Pub Date : 2024-11-11DOI: 10.1038/s42949-024-00181-w
Srijon Barua, Hirohide Kobayashi
Transportation infrastructures often impose a rigid and controlled formation over the organic dynamism of urban areas. This blend of infrastructure and urban context redefines transportation systems beyond their purely functional roles, creating opportunities for new land uses, social interactions in the spaces beneath them. The management and adaptation of these urban void spaces under elevated infrastructure can become either assets or liabilities, particularly under the unique conditions prevalent in the Global South Megacities. Using participatory action research datasets and zoning models, this study explores the spatial relationships between physical infrastructure and its contextually accommodating opportunities. This article highlights how the squatter community under the Tejgaon-Nabisco Flyover in Dhaka, Bangladesh, autonomously organizes and utilizes these spaces, fostering adaptive place-making and developing local economic practices supported by the flyover’s structural elements.
{"title":"Post construction infrastructural adaptation of social practices in Dhaka’s under flyover spaces","authors":"Srijon Barua, Hirohide Kobayashi","doi":"10.1038/s42949-024-00181-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42949-024-00181-w","url":null,"abstract":"Transportation infrastructures often impose a rigid and controlled formation over the organic dynamism of urban areas. This blend of infrastructure and urban context redefines transportation systems beyond their purely functional roles, creating opportunities for new land uses, social interactions in the spaces beneath them. The management and adaptation of these urban void spaces under elevated infrastructure can become either assets or liabilities, particularly under the unique conditions prevalent in the Global South Megacities. Using participatory action research datasets and zoning models, this study explores the spatial relationships between physical infrastructure and its contextually accommodating opportunities. This article highlights how the squatter community under the Tejgaon-Nabisco Flyover in Dhaka, Bangladesh, autonomously organizes and utilizes these spaces, fostering adaptive place-making and developing local economic practices supported by the flyover’s structural elements.","PeriodicalId":74322,"journal":{"name":"npj urban sustainability","volume":" ","pages":"1-12"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42949-024-00181-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142636992","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-03DOI: 10.1038/s42949-024-00186-5
Shijuan Chen, Katie Lund, Colleen Murphy-Dunning, Karen C. Seto
It is well-documented that people of color in the U.S. are disproportionately exposed to extreme urban heat. However, most studies have focused on large cities for one point in time, and less is known about how heat exposure changes over time in smaller cities. Here, we present a study of the changing nature of urban heat exposure and cooling strategies for ten cities in Connecticut in the U.S. Our results show that people of color experience more heat exposure and fewer adaptation strategies. They experienced higher overall temperatures, more extremely hot days, and larger increases in heat exposure. Also, they have lower air conditioning ownership rates and lower tree cover. Taken together, the results indicate that people of color are not only exposed to higher temperatures but also disproportionately exposed to increasing temperatures over time. With lower heat adaptation capacity, people of color are more vulnerable to increasing urban heat.
{"title":"More extremely hot days, more heat exposure and fewer cooling options for people of color in Connecticut, U.S.","authors":"Shijuan Chen, Katie Lund, Colleen Murphy-Dunning, Karen C. Seto","doi":"10.1038/s42949-024-00186-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42949-024-00186-5","url":null,"abstract":"It is well-documented that people of color in the U.S. are disproportionately exposed to extreme urban heat. However, most studies have focused on large cities for one point in time, and less is known about how heat exposure changes over time in smaller cities. Here, we present a study of the changing nature of urban heat exposure and cooling strategies for ten cities in Connecticut in the U.S. Our results show that people of color experience more heat exposure and fewer adaptation strategies. They experienced higher overall temperatures, more extremely hot days, and larger increases in heat exposure. Also, they have lower air conditioning ownership rates and lower tree cover. Taken together, the results indicate that people of color are not only exposed to higher temperatures but also disproportionately exposed to increasing temperatures over time. With lower heat adaptation capacity, people of color are more vulnerable to increasing urban heat.","PeriodicalId":74322,"journal":{"name":"npj urban sustainability","volume":" ","pages":"1-11"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42949-024-00186-5.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142565998","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Adopting Circular Economy practices in the construction industry can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, many barriers exist to adoption, and current perceptions of and willingness to pay for circularity have yet to be quantified. This study seeks to understand the various perceptions of circularity in the construction industry, characterize uncertainties and risks, and identify economic incentives and opportunities that could accelerate circular adoption via an industry survey of three stakeholder groups. 58 stakeholders filled out part of the survey, and 42 stakeholders completed the majority of questions. Real estate developers are willing to pay an average premium of 10% for construction costs if there’s a minimum embodied carbon reduction of 53%. Design and construction professionals and material suppliers were also surveyed. Reasons for adopting circular practices were primarily driven by client, design team, and net zero goals. The results of this survey begin to characterize the economic landscape of what is needed for a circular transition in the built environment.
