Waste Management Thesis

Literature review – Urban Metabolism, waste management, consumerism and minimalism in Australia

Mentor: Joseli Macedo Vanessa Cristina Alves da Cruz

School of Built Environment Curtin University, Perth, Australia

ABSTRACT Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the literature of Urban Metabolism, Waste Management, Consumerism and Minimalism aiming to develop a better understanding of those topics as theoretical background for future studies on HDR (High Degree for Research) at Curtin University.

Design/methodology/approach – A comparison within the Cities of Perth, Stirling and Armadale was developed throughout data collected with the Waste Department of each city, also with housing information given by real state and zoning maps provided by the Cities.

Findings – The data shown a correlation among location of neighbour, purchasing power and quantity of waste produced.

Originality/values – Data presented was gather throughout a survey developed with the Waste Management of the Perth cities and real state consultation.

Keywords – Urban Metabolism, Waste Management, Consumerism, Minimalism, Perth, Australia Paper type – Research paper

CONTENTS 1. Introduction 2. Literature review

2.1 Urban Metabolism 2.2 Waste Management 2.3 Consumerism 2.4 Minimalism 3. Methodology 4. Findings/Discussion 5. Recommendation/Conclusion 6. References

1. INTRODUCTION The following research paper developed a literature review on the topics Urban Metabolism, Waste Management, Consumerism and Minimalism, gathering the main information regarding each of them, aiming to have an overview.

In Urban Metabolism was considered the pioneer study, definition, methods and applications only for those related to the improvement of the cities either through planning, design or guidelines. Waste Management reviewed disposal – the mainstream and alternative ones. Consumerism presented the lifestyle regarding economy and the effects of the rampant consumerism. Lastly, the philosophy of Minimalism was presented also its relation with environment and a meaningful life.

The methodology developed throughout these subjects comparing three suburbs of Western Australia Capital: City of Perth, Stirling and Armadale. Through zoning maps provided by the Cities, information given by real state considering their purchasing power according to the value of the houses and the uses developed in the locations also the data collected with a survey developed with the Waste Department of each city allowed to develop a comparison among the locations, focusing on waste management.

In conclusion, suggestions were given to improve the management of waste in the Cities, considering the reviewed topics.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Urban Metabolism The pioneer study discussion The work of Abel Wolman published in 1965 is considered the pioneering study on Urban Metabolism for some researchers while others cite Ernest Burgess, Karl Marx or Theodor Weyl for being such. In this section, information is given regarding: (a) their professional life; (b) a summary of their study on Urban Metabolism. Followed by the conclusion on which one has developed the pioneering study.

Abel Wolman (1892 – 1989) a) 1915 Graduated at the first class of Civil Engineering at Johns Hopkins; 1916 US Public Health Service studying the water quality of the Potomac River, later became Sanitary Engineer at Maryland State Department of Health – inspected all water and wastewater treatment plants. At the same time, he developed a research; 1920 Published an article with the chemist, Linn Enslow; in which they tested how chlorine was absorbed, developing a new methodology to control the amount of chlorine present in the water supplies; which lead to safer water supplies worldwide; 1921 Became professor of Sanitary Engineering at Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health; Associate Editor of the American Journal of Public Health; Editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Water Works Association; Editor of the Manual of Water Works Practice, and editor-in-chief of Municipal Sanitation; The hundreds of publications of Wolman during his career were collected into the book Water, Health and Society; In his later years, Wolman became involved in the public health issues surrounding the development of atomic energy resources and insisted on extensive research into the geologic, hydrologic, and demographic conditions for any proposed location of a nuclear power plant. b) He published a study in 1965, accounting input-output transactions of a hypothetical US city of 1 million people; being the mains input: water, food and fuel and the outputs: sewage, solid refuse and air pollutants. The city was considered a living organism; being required to sustain people at home, work and leisure; having this cycle finished when the waste and remains were collected and disposed with a minimum hazard. His definition of Urban Metabolism: “The metabolic requirements of a city can be defined as all the materials and commodities needed to sustain the city's inhabitants at home, at work and at play. Over a period, these requirements include even the

construction materials needed to build and rebuild the city itself. The metabolic cycle is not completed until the wastes and residues of daily life have been removed and disposed of with a minimum of nuisance and hazard”.

Wolman researches enabled the understanding of urban system through an analogy with living organism in an ecosystem; he developed an accounting method to calculate the metabolism that lead to a more efficient management of the city’s needs according to the its slow or high rates of metabolism.

Ernest Watson Burgess (1886 – 1966) a) 1908 Sociology Bachelor at Kingfisher College (Oklahoma); 1913 Ph.D. on Sociology at University of Chicago; Years teaching and collaborating at University of Toledo (Ohio) and Kansas and at Ohio State University; 1916 – 1966 Professor at University of Chicago – research focused on family studies, leading to study marriage stability and producing some articles on the subject; 1921 Collaborating with Robert Park, they published: Introduction to the Science of Sociology; 1921 – 1930 Editor at American Sociological Society; 1925 Published book The City in partnership with Park, defining homocentric zones: CBD (central business district), transitional (industrial, deteriorating housing, etc.), working class residential (tenements), residential, and commuter/suburban zones; 1927 Status of full professor; 1931 – 1934 Directorship at Behaviour Research Fund in Chicago – edited many monographs from different areas of social sciences; 1934 President of American Sociological Society; 1936 – 1940 Editor of American Journal of Sociology; 1939 Published book Predicting Success or Failure in Marriage, co-authored with Leonard Cottrell; 1942 President of Sociological Research Association and President of National Conference on Family Relations; 1945-46 President of Social Science Research Council; 1946 Chair of the department; 1951 Professor emeritus but remained active; 1960 Publish book Aging in Western Societies; 1963 Co-author of the Urban Sociology text with Donald Bogue. b) Burgess in partnership with Robert Park, developed one of the most important work of his career: Introduction to the Science of Sociology, which became a classic and created new directions in sociology. This cooperative study focused on the social characteristics of the urban community and the urban

land use. Lin and colleagues (2012) commented that Ernest Burgess and Robert Park introduced the term Urban Metabolism in early 20s, as a metaphor, applying it to the biological process and concepts to the social world (McDonald and Patterson, 2007) therefore, suggesting that Urban Metabolism would have started before 1965.

