Managing urban nutrient biogeochemistry for sustainable urbanization

Tao Lin; Valerie Gibson; Shenghui Cui; Chang-Ping Yu; Shaohua Chen; Zhilong Ye; Yong-Guan Zhu

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2014.03.038

Managing urban nutrient biogeochemistry for sustainable urbanization

Environ Pollut. 2014 Sep:192:244-50. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2014.03.038. Epub 2014 Apr 18.

Authors

Tao Lin¹, Valerie Gibson², Shenghui Cui³, Chang-Ping Yu⁴, Shaohua Chen⁵, Zhilong Ye⁶, Yong-Guan Zhu⁷

Affiliations

¹ Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Xiamen Key Lab of Urban Metabolism, Xiamen 361021, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Xiamen Key Lab of Urban Metabolism, Xiamen 361021, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
³ Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Xiamen Key Lab of Urban Metabolism, Xiamen 361021, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁴ Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Xiamen Key Lab of Urban Metabolism, Xiamen 361021, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁵ Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Xiamen Key Lab of Urban Metabolism, Xiamen 361021, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁶ Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Xiamen Key Lab of Urban Metabolism, Xiamen 361021, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁷ Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Xiamen Key Lab of Urban Metabolism, Xiamen 361021, China. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 24746891
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2014.03.038

Abstract

Urban ecosystems are unique in the sense that human activities are the major drivers of biogeochemical processes. Along with the demographic movement into cities, nutrients flow towards the urban zone (nutrient urbanization), causing the degradation of environmental quality and ecosystem health. In this paper, we summarize the characteristics of nutrient cycling within the urban ecosystem compared to natural ecosystems. The dynamic process of nutrient urbanization is then explored taking Xiamen city, China, as an example to examine the influence of rapid urbanization on food sourced nitrogen and phosphorus metabolism. Subsequently, the concept of a nutrient footprint and calculation method is introduced from a lifecycle perspective. Finally, we propose three system approaches to mend the broken biogeochemical cycling. Our study will contribute to a holistic solution which achieves synergies between environmental quality and food security, by integrating technologies for nutrient recovery and waste reduction.

Keywords: Biogeochemistry; Nitrogen; Phosphorus; Sustainable urbanization; Urban metabolism.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

China
Cities*
Conservation of Natural Resources / methods*
Ecological and Environmental Phenomena
Ecosystem
Environment*
Environmental Monitoring*
Human Activities
Humans
Nitrogen / analysis*
Phosphorus / analysis*
Urbanization / trends*

Substances

Phosphorus
Nitrogen