{"title":"Stakeholders’ perceptions of and willingness to pay for circular economy in the construction sector","authors":"Juliana Berglund-Brown, Akrisht Pandey, Fabio Duarte, Raquel Ganitsky, Randy Kirchain, Siqi Zheng","doi":"10.1038/s42949-024-00182-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42949-024-00182-9","url":null,"abstract":"Adopting Circular Economy practices in the construction industry can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, many barriers exist to adoption, and current perceptions of and willingness to pay for circularity have yet to be quantified. This study seeks to understand the various perceptions of circularity in the construction industry, characterize uncertainties and risks, and identify economic incentives and opportunities that could accelerate circular adoption via an industry survey of three stakeholder groups. 58 stakeholders filled out part of the survey, and 42 stakeholders completed the majority of questions. Real estate developers are willing to pay an average premium of 10% for construction costs if there’s a minimum embodied carbon reduction of 53%. Design and construction professionals and material suppliers were also surveyed. Reasons for adopting circular practices were primarily driven by client, design team, and net zero goals. The results of this survey begin to characterize the economic landscape of what is needed for a circular transition in the built environment.","PeriodicalId":74322,"journal":{"name":"npj urban sustainability","volume":" ","pages":"1-10"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42949-024-00182-9.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142519172","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-10-19DOI: 10.1038/s42949-024-00183-8
Angela Greco, Brian van Laar, Hilde Remøy, Vincent Gruis
Over the past two decades, research promoting a sustainable built environment has pioneered new horizons to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. Yet, these efforts are suffering from a significant theory-practice divide. This article offers three interconnected research themes to bridge this gap: 1. Distinguishing circularity practices across spatial and time scales; 2. Redesigning the value of design and its process; and 3. Learning from sister transitions for acceleration.
{"title":"Accelerating circularity systemically: three directions for impactful research","authors":"Angela Greco, Brian van Laar, Hilde Remøy, Vincent Gruis","doi":"10.1038/s42949-024-00183-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42949-024-00183-8","url":null,"abstract":"Over the past two decades, research promoting a sustainable built environment has pioneered new horizons to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. Yet, these efforts are suffering from a significant theory-practice divide. This article offers three interconnected research themes to bridge this gap: 1. Distinguishing circularity practices across spatial and time scales; 2. Redesigning the value of design and its process; and 3. Learning from sister transitions for acceleration.","PeriodicalId":74322,"journal":{"name":"npj urban sustainability","volume":" ","pages":"1-3"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42949-024-00183-8.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142487190","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-10-11DOI: 10.1038/s42949-024-00184-7
Francesca Rubiconto, Sol Maria Halleck Vega, Eveline S. van Leeuwen
Due to the length and complexity of supply chains, changes in food consumption patterns in one metropolitan region can transform production patterns in other sectors and countries. Therefore, they cause complex synergies and trade-offs between environmental and socioeconomic goals at the local and global level. We argue that the dissemination of cross-scale consumption-based simulation models is crucial to investigate these complex multilevel effects and promote sustainable food systems.