Karl Marx (1818 – 1883) a) German philosopher and revolutionary socialist Karl Marx published The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, anti-capitalist works that form the basis of Marxism; 1835 Started studying at University of Bonn; 1836 Studied law and philosophy at University of Berlin; 1841 Doctorate in Philosophy in University of Jena; 1842 Worked as a Journalist, became editor of Rheinische Zeitung, in Cologne; 1843 Along with Arnold Ruge, they founded the Journal German-French Annals; 1845 Published The Holy Family in collaboration with Friedrich Engels and was expelled from France due to writing the Journal Vorwärts! In Brussels, he wrote The German Ideology – developed a theory on historical materialism – and Theses on Feuerbach, both were only published after his death; 1846 In England, he held a Conference and formed the Communist League; 1847 Critique to socialism The Poverty of Philosophy; 1848 Published The Communist Manifesto and was expelled from Belgium and went to France but he was also deported, Prussia declined to re-naturalize him, he went to London and stayed there until his death without citizenship; he helped to found the German Workers Educational Society and The Communist League; 1852-62 Journalist Correspondent for the New York Daily Tribune; 1867 Capital – A critique of Political Economy, vol. I; 1883 Friedrich Engels using the notes of Karl Marx published The Capital vol.

III criticising the industrialisation method. b) In the third edition of The Capital, according to Yang Zhang (2013) Marx presented the concept of metabolism exchanges of energy and materials among the society and nature. “Commercial capital, therefore — stripped of all heterogeneous functions, such as storing, expressing, transporting, distributing, retailing, which may be connected with it, and confined to its true function of buying in order to sell — creates neither value nor surplusvalue, but acts as middleman in their realisation and thereby simultaneously

in the actual exchange of commodities, i.e., in their transfer from hand to hand, in the social metabolism” (Marx, 1883).

Theodor Weyl (1851 – 1913) a) German Expert and author on chemistry, sanitation and waste management

Studied chemistry and medicine in Heidelberg, Berlin and Strasbourg; 1872 Doctorate on Animal and plant proteins; 1894 published the Essay on the metabolism of Berlin as an original conference article at 8th International Congress of Hygiene and Demography in Budapest; 1909 co-author of Houben-Weyl Methods of Organic Chemistry; 1900 editor of 10 volume series Handbook of Hygiene; author of the second book of that series Urban sanitation; One of the most important proponents on the dispute among hygienists and utilitarists – he was entitled hygienist by modern historicists due to his approach on waste, as he said that the most hygienic method to deal with waste was incineration. b) In his article, he used the material flow analysis (MFA) to examine the flows of nutrients released from the city and to compare those to the nutrient consumption over food entry. Separated in two sections: 1) Quantification of water, food and nutrients in the city. 2) Determination of the exported water and nutrients withdrawn through the sewage system. Weyl's’ work was rediscovered and published on a forum, and published in an article which was proposing a new perspective on the pioneer work on Urban Metabolism.

The pioneer Chronologically, Karl Marx would be the pioneer on Urban Metabolism, as he first used the concept of metabolism in 1883. Followed by Theodor Weyl, who wrote an essay about the Metabolism of the city of Berlin, having published it in 1894, at the 8th International Congress of Hygiene and Demography in Budapest, in which he used the method of MFA (Material Flow Analysis) to examine the flows. The third would be Ernest Watson Burgess who developed a study in partnership with Robert Park, in 1921 which focused on the social characteristics of the urban community and the urban land use. Finally, Abel Wolman, who published his work in 1965 on the Scientific American Journal. Therefore, if only considering the sequence of events, the author whom is mainly considered the pioneer on developing the study on Urban Metabolism, wouldn’t be the one who developed the pioneer study on the field, as he was the latest to publish. Although he had a significant role with his research, inciting many researchers to develop interest on the topic.

Karl Marx in his critique to the industrialisation, used the concept of metabolism to describe an idea, according to Kennedy and colleagues (2012) in a political context, thus there is an understanding of the concept but not so deepened. In his work, there is no quantification or accounting method developed to simulate how a city is metabolising itself. Therefore, he hasn’t developed a study on urban metabolism, but used the idea in another context. Lin and colleagues (2012) presented that the same approach was taken by Ernest Burgess who introduced the term Urban Metabolism in early 20s, however it was used as a metaphor applied to the biological process and concepts to the social world (as cited in Lederer and Kral, 2015). While both Theodor Weyl and Abel Wolman have developed an entire paper on the metabolism of a city.

Weyl published Essay on the Metabolism of Berlin in 1894 aiming to quantify water, food and nutrients in Berlin. Gathering information on consumption and residues, for instance the amount and composition of sewage flows. His goal was to answer the question: Quantifying excreta discharged in the Germanic capital through the investigation of its sewage was feasible? Having two distinct borders, the administrative as the spatial and one year as the temporal among 1890 and 1894 without specifying dates. The paper was fragmented in two sections: 1) Quantification of the inputs consumed the city (food, water and nutrients) and 2) Determination of outputs cleared into the sewage system (Lederer and Kral, 2015).

Wolman issued The Metabolism of Cities in 1965, in which he had used in his work a fictitious American City with a population of 1 million people considering all the aspects, for the city metabolism, in a person’s life on the following aspects: home, work and play. The metabolic cycle would only be completed after the daily waste produced have been eliminated having a slight impact on the environment. Wolman simulated the most common inputs present in the cities: water, food and fuel also the outputs: sewage, refuse and air pollutants, having both inputs and outputs data presented in tons/day. (Wolman, 1965).

In conclusion, concerning the chronology and the deepening study in Urban Metabolism, Theodor Weyl was the one who developed the pioneer study on Urban Metabolism, having published his work in 1894 and deepened his publication on the subject. His work hasn’t been considered due to languages issues, but his importance on the field is equivalent to Wolman’s, although being the actual pioneer unrecognised.

Urban Metabolism definition There is no unique concept of Urban Metabolism, considering that it has been studied through distinct areas, such as urban planning, sustainability, industrial ecological and other. Having, each field, a perspective on its approach and therefore,

a distinct meaning to it. According to Gandy (1999), currently this topic definition still raises a debate among researchers from distinct fields (as cited in Lederer and Kral, 2015).

