Where economy meets ecology
Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - 08:31
in Biology & Nature
Think of a city as a complex organism powered by human activities and consumption. John E. Fernández, an associate professor in the Department of Architecture, wants to understand how the urban metabolism works—what it needs in terms of energy, materials, and water to sustain the work and lives of its residents, and what gets discarded as waste. "When we speak of a healthy city," Fernández says, "we are really focusing on whether it strikes a balance between economic growth and resource efficiency."