{"title":"Cross-scale consumption-based simulation models can promote sustainable metropolitan food systems","authors":"Francesca Rubiconto, Sol Maria Halleck Vega, Eveline S. van Leeuwen","doi":"10.1038/s42949-024-00184-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42949-024-00184-7","url":null,"abstract":"Due to the length and complexity of supply chains, changes in food consumption patterns in one metropolitan region can transform production patterns in other sectors and countries. Therefore, they cause complex synergies and trade-offs between environmental and socioeconomic goals at the local and global level. We argue that the dissemination of cross-scale consumption-based simulation models is crucial to investigate these complex multilevel effects and promote sustainable food systems.","PeriodicalId":74322,"journal":{"name":"npj urban sustainability","volume":" ","pages":"1-7"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42949-024-00184-7.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142415393","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-10-10DOI: 10.1038/s42949-024-00180-x
Yihan Wang, Wei Pan
Decarbonising the building sector involves collaborative efforts from multiple sectors. Previous studies only focused on carbon mitigation within individual measures, impeding the interconnections within various stages, contributing sectors, and measures. We propose an innovative “stage-sector-measure” framework for evaluating the carbon mitigation effects of the building sector and apply it to Hong Kong. Results show carbon emissions of Hong Kong’s building sector will decrease by 84.4% in 2050. Electricity is the most significant contributing sector, accounting for 71.8% of accumulative mitigation effects of Hong Kong’s building sector. Regarding measures, cleaner production of concrete and steel represents 62.9% of mitigation effects in material production stage, while alternative fuel mix and carbon capture and storage account for 42.2–87.7% of those in other stages. By clarifying the relationships among the stages, contributing sectors, and measures, we identify the mitigation mechanism of the building sector and reveal the significance of multi-sectoral efforts in its decarbonisation.
{"title":"Multi-sectoral efforts are required for decarbonising the building sector: a case in Hong Kong","authors":"Yihan Wang, Wei Pan","doi":"10.1038/s42949-024-00180-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42949-024-00180-x","url":null,"abstract":"Decarbonising the building sector involves collaborative efforts from multiple sectors. Previous studies only focused on carbon mitigation within individual measures, impeding the interconnections within various stages, contributing sectors, and measures. We propose an innovative “stage-sector-measure” framework for evaluating the carbon mitigation effects of the building sector and apply it to Hong Kong. Results show carbon emissions of Hong Kong’s building sector will decrease by 84.4% in 2050. Electricity is the most significant contributing sector, accounting for 71.8% of accumulative mitigation effects of Hong Kong’s building sector. Regarding measures, cleaner production of concrete and steel represents 62.9% of mitigation effects in material production stage, while alternative fuel mix and carbon capture and storage account for 42.2–87.7% of those in other stages. By clarifying the relationships among the stages, contributing sectors, and measures, we identify the mitigation mechanism of the building sector and reveal the significance of multi-sectoral efforts in its decarbonisation.","PeriodicalId":74322,"journal":{"name":"npj urban sustainability","volume":" ","pages":"1-12"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42949-024-00180-x.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142415424","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The mismanagement of waste is jeopardizing urban sustainability. Although polycentric waste governance (PWG) has been introduced, characterizing the PWG remains challenging. This paper employs game theory to illustrate polycentricity by investigating the equilibrium state from the stakeholders’ perspective. Shanghai, Tokyo, and Hong Kong are selected as target cities for comparative analysis. The findings reveal the heterogeneous characteristics in three megacities’ PWG—the collaboration by principal stakeholders (formal recyclers, informal recyclers, households) in Shanghai, the exclusion of informal recyclers in Tokyo, and the limited contribution provided by the formal recyclers in Hong Kong. The divergent PWG characteristics can be attributed to variations in governance patterns, socioeconomic factors, and policy formulation. Regarding urban sustainability, Tokyo and Shanghai’s PWG contribute to the circular economy’s expansion, while Hong Kong’ potential, in this regard, is undervalued. Despite Tokyo’s improved social recognition to practitioners, this PWG mode, primarily driven by formal recyclers and households, presents limited inclusion of low-income groups. Additionally, it is crucial for the authorities in Shanghai and Hong Kong to acknowledge the potential pollution of informal recyclers’ non-environmental behavior. This paper offers a valuable model for characterizing and analyzing PWG across different cities, facilitating knowledge aggregation and the implementation of PWG practice.
