ABSTRACT
This chapter defines urban metabolism based on energy, water, carbon and pollutant fluxes and to develop a Decision Support System (DSS) for sustainable urban planning, which takes account of urban metabolism. Micrometeorologists include these losses, as anthropogenic heat flux, an input to the urban energy balance. Sustainable water management techniques are emphasized in a large number of Urban Water Balance (UWB) studies. A 'Community of Practice' (CoP) participatory approach was used to facilitate the interaction between urban planners and BRIDGE scientists. A meso-scale meteorological model, linked to two chemical transport models, was used to simulate the meteorological variables and atmospheric chemistry, based on lumped carbon mechanisms and a detailed description of the photochemistry. A Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE) approach was used to address the complexity of urban metabolism issues reflected in the wide set of sustainability indicators. The main goal of BRIDGE was to improve the communication of new bio-physical knowledge to end-users with a focus on sustainable urban metabolism.