The concept of Urban Metabolism wasn’t conceived by Theodor Weyl, despite having developed the pioneer study. According to Gandy (1999), concomitantly with Weyl, other authors were also doing the same metabolism equivalence and there are no evidences that Weyl was present into those discussions. On his study of Berlin’s Urban Metabolism, he discussed, metaphorically, the metabolism of living organisms – humans; using MFA (Material Flow Analysis) for accounting the inputs and outputs (Lederer and Kral, 2015). Apart from the development of Urban Metabolism through a comparison on the paper and its title; Weyl hasn’t developed a definition of what would it be the metabolism of the city. While the renowned Wolman, conceptualised the metabolism of the cities as: “The metabolic requirements of a city can be defined as all the materials and commodities needed to sustain the city's inhabitants at home, at work and at play. Over a period, these requirements include even the construction materials needed to build and rebuild the city itself. The metabolic cycle is not completed until the wastes and residues of daily life have been removed and disposed of with a minimum of nuisance and hazard” (Wolman, 1965). The lack of definition on Weyl paper shows that it’s possible to develop a research on the subject without the need of conceptualising it like Wolman.

Contemporary authors such as Kennedy et al. (2007) defined UM from Wolman: “the sum total of the technical and socioeconomic processes that occur in cities, resulting in growth, production of energy, and elimination of waste” whereas Decker et al., (2000) presented the following conceptualisation: “Cities transform raw materials, fuel, and water into the built environment, human biomass and waste” (as cited in Kennedy, C., et al., 2010). Emphasising that each field has a singular approach to UM, which in those cases differs from the size of the biological system, being the perspective from urban planners and scholars’ authors, the city is compared to a living organism while for urban ecologists, the urban region behaves as an ecosystem. Those differences among the fields occurs due to the perspective of each field, having an accordance that Urban Metabolism considers the city as a system that metabolises – consumes inputs, transforms it on energy and discharges outputs and wastes – According to McDonald and Patterson (2007), the distinct views on the conceptualisation of Urban Metabolism occurs due to their study focal point, for instance, urban sociologists focus on the human condition regarding the urban settlements, their location and how they were build up, grown and the aspects that lead to that happen (as cited by Lin Lin, et al. 2012).

Methods On this section, methods that studied Urban Metabolism related to the development of cities are presented. Those were used by researchers either for analysing the past to have a better understanding of the present or planning the future of cities; aiming to improve the urban planning according to the data collected and its analysis.

The following image belongs to Zhang et. al. (2009), which presents the evolution of the models developed for analysing the process to define the metabolism of a city.

Figure 1 – Evolution of processes. Source: Zhang et. Al. (2009).

From the image, it’s possible to discuss that both linear and cyclical processes used the black box model, although in Wolman's models there was no connection between the product that was generated, from the output, with the one that entered on the system, in the input, as it happened on Giardet model, in which there is a connection and it’s a cycle. On the network process developed by Zhang, he considered that there is a transformation of what happens within the processes as the inputs are transformed before they leave the system. In all the systems they considered that there is something it doesn't return to the process and that would be the left out of the system.

In parallel, there are methods that used those models for analysing the urban metabolism of cities, each one of focused in one different area, being possible to consider only the materials, energy and so on. The goal of each method vary according with the field of study. The main methods are described in the sequence: The method developed by Wolman is a simulation method, in which a fictitious American city with approximately one million people was developed to provide an analysis for the future.

Emergy method developed by the Odum school, during the 1970s, in which they analysed the metabolism considering the solar energy equivalents, according to Zuccheto (1975) as cited in Kennedy (2010).

Other method that has a different perspective is MFA, developed during the 1990s, Material Flow Analysis included the application on the cities, for instance, with studies developed by Baccini and Brunner (1991), this study focus on stocks and flows, considering mass as cited by Kennedy (2010). In addition, Zhang (2015) discussed that in these metabolic processes, the flows of nutrients, energy, water and materials are to be considered.

Both Emergy and Material Flow Analysis were considered accounting methods, having data collected that was analysed to have a better understand of the present through the past aiming to develop a better plan for the cities in the future.

Applications The distinct methods used for researching cities were used to develop distinct analysis, for instance, accounting methods that could verify the current situation of a city leading to a more specific plan for an urban region, while a simulation method could provide a better planning for the future. Those methods provided a range of data that could have practical applications on diverse fields, such as control of air quality, sustainability indicators, urban greenhouse gas accounting, urban design/planning and others. On this section, some of the possible applications related to urban design, planning and sustainability are described.

Urban Design and Planning Using Urban Metabolism both data and concept applied to design the city is relatively contemporary, as according to Kennedy C. et al. (2010) the possible first serious effort to implement Urban Metabolism in the city design was on the book Netzdt published by Oswald and Baccini (2003), in which the authors presented how to reconstruct a city throughout a long process, encompassing both morph and physiology aspects. Apart from this attempt, there are some Universities that were applying those concepts to design spaces in the city. In the academic world, using Netzdt as reference, some aspects were considered when they developed the design for the cities: shape, sustainability, remodelling and responsibility in addition to the main activities that were developed in urban regions: live and work; travel and speak; get clean; nourished and recover as discussed by Baccini and Brunner (1991).

Additionally, to those, there were the practical application to reconstruct New Orleans after the Hurricane Catrina, in agreement, Kennedy et. al. (2010) and Zhang et. al. (2015) presented that the MIT used the Urban Metabolic analysis of Material Flow for producing sustainable designs for the city also as stated by Zhang et. al.

(2015), the site analysis took more than one year to be finished and the final product was a tool that enabled the urban planners to make better decisions regarding the logistics of remodelling a location.

Indicators for sustainability Among the possibilities for applying the data collected on Urban Metabolism studies, there are the sustainability indicators, that could include – but are not restricted to –: energy efficiency, waste management and infrastructure in urban systems.

