Interdisciplinary perspectives on urban metabolism

In recent years the concept of urban metabolism has increasingly been employed in a
diverse range of disciplines as a means to analyse and theorise the city. This paper
raises a number of questions about urban metabolism, its impact on urban scholarship,
and how the concept is affecting understandings of the way in which environmental,
social and economic factors interact to shape urban phenomena. To explore these
issues, the paper reviews interpretations ofand current debates around urban
metabolism in five disciplines: industrial ecology, urban ecology, ecological economics,
political ecology and political geography.