{"title":"Characterizing the polycentricity in waste governance: a comparative study on Shanghai, Tokyo, and Hong Kong","authors":"Xinyu Hao, Liang Dong, Xuepeng Qian, Steuer Benjamin, Hongzhou Wang, Peixiu Chen, Xiaofei Wang, Wenting Ma, Jiaying Li, Xin Tong, Xiaoling Zhang","doi":"10.1038/s42949-024-00179-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42949-024-00179-4","url":null,"abstract":"The mismanagement of waste is jeopardizing urban sustainability. Although polycentric waste governance (PWG) has been introduced, characterizing the PWG remains challenging. This paper employs game theory to illustrate polycentricity by investigating the equilibrium state from the stakeholders’ perspective. Shanghai, Tokyo, and Hong Kong are selected as target cities for comparative analysis. The findings reveal the heterogeneous characteristics in three megacities’ PWG—the collaboration by principal stakeholders (formal recyclers, informal recyclers, households) in Shanghai, the exclusion of informal recyclers in Tokyo, and the limited contribution provided by the formal recyclers in Hong Kong. The divergent PWG characteristics can be attributed to variations in governance patterns, socioeconomic factors, and policy formulation. Regarding urban sustainability, Tokyo and Shanghai’s PWG contribute to the circular economy’s expansion, while Hong Kong’ potential, in this regard, is undervalued. Despite Tokyo’s improved social recognition to practitioners, this PWG mode, primarily driven by formal recyclers and households, presents limited inclusion of low-income groups. Additionally, it is crucial for the authorities in Shanghai and Hong Kong to acknowledge the potential pollution of informal recyclers’ non-environmental behavior. This paper offers a valuable model for characterizing and analyzing PWG across different cities, facilitating knowledge aggregation and the implementation of PWG practice.","PeriodicalId":74322,"journal":{"name":"npj urban sustainability","volume":" ","pages":"1-13"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2024-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42949-024-00179-4.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141968454","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-04DOI: 10.1038/s42949-024-00178-5
Janneke van Oorschot, Mike Slootweg, Roy P. Remme, Benjamin Sprecher, Ester van der Voet
The anticipated increase in urban population of 2.5 billion people by 2050 poses significant environmental challenges. While the various environmental impacts of urbanisation have been studied individually, integrated approaches are rare. This study introduces a spatially explicit model to assess urbanization’s effects on ecosystem services (green infrastructure availability, cooling, stormwater retention) and the environmental impact of building construction (material demand, greenhouse gas emissions, land use). Applied to the Netherlands from 2018 to 2050, our results show that integrating green infrastructure development with building construction could increase green areas by up to 5% and stabilize or increase ecosystem service provisioning. Dense building construction with green infrastructure development is generally more beneficial across the Netherlands, reducing resource use and enhancing ecosystem services. Conversely, sparse construction with green infrastructure is more advantageous for newly built areas. These findings offer insights into the environmental consequences of urbanization, guiding sustainable urban planning practices.
{"title":"Optimizing green and gray infrastructure planning for sustainable urban development","authors":"Janneke van Oorschot, Mike Slootweg, Roy P. Remme, Benjamin Sprecher, Ester van der Voet","doi":"10.1038/s42949-024-00178-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42949-024-00178-5","url":null,"abstract":"The anticipated increase in urban population of 2.5 billion people by 2050 poses significant environmental challenges. While the various environmental impacts of urbanisation have been studied individually, integrated approaches are rare. This study introduces a spatially explicit model to assess urbanization’s effects on ecosystem services (green infrastructure availability, cooling, stormwater retention) and the environmental impact of building construction (material demand, greenhouse gas emissions, land use). Applied to the Netherlands from 2018 to 2050, our results show that integrating green infrastructure development with building construction could increase green areas by up to 5% and stabilize or increase ecosystem service provisioning. Dense building construction with green infrastructure development is generally more beneficial across the Netherlands, reducing resource use and enhancing ecosystem services. Conversely, sparse construction with green infrastructure is more advantageous for newly built areas. These findings offer insights into the environmental consequences of urbanization, guiding sustainable urban planning practices.","PeriodicalId":74322,"journal":{"name":"npj urban sustainability","volume":" ","pages":"1-12"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2024-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42949-024-00178-5.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141968524","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-02DOI: 10.1038/s42949-024-00174-9
Laura S. Tuominen, Heikki Helanterä, Patrik Karell, Lauri Rapeli, Timo Vuorisalo, Jon E. Brommer
The COVID-19 pandemic showed us that maintaining and increasing individual and community resilience is essential, particularly in cities. Access to urban green spaces such as parks and gardens supports resilience and well-being. Here, we studied how the pandemic influenced the attitudes towards and outcomes of urban box gardening in the city of Turku in Finland. We analyzed this small-scale social-ecological system before and during the pandemic in 2019, 2020, and 2021. We find that box gardening’s importance increased for many gardeners due to the pandemic, supporting that box gardening can enhance resilience. We find that gardeners remain motivated to cultivate but contrary to expectations, they report receiving fewer benefits, suggesting the pandemic’s negative influence on well-being extends to urban gardening. Our findings highlight the manifold and long-term influence of disturbances. The long-term changes in attitudes and outcomes suggest that the pandemic’s influence on urban gardening might be even transformative.