Throughout the gathered information it’s possible to measure the current aspects for the region and plan for the future, for instance, improving or developing guidelines and a Master Plan for the cities. According to Maclaren (1996) those parameters collected on the Urban Metabolism studies were scientifically legitimated for urban planners, supported by the principle of mass and energy conservation (as cited in Kennedy C. et al., 2010). Kennedy et. at. (2014) developed a study that was entitled multi-layered study, in which were considered many aspects for studying Urban Metabolism in the cities, more specifically, megacities. It was considered location aspects (frontiers, cities that belonged to the megacities, population and economic situation) also biophysical indicators (weather, population density, area occupied by buildings) finally the flux of the metabolism (energy in all aspects, materials and water), in agreement with the extension of the parameters for including the social parameters, developed by Newman’s as cited in Facchini et. al. (2016), aiming to integrate them, having a broader view of the Urban Metabolism of the cities. As it was discussed on the commentary developed on the Letter to the editor by Lin Lin et. al. (2012) stating that not only urban planners were considering the holistic approach to Urban Metabolism but also urban ecologists were looking to economic, social and health aspects. Therefore, it was noticed that not only the biophysical aspects have to be consider when discussing the city, it’s required also to regard other parameters to have a more precise diagnostic of city Urban Metabolism to develop a more complete plan for the future.

GHG – Greenhouse gas accounting Having a large emission of greenhouse gases is undesired as those when existing on the atmosphere are responsible for absorbing energy from the sun and reflecting it to Earth as heat, therefore it’s required that levels of emission of those greenhouse gases should be reduced aiming to set back the greenhouse effect. The air

pollutants that are released on the atmosphere mainly through urban regions were accounted or simulated on Urban Metabolism studies, as it was presented on The Metabolism of Cities published by Wolman (1965) in which, he simulated the quantities of gas emission that were responsible for the pollution in a fictitious American city. However, not only gases produced inside the cities are responsible for the GHG, other emission are related to the city, even being emitted outside the urban region such as the disposal of waste. According to Kennedy et. al. (2010) the emissions released outside the urban limits were caused by waste disposal or energy production and those emissions were also calculated on the inputs and outputs of Urban Metabolism. The effect of the greenhouse gas has to be consider as well, as it degrades the environment, for instance with the biodiversity reduction, weather change, the atrocious impact on the nature regarding the extraction of natural resources as quoted by Pincetl et. al. (2012). For reducing those values, as stated by Pincetl et. al. (2014) some companies started presenting their data which allowed a further evaluation of their levels of water and energy allowing an adjustment of policies aiming to achieve their goals regarding the improvement of the environment quality.

Policy analysis through mathematical model According to Kennedy C. et al. (2010) those analysis were developed mainly by researchers that used Material Flow Analysis – MFA, on their Urban Metabolism studies, aiming to account specific components such as nutrients or metals; those models are helpful for simulating modifications on future, therefore serving as a tool for the development of technological inventions or policies for the city, being a more complex study allowing to determine solutions for environmental issues. In addition to those tools developed, there were the ones that, according to Pincetl et. al.

(2012) integrated data aiming to develop computer models of the analysed places, the ones that created plans and develop them for cities. In short, the mathematical models for analysing the policies were used for a specific method: the MFA and for crossing data aiming to have a more integrated approach.

2.2 Waste Management The increasing production of goods have been raising the amount of waste generated due to its rampant consumerism in current society. According to Kennedy et. al. (2013), on this century the world will reach its peak production due it to the improvement of the living standards of people, in addition to this, being an urban problem, as the city produce twice as much waste than the rural regions. Beyond cities, there are also the islands are affected by the waste issue, for instance, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, located between California and Hawaii, there are also

the Sargasso Sea waste Hotspot in the Atlantic Ocean, Western Pacific Garbage Partch off Japan’s coastline and the Indian Garbage Patch, as cited by earthtimes.com, which was only found in 2010, meaning that it might be some other hidden Garbage Island. The existence of the Garbage Islands just shows the proportion of waste that is produced and the lack care to deal with it, just taking it out sight. However, not all the waste produced is directed to those locations, there are some other approach to manage waste.

Mainstream disposals There are basically six steps on waste cycle encompassing: inception, collection, transport, treatment, hazards and disposal. The step that was considered on this section was the final disposal and its considerations.

One of the possibilities for disposing the waste is landfill, that according to Jeswani (2016) even being one of the least favourable option for discharging waste, it’s still one of the main choices for the final disposal in many countries. There are some specifications for the landfill region that vary within each region, for example, the location has to be 45km from the urban region, there is the production of biogas also the maintenance of the site.

Other practice for disposal is the incineration, in which is required a preparation of, not only the site but also, the construction of the structure that will be developed the incineration itself. According to Jeswani (2016), the location is away from the urban region as in the landfill, a construction is built for burning the waste, there is treatment for the gas emitted and recycling of the materials that could damage the environment.

From those methods, the best one is the incineration, as presented on the study developed by Jeswani (2016) as the incineration has much lower impact than the landfill, when compared in 11 categories, incineration had better results in 10 of those.

Alternatives disposal Considering the improvement of environmental quality, the recycling has an important role when discussing waste disposal, as through these processes, there will be minimum disposal with the return of waste with a new shape to the environment. Recycling activities can be related to the development of employment, as according to Gandy (1994) some locations, such as Hamburg and other major cities provided work for excluded people from the highly skilled labour market.

Zero-waste is an alternative that focus not on the care with the final disposal but with on reducing its production. According to Sheehan and Spiegelman (2010) zerowaste aims to prevent the waste production instead of managing. It’s an approach that considers the global scale of resources flows instead of considering only the local as cited by Pincetl et. al. (2013).

2.3 Consumerism Life Style According to the Cambridge Dictionary, consumerism regarding politics means the state of an advanced industrial society in which lots of goods are bought; having a second meaning that is pejorative, disapproving a situation in which too much attention is given to buying and owing things. In agreement, Lodziak (2002) stated that consumerism is expressed accordingly with culture that keeps looking for meaning also Vergragt et. al. (2016) discussed that consumerism implementation on society had a social effect changing economy, infrastructure, land use, institutions, lifestyles and culture itself. Therefore, from those definitions it’s possible to refer that this lifestyle is directly connected with economy, media & advertisement and environment.

