects their need to build a more sustainable world and
to enjoy being part of something that might contribute
to a more sustainable way of life. [“It is like a glimpse of
what a sustainable future will look like” (H6), “Here you
not possible to walk on it and it would have been expen-
have the feeling of making a successful difference” (H4)].
sive simply to cover it over. Furthermore, such a solu-
When we questioned the users as to what was most
tion would compromise “the whole green atmosphere”
visible in resource management, they mostly focalized
(D3). So the landscape architect came up with the idea
on the boats [“the boats of course on land!” (H7)] and
of phytoremediation in order “to use the pollution on the
the compost area where waste from the dry toilets is col-
ground as an opportunity of doing something green and
lected [“you can see these big beans” (H3)]. If the inhab-
circular” (D3).
itants did not particularly stress the plants depolluting
This approach has brought with it a measure of dys-
the land, we found this aspect highlighted by designers
function, however. For example, in the shape of a wavy
[“phytoremediation, the cleaning of the soil, and you can
line, the elevated walkway was also designed to house
see it very well, and where it is, not excavating, not cover-
electricity cable and fresh water ducts, so that the
ing it, as it normally does, and it’s a circular things for us.
increased length owing to its sinuous form was not an
Try to get something that’s very linear, like taking away
especially efficient solution (Fig. 6).
soil, more circular” (D4)]. They also emphasized water
The result of this process, designed from the outset to
management.
achieve resource circularity, is a peculiar urban landscape
If the landscape is perceived as positive and described
as pleasant by all the interviewees [“as you can see, it is
such a fabulous place!” (H8)], above all it is the signifi-
cance of these spatial forms and the processes by with
they were created that make the living environment really
special for the users [“I enjoy this landscape, I’m even
proud, because I know where it comes from and I’m part
of its implementation” (H9)].
Furthermore, none of the interviewees affirmed that
changing their habits in the neighborhood bothered
them. Uppermost in most minds is the need to empty the
dry toilet and carry its content to the compost area [“At
the beginning, it’s just a bit weird, everybody laughs, but
after a while, it just becomes normal” H6]. A few talk also
about having to place their desk close to the window in
order not to waste electricity.
They are all aware of the resource management system
Fig. 6 Loop of the elevated walkway among the office-boat (Source:
and some also complain about several aspects that need
Photo R. Pistoni April 2015)
to be improved: “we use water that goes into the grey
Pistoni and Bonin City Territ Archit (2017) 4:20 Page 8 of 11

water filtration system and after it’s cleaned it goes to the to most other urban project situations and difficult to
ground. But we can’t use it again in the boat! It’s not cir- implement politically and economically.
cular yet!” (H7). A sum up of the results has been developed in order
Project appropriation by the users is the basis of the to schematize the three cases study contribution (see
success of the neighborhood design and implementation, Table 1).
while their appreciation and emotional relationship with
the living environment has led to a virtuous loop of good What might be learned from the urban metabolism
practice in terms of resource management. approach?
The exemplary character of De Ceuvel is emphasized Despite the attention given the UM concept and the city
by the visibility of the landscape created. This singular over the last 50 years, stakeholders and designers are only
urban landscape has made the principles and strategies recently beginning to embrace it for guiding projects. The
for UM improvement concrete and sharable. Such aes- progressive acknowledgement of urban environmental
thetic materialization is perceived as positive by users problems has turned the spotlight on UM as an opera-
who want to “educate other people and spread the word” tional base for sustainable urban design, even if its practi-
(H7), in the hope “that somebody will be able to make cal applications remain few.
such places somewhere else” (H10). The majority, how- In conclusion, it is clear that the more technical logic
ever, recognize that “people have to get used to this kind of UM in regards the planning and design process can be
of systems before being able to use it on a bigger scale” integrated in two different ways depending on the scale
(H6). of its application. On the metropolitan scale, the under-
This is a point also shared by the designers who argued standing of spatial/pattern flows in an urban system can
for the reproducibility of the principles implemented in afford a general sense of where such projects might be
De Ceuvel in other locations: “it was quite easy, because advantageously located. The project, in this case, envis-
there are many people who think in this way” (D4). ages networking various sites to improve the metabolism
Indeed, the de facto selection of users and the fact that it of the whole city.
is a working area where people do not live day and night On the other hand, on the scale of the district, the rela-
create a favorable context. tionship with the rest of the city, though referred to, is
With regard to the users, the designers agreed that not developed further. UM is rolled out to develop flow
the process was one of the major characteristics of the circularity on the plot, but without a clear and planned
project, even if they are of the opinion that UM has not relation with other metropolitan areas. It is though cru-
really offered any new tools: “it’s more a way of thinking” cial to implement such projects with due consideration of
(D4). They focus on how UM might consolidate their role the scale, because in the urban system every zone is con-
when intervening on a project. “What we think is that the nected and the creation of a new district impacts directly
aesthetics comes from a functional basis, so we have this on the metabolism of the entire city.
metabolic argument now about circularity that is very From the landscape angle, when applied on the local
strong, very logical” (D4). This point of view is shared by scale in an urban landscape, the impact of UM—a techni-
the engineer, who points out that “it’s important that they cal phenomenon—is remarkable, in the case of the Heat
[the designers] serve more than the goal of the design Hubs, and even more so with the De Ceuvel neighbor-
only” (E1) and that they add sustainability and efficiency. hood. This singularity testifies to changes in resource
Designers perceived co-construction with users posi- management. As regards UM, project implementation
tively: “everybody was enthusiastic during the building also entails conscious resource management predicated
process!” (D3). This highlights how one of the aspects on collaboration between several areas of competence.
that has helped the project become successful was “to Technical expertise is required to formulate technologi-
keep close to their [the end-users’] needs and to have as cal solutions, undertake quantitative calculations, and
a goal comfort too, even in connection to circular think- produce designs, so to translate these findings into aes-
ing” (D4). The landscape architect added that the par- thetic form so as to forge links with society.
ticipation process helped “to make them very conscious Besides the designers, both architect and landscape
about circular flows and the different systems used to architect, do not perceive this approach as altering their
manage them” (E1). practice substantially, but rather as a tool for furnish-
In conclusion, the ephemeral character of the project ing additional information. Furthermore, this technique
is a positive aspect of this laboratory of virtuous urban forces them to think in terms of synergies across flows,
living, since it is reversible and has made little impact locations, technologies, and scales. As a consequence,
on the land and soil. The paradox is that, because of this UM calls for increasingly deep knowledge of and special-
very fact, as a model the project appears hard to transfer ization in the management of the different resources.
 Pistoni and Bonin City Territ Archit (2017) 4:20

