Research group Urban Metabolism
The world is urbanizing fast. This requires a strategic vision of urban development and bold, sustainable solutions. How can governments, businesses, citizens and other stakeholders keep our urban environments liveable, end CO2 emissions, close cycles and create opportunities with waste?
Cities are rapidly expanding. In order to cope with climate change and depletion of raw materials, cities should deal more efficiently with energy and materials.
Sustainable innovation of urban infrastructures is the core theme of the Urban Metabolism research group. This can be accomplished by developing synergies between systems: urban symbiosis. By developing synergies between urban systems, they jointly consume less energy and emit less CO2 than each separately, and resources can be recovered from waste streams. Generating heat by using the road surface is an example of this. Or make biogas during waste processing. Flows such as drinking water, sewage, electricity and waste can also be connected to achieve higher efficiencies.
Often, the best way to achieve this is at the local level: Sustainable solutions are often local solutions, that require the support of citizens and enable their active engagement.
Team
Ben Bonekamp
Sabine Eijlander
Helen Kopnina
Maikel Maloncy
Sita van der Meulen
Laura Stevens
Fred Zoller
Ben Bonekamp
Contact:
b.c.bonekamp@hhs.nlSabine Eijlander
Contact:
s.l.eijlander@hhs.nlHelen Kopnina
dr. Kopnina, Helen (Ph.D. Cambridge University, 2002) is currently employed at The Hague University of Applied Science (HHS) in The Netherlands, coordinating Sustainable Business program and conducting research within three main areas: environmental sustainability, environmental education and biological conservation. Helen is the author of over ninety peer reviewed articles and (co)author and (co)editor of fifteen books.
h.kopnina@hhs.nlMaikel Maloncy
Maikel Maloncy obtained his dr. degree at Delft University of Technology in the research area of Membrane Technology, Catalysis and Process Design. While doing his PhD he was employed as a lecturer at The Hague university of Applied Sciences. Currently, he is fulfilling several roles and functions within The Hague University of Applied Sciences. His research topic within the Urban Metabolism Research group is on Improving Waste management in Developing Countries: Case study Accra, Ghana. Improvement in the urban systems is of great importance to enhance living conditions and quality of life, especially in developing nations. As local physical and cultural conditions are important in designing urban systems, this study takes the urban waste management system of Accra, the capital city of Ghana, as a case study for analysing options to improve waste management systems in developing countries.
m.l.maloncy@hhs.nlSita van der Meulen
Contact:
s.h.vandermeulen@hhs.nlLaura Stevens
ir. Laura Stevens completed her Master of Science in Architecture at Delft University of Technology. Now doing a 2nd MSc in biomimicry at Arizona State University, she is eager to learn from this professional training as a biomimic to spread the knowledge in higher education. This research program is an integral element of her PhD on Biomimicry Education at the graduate school in Delft. As a member of Urban Metabolism, she has developed workshops to solve global issues such as Urban Heat Islands (UHI) and Urban Storm Flooding by involving research of how nature would solve these. Her research focus is on the educational aspects of this emerging field to see how Design Thinking methodologies melt with Biomimicry Thinking, with a unique focus on analogies from Nature.
l.l.stevens@hhs.nlFred Zoller
Contact:
f.c.m.zoller@hhs.nlAbout the professor
dr. ir. Karel Mulder
Dr. ir. Karel Mulder studied both physics and philosophy of science, technology and society at the University of Twente. In 1992 he obtained his PhD at the University of Groningen for a thesis on research strategies of large companies. Afterwards he was employed as a senior lecturer at Delft University of Technology. He spent some time as guest researcher at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Barcelona) and the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Since 2015, Mulder has been a Professor in Urban Metabolism at The Hague University of Applied Sciences
+31 (0) 6 - 29 05 35 64k.f.mulder@hhs.nl
Publications
Conference paper
Integration of energy networks and the water cycle with surface water energy as connecting element
Conference paper
Technology exploration for domestic heat pumps in the Netherlands
Article
The dynamics of technological systems integration
Article
Towards cleaner production: barriers and strategies in the base metals producing industry.
Book
Sustainable development for engineers: a handbook and resource guide