An Integrated Framework for Regional Studies: Emergy Based Spatial Analysis of the Province of Cagliari |
| |
Authors: | Riccardo Maria Pulselli Mauro Rustici Nadia Marchettini |
| |
Institution: | (1) Department of Chemical and Biosystems Sciences, University of Siena, Via della Diana, 2a, 53100 Siena, Italy;(2) Department of Chemistry, University of Sassari, Via Vienna, 2, 07100 Sassari, Italy |
| |
Abstract: | This research proposes an integrated framework to investigate human-dominated systems and provide a basic approach to urban
and regional studies in which the multiple interactions between economic and ecological processes are considered as a whole.
Humans generate patterns of land use, infrastructures and other settings and redistribute ecosystem functions as flows of
energy and matter for self-maintenance. To understand these emerging interactions between humans and ecological processes,
human activities (e.g. transformation processes, land conversions, use of resources) and biophysical agents such as geomorphology,
climate and natural cycles need to be considered. Emergy Analysis (spelled with an “m”) is then used as an environmental accounting
method to evaluate different categories of resource use with reference to their environmental cost. A case study of the Province
of Cagliari (in the island of Sardinia, Italy) is reported and the procedure for allocating emergy flows, assigning them to
districts and managing point data is discussed. Outcomes plotted on a map showed non-homogeneous spatial distribution of emergy
flows throughout the region, suggesting the way ecosystem functions are affected and restructured by the human economy. |
| |
Keywords: | Emergy evaluation Emergy flows Regional studies Spatial pattern Urban planning |
本文献已被 PubMed SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|