Economy Having the two Revolutions, Industrial and Technological, as a gear for boosting efficiency, mass production and processes automation; while both Informational and Digital Revolution remained responsible for the improvement of communication technologies in the Information Era. The technological improvement leaded to massive changes and encouraged the purchase of goods and services as consumers wanted to improve their goods technology in parallel with the improvement of technology. Increasing mass consumption and discharge of products with the constant change for new ones. In addition to that, there are some aspects that affected the growing technological process: scheduled obsolescence and overproduction.

According to Lodziak (2002), the scheduled obsolescence is the limited life of products which are produced to be discharged in a time soon; increasing their prices however remaining with the same value and harming the environment due to the constant change of products. Having the scheduled obsolescence, technologies that are currently being sell on the market are already over-dated as for the industry it’s interesting to reduce the durability of a product, therefore reducing the time that this product is used by the consumer, developing a need to purchase the newest release products frequently; keeping on stock the newest technology, allowing the customer

to have products that were invented a while ago. Whilst overproduction is capable of dramatically reduce the price of products having a cost – individuals being underpaid, working on slavery conditions – also building up the concept that due to abundance of offered products their value is reduced. Therefore, those two aspects lead to an unhealthy approach to consume, in which there is always a need to upgrade the products as there is always something new available in a very short period of time and a lack of consciousness from product-value and to the life cycle of products, without considering the time that it would take to reuse or give a new characterisation to the product and the conditions that those products were developed. The unhealthy approach to consume has massive consequences, not only directly to the consumer but also in different aspects, such as harming the environment. In agreement, Hamilton (2010) stated that the symbols hidden in each product have psychological meaning however those are not capable to provide fulfilment, being this only temporary.

In addition to that, there is the overproduction, which combined to the scheduled obsolescence is a key to industries approach consumers. In economy, overproduction means that an excess of products was supplied over a demand of offered products on the market. This scenario causes the reduction of products prices and unsold goods, possibly leading to unemployment. Followed by overproduction crisis, in which the consumption of offered products is diminished, having as a result the reduce of profit. According to Marx (1883), the improvement of technology and the raise of productivity increases the use value of material (utility of consuming a good – the satisfying power of a good or service in the classical political economy) inside the society, having concomitantly decreasing the economic value of the same material. Hence, lowering the income proportion, causing a contradiction, in which there are labour looking for job and there is poverty in the middle of abundance, characterising the overproduction crisis in paradox with the under-consumption.

Effects of consumerism Consumption without consciousness is harmful in many aspects, one of those is the environment, as according to Lodziak (2002), the production of crops in the developing world is only being developed to feed the fine tastes of the first world; having lands of the third world been destroyed only for the first world fulfilment. The rampant consumerism affects mostly the environment that suffers with over extraction of materials without concerning with the future and the long-lasting sources available, as time goes by, more and more resources are becoming extinguished; in addition to that, ecosystems are being modified due to the aggressive extraction of materials and animals. The demand for specific foods are changing the diet of animals itself, in which they consume other animals that

wouldn’t in the regular chain, they are only consuming then as it has a demand from consumers.

In addition to the environment, there is an aspect among many others to be consider that are children and its relation with consumerism. This correlation is problematic as they are easily deceived by the advertisements. According to Schor (2016), the advertisement for kids was before directed to the mothers, as they were mainly responsible for the care of the kids around 1950s, so the industry aimed to seduce the mothers, so they could want the kids to have those toys. However, it has changed, the industry found ways to directly advertise their products to the kids, having a more aggressive approach to them as they have less discernment on the product quality. Due to the design attractiveness, apart from its content the kids will develop a desire for it. For instance, collections that have lots of little toys that don’t have any educational content, are just garbage, violent or sexist. Most of industries, considering the products that they advertise, cares only about its profit and not with the content that it’s being sold.

The main issue of advertisement directed to children is that the products announced to them are mostly harmful to their health. it’s either junkie food or violent or dangerous toys. There are hundreds of collections with an enormous lack of content either culture, industry are offering poor objects, which won’t help on the child development in any sense, neither physical, emotional, or educational. It’s just colourful and meaningless garbage. Attempting to please and satisfy an immediate need of the children, the parents buy those dreadful things until another advertise hook them up, on this, apparently, infinite cycle.

The publicity its harmful to children and its as aggressive to adults, as there are many options of everything you have never imagined out there and you must have them now! As it’s a sale and tomorrow that beautiful item won’t be available as it was made in small quantities, it’s very exclusive and everyone wants to be part on the exclusive people.

2.4 Minimalism Philosophy Minimalism it’s a post-war art expression that started in the United States of America in the beginning of 60s, questioning how artists were dealing with art, leading their creation to become academic or old fashioned. The movement had this entitlement due to the artists approach to art: using a reduced range of colours, shapes, lines and textures for expressing their selves. As describe by Angela Pollak, the term minimalism was originated in the early to mid-twentieth century in the fields of art, literature and architecture as a way of describing a design philosophy that encourages using “the minimum means necessary to achieve a desired result” (OED

Online, 2016a). The Minimalist movement was also criticising other aspects of art, such as dance and music, as both were performing as the world of arts – full of decoration and repetition. The concept of the 1960s minimalist artists from its art movement is related to the contemporary movement, that develops a critique on the main lifestyle – consumerism – in which, people are focusing on buying, owing and accumulating stuff rather than focusing on the meaning involved in the act of purchasing a good.

On the Minimalism documentary, it conceptualises it as a lifestyle in which people would have less – less stress, less debt, less discontent; which will lead to a life with more – more time, more contribution, more joy, being also contemplated by Schnee whom described Minimalism as the actual chance for pursuing happiness, that the idea goes further than just purchasing less stuff, it’s broaden to following your passion and having only what is essential for achieving your goals and happiness.

Therefore, this lifestyle opposes to the rampant consumerism, as living as a minimalist you would consume and have only what adds value into your life; without filling the physical space with stuff that are just complementing the void, as stated on the Minimalism documentary that this philosophy explores. The documentary stresses this idea stating that it appreciates people and experiences, instead of stuff, there is no need of filling the house with furniture and utensils that would be forgotten in the drawer, but to use money for something that has actual meaning.

Fathalizadeh discussed that the idea is simplistic, being a minimalist will enable people to be more productive through doing less.