{"title":"Evidence of COVID-19 pandemic influence on well-being produced by urban gardening: a before-after study","authors":"Laura S. Tuominen, Heikki Helanterä, Patrik Karell, Lauri Rapeli, Timo Vuorisalo, Jon E. Brommer","doi":"10.1038/s42949-024-00174-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42949-024-00174-9","url":null,"abstract":"The COVID-19 pandemic showed us that maintaining and increasing individual and community resilience is essential, particularly in cities. Access to urban green spaces such as parks and gardens supports resilience and well-being. Here, we studied how the pandemic influenced the attitudes towards and outcomes of urban box gardening in the city of Turku in Finland. We analyzed this small-scale social-ecological system before and during the pandemic in 2019, 2020, and 2021. We find that box gardening’s importance increased for many gardeners due to the pandemic, supporting that box gardening can enhance resilience. We find that gardeners remain motivated to cultivate but contrary to expectations, they report receiving fewer benefits, suggesting the pandemic’s negative influence on well-being extends to urban gardening. Our findings highlight the manifold and long-term influence of disturbances. The long-term changes in attitudes and outcomes suggest that the pandemic’s influence on urban gardening might be even transformative.","PeriodicalId":74322,"journal":{"name":"npj urban sustainability","volume":" ","pages":"1-10"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2024-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42949-024-00174-9.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141968525","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Online food delivery has become a popular mode of urban food consumption in China as its underlying business mechanism, Online To Offline (O2O), gaining popularity. However, the environmental impacts of a rapidly expanding online food delivery industry and its potential to mitigate environmental burdens remained unexplored in China. Our research found that Chinese cities generated 1.67 MtCO2-equivalent (CO2e) from 13.07 billion times of deliveries in 2019, including transport and packaging. The transportation-related GHG emissions were 745 KtCO2e in 2019, with an average of 0.057 kg CO2e per order and an average of 0.011 kg CO2e per capita. These emissions have surged from 0.31 MtCO2e in 2014 to 2.74 MtCO2e in 2021. We predict that this figure will increase further to 5.94 MtCO2e by 2035. However, with a range of policies such as replacing motorcycles with electric bikes and optimizing traffic routes, it is possible to mitigate such GHG emissions by 4.39–10.97 MtCO2e between 2023 and 2035. These findings highlight the need for further research into the environmental impact of online food delivery and the potential for mitigating it.
{"title":"Carbon emissions from urban takeaway delivery in China","authors":"Yiqiang Zhong, Shenghui Cui, Xuemei Bai, Wei Shang, Wei Huang, Lingxuan Liu, Shouyang Wang, Rongxuan Zhu, Yuanxiao Zhai, Yin Zhang","doi":"10.1038/s42949-024-00175-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42949-024-00175-8","url":null,"abstract":"Online food delivery has become a popular mode of urban food consumption in China as its underlying business mechanism, Online To Offline (O2O), gaining popularity. However, the environmental impacts of a rapidly expanding online food delivery industry and its potential to mitigate environmental burdens remained unexplored in China. Our research found that Chinese cities generated 1.67 MtCO2-equivalent (CO2e) from 13.07 billion times of deliveries in 2019, including transport and packaging. The transportation-related GHG emissions were 745 KtCO2e in 2019, with an average of 0.057 kg CO2e per order and an average of 0.011 kg CO2e per capita. These emissions have surged from 0.31 MtCO2e in 2014 to 2.74 MtCO2e in 2021. We predict that this figure will increase further to 5.94 MtCO2e by 2035. However, with a range of policies such as replacing motorcycles with electric bikes and optimizing traffic routes, it is possible to mitigate such GHG emissions by 4.39–10.97 MtCO2e between 2023 and 2035. These findings highlight the need for further research into the environmental impact of online food delivery and the potential for mitigating it.","PeriodicalId":74322,"journal":{"name":"npj urban sustainability","volume":" ","pages":"1-13"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2024-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42949-024-00175-8.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141968526","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：