Table 1 Synthesis of the cases study, results from a landscape architecture perspective
Rotterdam the urban metabolism Amsterdam urban pulse Amsterdam De Ceuvel

Scale Metropolitan Metropolitan Neighborhood

Context Projects atelier—IABR-2014 Research project—AMS-started 2014 Neighborhood construction. Started 2013,
implemented
Methodology Interviews (architect/urban planner), produced Interview (landscape architect), produced docu- Interview (landscape architect, environmental
documents analysis (reports, maps etc.) ments analysis (reports, papers etc.) engineer, architect, 10 inhabitants), produced
documents analysis (Reports, papers etc.)
Filed works observation
Assessment from a landscape architecture Flow maps Spatiotemporal data for planners/designers Peculiar urban form/landscape linked with
perspective Heat Hub as public amenities ecological lifestyle
Inhabitant implication
Exemplarity of an experimental project
Gaps from a landscape architecture perspective Focus flows and lack of territory characteristic Difficulties to integrate the spatial component Ephemeral
Hard to transfer/reproduce (favorable environ-
ment)
Page 9 of 11
Pistoni and Bonin City Territ Archit (2017) 4:20 Page 10 of 11

On the neighborhood scale, such a participatory Acknowledgements

The materials has been collected during a research period in the LAR group at
project may prove a valuable aid in implementing the Wageningen University (Netherlands) under the supervision of Sven Stremke
approach, though we argue that it chiefly functioned and Daniela Perrotti. We thank them for the support. This research has been
thanks to the quality of the environment and the type of the base for a Ph.D. project now ongoing, directed by LAREP-ENSP and
LAR-WU.
end user involved. Nevertheless, this case study has fore-
grounded three major principles key to renewed urban- Competing interests
ism: the necessity of seeking end-user adhesion early on The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
in the project process; the richness of ephemeral occupa- Availability of data and materials
tions as demonstrations; and finally the ability of a mod- The data are available upon request to the authors.
est and singular project to further awareness in more
Consent for publication
ecological lifestyles liable to be taken up more broadly. Not applicable.
Both on the metropolitan and neighborhood level the
project benefits from a favorable institutional context Ethics approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.
that permitted experimentation in new resource manage-
ment systems which could never otherwise been legally Funding
put into effect. The absence of sewers in De Ceuvel is a Not applicable.
prime example.
Furthermore, many of the objectives discussed in our Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in pub-
text resurface in the concept of the “sustainable city”, lished maps and institutional affiliations.
offering a new angle on a phenomenon that itself is far
from new. It addresses, among other things, the topic of Received: 9 November 2017 Accepted: 13 December 2017
urban space and resource recycling, the role of nature in
the city, slow mobility, and the appropriation of the city
by the inhabitants through participative practices (Theys
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