According to the documentary, this lifestyle increases the consciousness of people regarding life, not only what they’re buying also to relationships, item, money spent, any kind of decision, therefore, there is no formula to become a minimalist, there is only the development of consciousness on what entries in your life – it could be anything, from groceries to relationships. In short, it’s not only related to consume in the financial aspect, it relates to life as a whole. The awareness existing on this movement is the key to deconstruct the habits and the emotions that lead us to keep buying stuff to fill the emptiness, not only in our houses, but in ourselves.

Environment The over and predatory extraction of natural resources from their original location aiming to produce goods has considerably reduced their existence or extinguished some of them. Being this one of the main issue for the environment due to the rampant consumerism and its lack of concern with the environment; even in some cases having an attempt to replace what was taken from nature, the damage it’s done.

The minimalist lifestyle benefits those who adopted the lifestyle also the environment. However, it’s not interesting for the media and the industry that people embrace this lifestyle and live a life in which they would buy less and people developed consciousness on what is being purchased. Their survive remains on the fall of the planet, which is an irony as those who belong to industry and media are also part of this planet, the issue is the short-term mentality in which there is no concern with the environment destruction.

Improving from art style to lifestyle, Minimalism have been questioning different aspects of life that would improve the environment conditions due to Minimalism is housing, in which there are people defend living in minimal spaces, as many spaces of the idealised houses are rarely used: “Nobody uses a dining room. No one uses the living room,” David Friedlander said in the documentary. “It creates a big vacuum that you have to fill.” The ideal house that was sold by media was the one in the American Dream: a suburb house with white fence having a huge front and backyard, due to its broad media influence it has affected many other cultures. Even being an over-dated concept, it still has effect on society as the big space is seen as richness, though is not true. The size of the house is not connected with the financial situation of the owners, as it’s possible to be financial stable without the concern of owing a huge property.

In short, this lifestyle affects positively and directly the environment, increasing the consciousness of people, reducing the extraction of natural resources and improving the quality of the environment, wildlife and the people whom embraced this lifestyle and those who haven’t, as the environmental improvements would be available for everyone.

Meaningful life Western society model of living aims to achieve an abundant lifestyle, in which, people have stuff in large amounts, this idea contradicts the proposal of living with less, as having less is seen as poverty, when sometimes is not the case as stated by Angela Pollak on Information seeking and use in the context of minimalist lifestyles: “Having less in Western society generally means being poor, and vice versa. One concept in particular that challenges the connection between less and poor is minimalism. Minimalism encompasses a range of lifestyles that place a high value on living with less”. Media and advertisement have been developing a significant role, presenting consumerism as a better lifestyle, in their opinion. Minimalism is an alternative to what is out there, that focus on the environment and personal fulfilment to deconstruct the concept that having more means wealth and less is poor.

Choosing this alternative, we care more about people than stuff, achieving then, fulfilment through awakening for the current situation that we’re living in. This lifestyle is presented as a choice for what have started in the Industrial Revolution with the mass production, that reduced drastically the price of goods, increased the number of things available and allowed workers to purchase more stuff.

One of the main changes to Minimalism is regarding the financial situation, in which, on the consumerist lifestyle, money is spent due to the appealing sales and advertisement that develop the urge on people for buying more than they actually need. Minimalism it’s logically a more applicable lifestyle as changing the approach to purchase goods and services, it would have benefits not only for the individual itself also for their savings and it would increase the quality of the environment, as within time industries would ended up decreasing their production.

3. METHODOLOGY Selection of case study Considering the improvements that Urban Metabolism analysis enabled regarding urban quality, sustainability and others, this section compared the waste management of three regions of Perth. The following locations are the study object: The City of Perth, City of Stirling and City of Armadale. The locations were selected for comparison due to the buy and rent prices, as those places have little in common allowing more possibilities for the discussion of the data presented.

City Of Perth Located in the heart of Western Australia Capital in the Central Perth region, this City has a population of 21.092 (2015), density of 1054,07/km2 and area of 20,01 km2.

The following suburbs are included in the area: Perth, Crawley, East Perth, West Perth (parts of those belong to City of Vincent), Nedlands, Subiaco (some regions are included at City of Subiaco) and Northbridge. The surroundings are the following Cities: Cambridge, Vincent, Subiaco, Belmont, Nedlands, South Perth and Victoria Park. The site described is presented on the map below:

Figure 2 – Boundaries of City of Perth. Source: City of Perth.

City of Stirling Located in the North Metropolitan region of Perth, this City has a population of 227.566 (2015), density of 2.163/km2 and area of 105,2 km2.

The following suburbs are included in the area: Balcatta, Balga, Carine, Churchlands, Coolbinia, Dianella, Doubleview, Glendalough, Gwelup, Hamersley, Inglewood, Innaloo, Joondanna, Karrinyup, Menora, Mirrabooka, Mount Lawley, Nollamara, North Beach, Herdsman, Osborne Park, Scarborough, Stirling, Trigg, Tuart Hill, Watermans Bay, Wembley, Wembley Downs, Westminster, Woodlands and Yokine. On the surrounding, there are the following Cities: Joondalup, Wanneroo, Swan, Bayswater, Vincent, Cambridge and Indian Ocean. The site described is presented on the map below:

Figure 3 – Boundaries of City of Stirling. Source: Google Maps, edited by the author, 2017.

City of Armadale Located in the South East Metropolitan region of Perth, this City has a population of 80.287 (2015), density of 143,498/km2 and area of 559,5 km2.

Figure 4 – Boundaries of City of Armadale. Source: Google Maps, edited by the author, 2017.

The City of Armadale highlighted on the above map has the following suburbs included on its area: Armadale, Ashendon, Bedfordale, Brookdale, Camillo, Champion Lakes, Forrestdale, Harrisdale, Haynes, Hilbert, Karragullen, Kelmscott, Lesley, Mount Nasura, Mount Richon, Piara Waters, Roleystone, Seville Grove and Wungong. The cities located in the surrounds are: Gosnells, Kalamunda, York, Beverley, Wanderign, Spertine – Jarrahdale, Kwinana and Cockburn.

Zoning and Index Maps The following maps are the Planning Town Scheme Produced by GeoSpatial Planning Support and the Department of Planning. In those are presented the region scheme, the local scheme and other categories. Being presented the uses developed in the locations.

