{"title":"Linking systems to agencies in urban metabolism studies: A conceptual framework and computational analysis of research literature","authors":"Nicola Bertoldi, Daniela Perrotti","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108397","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study outlines a conceptual framework linking a conceptualization of agency in urban metabolism studies with a systems-based perspective. To this aim, we engage with contributions to socio-metabolic studies, notably from social ecology, that are not directly concerned with the urban dimension but explicitly question how systems and actors shape each other and how social practices can influence the distribution of resource flows and stocks and their interdependencies. Based on those contributions, we identify three critical axes of investigation that help track implicit uses of the concept of “agency” in urban metabolism studies and constitute the pillars of our proposed framework: (1) characterizing structures comprising urban social-ecological systems – understood as patterns of connections among elements and subsystems – as actors, (2) identifying the chains of events that such actors influence by exerting their agentic capacities, and (3) associating those same actors with definite agentic dimensions, i.e., specific modalities of agency. By drawing on methods from computational linguistics, text mining, and semantic network analysis, we extract concepts cognate to “urban metabolism” from a relevant body of research literature. Through our framework, we show how such concepts define forms of agency that can be ascribed to structural components of urban social-ecological systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51021,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Economics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Ecological Economics","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800924002945","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ECOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This study outlines a conceptual framework linking a conceptualization of agency in urban metabolism studies with a systems-based perspective. To this aim, we engage with contributions to socio-metabolic studies, notably from social ecology, that are not directly concerned with the urban dimension but explicitly question how systems and actors shape each other and how social practices can influence the distribution of resource flows and stocks and their interdependencies. Based on those contributions, we identify three critical axes of investigation that help track implicit uses of the concept of “agency” in urban metabolism studies and constitute the pillars of our proposed framework: (1) characterizing structures comprising urban social-ecological systems – understood as patterns of connections among elements and subsystems – as actors, (2) identifying the chains of events that such actors influence by exerting their agentic capacities, and (3) associating those same actors with definite agentic dimensions, i.e., specific modalities of agency. By drawing on methods from computational linguistics, text mining, and semantic network analysis, we extract concepts cognate to “urban metabolism” from a relevant body of research literature. Through our framework, we show how such concepts define forms of agency that can be ascribed to structural components of urban social-ecological systems.
期刊介绍:
Ecological Economics is concerned with extending and integrating the understanding of the interfaces and interplay between "nature''s household" (ecosystems) and "humanity''s household" (the economy). Ecological economics is an interdisciplinary field defined by a set of concrete problems or challenges related to governing economic activity in a way that promotes human well-being, sustainability, and justice. The journal thus emphasizes critical work that draws on and integrates elements of ecological science, economics, and the analysis of values, behaviors, cultural practices, institutional structures, and societal dynamics. The journal is transdisciplinary in spirit and methodologically open, drawing on the insights offered by a variety of intellectual traditions, and appealing to a diverse readership.
Specific research areas covered include: valuation of natural resources, sustainable agriculture and development, ecologically integrated technology, integrated ecologic-economic modelling at scales from local to regional to global, implications of thermodynamics for economics and ecology, renewable resource management and conservation, critical assessments of the basic assumptions underlying current economic and ecological paradigms and the implications of alternative assumptions, economic and ecological consequences of genetically engineered organisms, and gene pool inventory and management, alternative principles for valuing natural wealth, integrating natural resources and environmental services into national income and wealth accounts, methods of implementing efficient environmental policies, case studies of economic-ecologic conflict or harmony, etc. New issues in this area are rapidly emerging and will find a ready forum in Ecological Economics.