- Planning for a Resource Efficient Future: Opportunities in Stockholm, Marseille and Newcastle    2168 kb by    Reardon, Mitchell & Weber, Ryan | mitchell.reardon@nordregio.se    Short Outline What will European cities look like in 2050 and what are their potentials to improve resource efficiency? No two cities are the same and this work explores these questions within the planning contexts of Stockholm, Newcastle and Marseille. Abstract Around the world, urban areas are having an unprecedented impact on the environment, land use and resource consumption. As they continue to grow, this influence will increase, which can lead to greater environmental challenges. At the same time, their increasing prominence means that environmentally sustainable solutions for urban areas have the potential to resolve some of the most pressing issues facing humanity today. Cities do not exist in a vacuum however; they need to be considered within unique development contexts that have been shaped by a range of factors, including geography and planning culture, that are present in every region. Bearing this in mind, the European Union funded FP-7 Sustainable Urban Metabolism for Europe (SUME) project evaluates the respective potentials that urban areas have to improve resource efficiency between now and 2050 through interventions in terms of land-use and energy consumption from buildings and transport. In doing so, two scenarios have been developed. One scenario evaluates development based on the continuation of current planning policies in each urban area, while the other adopts a more resource aware, yet still attainable, perspective that envisions greater resource efficiency in future development patterns. Stockholm, Marseille and Newcastle are three regions that present interesting results and illustrate the variation in challenges and possibilities that exist in different urban areas. By comparing current spatial patterns with two possible scenarios, it is possible to measure how population growth and changes in the urban fabric will affect resource consumption and influence the physical transformation of these urban areas. Interestingly, it is also possible to evaluate how different policies can affect resource efficiency in each of the respective case studies. Finally, the results emphasize steps that Stockholm, Marseille and Newcastle can take to become more resource efficient between now and 2050. Keywords Resource Efficiency, Stockholm, Marseille, Newcastle, Urban Development, Planning Context Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2011: LIVEABLE CITIES: URBANISING WORLD, Meeting the Challenge   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper