A Material Flow Analysis of Paris and its Region

Sabine Barles (1)

1 AUS - Architecture, Urbanisme, Sociétés

Material flow analysis (MFA) is a powerful tool that helps understanding national, regional and urban metabolism. It provides some indicators of (un)sustainability and can contribute to the definition of public environmental policy. The paper presents the results of a research project that aimed 1) to examine the feasibility of MFA at the regional and urban scale in France, 2) to select the most appropriate method, 3) to identify the available data, then 4) to realise the material balance in the specific case of Paris and its region.
On the basis of the Eurostat method, the study was conducted at three levels: Paris (2.2 million inhab.), Paris and its suburbs (6.3 million inhab.) and the whole region (11.3 million inhab.). The data collection revealed the lack of information about solid wastes and energy consumption (a very paradoxical situation!) but was successful enough to allow the realisation of the material balance for the year 2003 (but not to calculate hidden flows).
The results show the need for a multi-scale approach as urban life in Paris depends on the suburbs; the consequence of both concentration of activities in the city centre and urban sprawl on material flows; the poor recycling and the huge flow to nature, etc. They encourage using MFA in the urban context as a basis to material flow management and to dematerialisation.

Mots clés: urban; metabolism; Paris; Paris region; MFA; material flow analysis

Mots clés: métabolisme urbain; région parisienne; analyse des flux de matières

Domaines: Architecture, aménagement de l'espace; Etudes de l'environnement; Environnement et Société

Sabine Barles. A Material Flow Analysis of Paris and its Region. International Conference Renewables in a changing Climate - Innovation in the Built Environment, Sep 2007, Lausanne, Switzerland. pp.579-584. ⟨halshs-00174820⟩