Figure 5 – Zoning map of City of Perth. Source: Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage. City of Perth City Planning Scheme No 2. Edited by the author, 2017.

Figure 6 – Index map of City of Perth. Source: Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage. City of Perth City Planning Scheme No 2.

Figure 7 – Zoning map City of Stirling. Source: Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage. City of Stirling City Planning Scheme No 3. Edited by the author, 2017.

Figure 8 – Index map City of Stirling. Source: Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage. City of Stirling City Planning Scheme No 3. Edited by the author, 2017.

Figure 9 – Zoning map City of Armadale. Source: Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage. City of Armadale City Planning Scheme No 4. Edited by the author, 2017.

Figure 10 - Index map City of Armadale Source: Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage. City of Armadale City Planning Scheme No 4.

Data collection

Data collection The information presented below was gather through information provided by the real state site that shown data of buying and rent from the locations previously described also data collected with the questionnaire applied to each Waste Department of Cities. The real state values give an economical perspective while the information provided by the Waste Departments enabled an urban metabolism overview of the regions through a comparison of the waste management.

The differences between the regions allow a general understanding of the behaviour of Western Australia’s Capital, mainly, in the economic and environmental aspects.

Considering the values of buying and selling houses, the purchasing power of people can be estimated, as those values are weekly paid. Therefore, it is possible to have a better understanding of those regions through their economic situation according to the property rent and buying cost, as the values of rent and buy increase, it is estimated that the purchasing power of the inhabitants of the place raises altogether, as the opposite would also apply. The survey answered by the Waste Department of the Cities provided an overview of the waste in those locations and enabled an analysis of the behaviour of each area, also a comparison that could deepened the understand on the Urban Metabolism of Perth as a whole.

According to the real state site, the medium property price is the following: Price for buying a house according to the number of bedrooms: Location Perth Stirling Armadale

2BR

3BR

4BR

Average

$716.875

$900.000

$942.000

$860.000

-

$615.000

$845.000

$817.500

$240.000

$260.000

$300.000

$265.000

(BR) stands for bedrooms.

(-) means insufficient data available, less than 10 properties on the 12 months of analysis.

Table 1 – Buy house according to the number of bedrooms. Source: Real state site. Developed by the author,2017.

Price for renting a house according to the number of bedrooms – value per week: Location Perth Stirling Armadale

2BR

3BR

4BR

Average

$455 PW

$525 PW

-

$460 PW

-

$370 PW

$550 PW

$450 PW

$220 PW

$260 PW

$300 PW

$260 PW

(BR) stands for bedrooms, (PW) stands for per week.

(-) means insufficient data available, less than 10 properties on the 12 months of analysis.

Table 2 – Rent house according to the number of bedrooms. Source: Real state site. Developed by the author, 2017.

The survey developed with the Waste Department of the Cities of Perth, Stirling and Armadale provided the following information:

Waste and Recycling collection – How much weight of waste is collected weekly?

How much weight of recycled waste is weekly collected?

Location

Waste

Recycling

Perth*

306 ton/week

50 ton/week**

Stirling

785 ton/week

870 ton/fortnight

Armadale

510 ton/week

110 ton/week

(*) Perth values for waste and recycling includes residential, commercial, public space and event waste. (**) Specifically being 34t of commingled recycling, 13t of paper/cardboard per week and 3t of green waste per fortnight from residential properties only.

Table 3 – Waste and Recycling collection of Cities of Perth, Stirling and Armadale. Source: Waste Department of Perth, Stirling and Armadale. Developed by the author, 2017.

Transport – Where the waste is transported to after its collection?

Perth Stirling Armadale

The waste is taken to Tamala Park Landfill and operated by Mindarie Regional Council (MRC) All regular waste is transported to Landfill and the recycled is taken to a processing plant in Brika Lake Armadale Landfill and recycling Facility and recycling to Cleanaways’s Material Recovery Facility in South Guildford

Table 4 – Waste transportation after collection. Source: Waste Department of Cities of Perth, Stirling and Armadale. Developed by the author, 2017.

Reuse – There is any reuse of the waste collected?

Perth

Stirling Armadale

There is minimal reuse of the waste collected. MRC separate out mattresses for recycling and other large items. However, if their service users place items in their waste bin, all the waste end up in the landfill The recycled material it’s approximately 85.1% None, this waste is deposited on the Landfill

Table 5 – Reuse of waste. Source: Waste Department of Cities of Perth, Stirling and Armadale. Developed by the author, 2017.

Streets cleaning – Beyond truck collection, there is any other kind of cleaning provided by the city for wipe streets and clean the falling leaves?

Perth

Street cleaning fleet of both road and footpath sweeper that operate every day, these machines mechanically collect all debris on roads and footpaths, primarily litter and plant debris.

Stirling

Road sweepers operated through the engineering Department

Armadale

The city collects waste from parks and the illegally disposed on verge, also sweeps streets and does tree pruning

Table 6 – Streets cleaning. Source: Waste Department of Cities of Perth, Stirling and Armadale. Developed by the author, 2017.

Residential Waste Transport – Where the residential waste is transported to?

Perth Stirling Armadale

Tamala Park Landfill Capital Recycling Armadale Landfill and Recycling Facility

Table 7 – Transport of residential waste. Source: Waste Department of Cities of Perth, Stirling and Armadale.

Developed by the author, 2017.

Municipal Collection - There is a municipal collection where all the collection from the city is transferred to? Such as landfill, incineration, recycling?

Perth Stirling Armadale

Balcatta Recycling Centre Capital Recycling Waste that is not economically recycled is taken to Armadale Landfill, green waste is chipped and used as much, metal and other recyclables items are recycled, hazardous material, waste oil and coolant is appropriately recycled or processed.

Table 8 – Municipal waste collection. Source: Waste Department of Cities of Perth, Stirling and Armadale.

Developed by the author, 2017.

Exceptional collection and electronics – There is any special collection of other waste, such as electronics?

Perth Stirling Armadale

Battery, hazardous waste and e-waste E-waste, mattresses from residents demands and green waste collections from them inter E-waste is accepted at the Armadale Landfill and Recycling Facility.

There is also a Tip Shop and a collection location for household hazardous materials

Table 9 – Exceptional collection and electronics. Source: Waste Department of Perth, Stirling and Armadale.

Developed by the author, 2017.

Waste on verge – What is the city approach to waste on the verge? There is a specific date or people leave it to others collect?

Perth Stirling Armadale

Biannually collected On demand of the residents Scheduled verge collection with one junk collection and two green waste collections per year

Table 10 – Collection of waste on the verge. Source: Waste Department of Cities of Perth, Stirling and Armadale.

Developed by the author, 2017.

Data analysis According to the real state site, Perth has the highest values, Stirling presented the middle price while Armadale, the lowest. The comparison was divided in three parts: among the highest values, the extremes – highest and the lowest, lastly the middle and the lowest value, leading to the development of graphics built through its discussion. Considering that the analysed locations belong to an urban region, those values are correspondent to the economical distribution within the neighbourhoods, in which the city centre is highly valued due to the advantages of easily movement in the surrounding areas in any direction, the other neighbours have their values through the same logistics.

→ Economical analysis On this analysis, the economic data discussed if there was any correlation within the property value and the amount of waste produced in those regions, in addition to the zoning maps that were considered on the comparison to validated if the location of the distinct areas could affect the amount of waste produced.

Analysing table 1 and 2, we can refer that the values of the prices of houses according to the location, have the same logistics as the city centre, which is more expansive than the other regions as those are getting further away from the centre, their value decrease. Therefore, the average house price for renting and buying on the city centre is the most expansive, followed by the northern location and lastly the south east peripheral as the cheapest place for either buying or locating a house.

The graphic below shows the comparison between the locations. Showing how many times one location is more expansive than the other, according to the price to buy a house given on table 1:

Graphic 1 – Comparison: medium house selling price. Source: Real state. Developed by the author, 2017.

Graphic 1 presents the comparison of the locations within pars, being the number of bedrooms represented on the x axis and on the y axis there are the number of times that it’s more expansive to buy a house in a location compare to other. According to the graphic 1 is possible to notice the discrepancy of prices among the locations, enabling to affirm that the purchasing power of those living the central and northern regions are more empowered than those living on the southern east.

The yellow section of the graphic presents the comparison among Armadale and Perth, in which Armadale is a peripheral neighbourhood and has the lowest value for buying a house. In the comparison, it’s possible to see that the 3 bedrooms’ house is 3.46 times more expansive in Perth, the 4 bedrooms is 3.14 times and the average value is 3.24 times. Having the value of the 4 bedrooms being estimated to develop the comparison.

The case of Stirling and Armadale is represented on the orange section, in which the value of all comparison increased, as the discrepancies are increasing; the 3 bedrooms is 2.36 more valuable in the northern region, the 4 bedrooms is 2.81 more expansive and the average value is 3.08 in general compared to Armadale.

Analysing the richest areas, the values decrease, as those are getting similar.

Therefore, the 3 bedrooms’ house is 1.46 more expansive in Perth, the 4 bedrooms is 1.11 and the average value is 1.05 times of Perth.

→ Environmental and Zoning Analysis From the table 3, that contains the values of regular waste and recycling of the analysed cities, it’s possible to develop an environmental analysis of the sites.

The graphic below is a visual representation of table 3, that shows the comparison between the locations within their weekly production of waste and recycling, according to the data collect on table 3:

Graphic 2 – Weekly production of waste. Survey developed with Waste Management Department of cities.

Developed by the author,2017.

According to the graphic, it’s possible to discuss that City of Perth has the lowest production of waste, either for regular or recycling due to the small population and for being mainly a commercial area. Bearing in mind that commercial regions have lower production of waste compared to residential ones, due to their type of consume and the time spent. While City of Stirling has the highest production for both types of waste analysed as it has the biggest population and it’s located in a primarily residential area with the second highest purchasing power. The case of City of Armadale which is the region with the regular production is almost as high as Stirling due it’s medium population amount also for being a region mainly residential.

However, when it comes to recycling waste, these values fall exponentially, this could be due to the lack of management of the City or lack consciousness of population for recycling and other reasons.

The values for waste shows the waste collected in the City of Perth as the lowest, not only for being the place with the smallest population also due to its zoning that, according to figure 5. This City has a considerable commercial area, which reduces the quantity of waste produced, as residential waste compared to commercial has an amount higher when compared, for highlight this fact, it can be noticed the value of waste produced from the City of Stirling. When considering the City of Armadale, a peripheral urban region that is principally residential, having great area and large population, the values for regular and recycling waste are too discrepant.

→ Crossed analysis Aiming to provide an economic, environmental and zoning crossed analysis, to provide more than focused analysis and having a broader view of the whole capital of the Western Australia Capital.

Through the economic analysis, it’s possible to discuss that the city centre is more valuable than the peripheral area, having the northern area in between. From the environmental and zoning analysis, the production of waste from City of Perth it’s the lowest in both kinds of waste production for being a commercial location with low population, while Stirling has the highest production on a residential area with a large population and Armadale stands in the middle for being a residential area with middle population. Crossing the economic analysis with the other analysis is possible to refer that the amount of money is connected with waste production, however not only this aspect is to be consider. Therefore, it makes sense that the locations with higher purchasing power have a bigger production of waste, only when considering the zoning as well, those values change.

In short, the economic power of a location it’s related to the site production, in addition to the zoning that changes the amount of waste produced as it varies with the zone in the region.

4. FINDINGS/DISCUSSION The information gather only considers the physical and material aspects of the environment: zoning, population, waste production and purchasing power; the analysis of those elements altogether shows that by changing one of those parameters, it directly affects the dynamic of any region, shaping the reality.

Aiming to reduce the production of waste in Australia and considering the information gather, it seems that there is a possible path to follow for achieving the reduction of waste produced.

Analysing the aspects one by one, starting with the zoning, it can be noticed that according to the location zone, the production of waste will vary. It was presented that the commercial area had lower production of waste. The City of Perth that have a considerable small value of waste collection either on regular or recycling. The importance of the type of zoning is that by providing distinct kinds of zoning for the City provides smaller values of focused waste production. Compared to residential location that have higher waste production. Therefore, through zoning it would be interesting for the city to rearrange the uses in the city making it more diverse.

The second aspect to be consider is the economical, in which as higher the purchasing power, as higher the amount of waste produced. On this aspect, the possible path to lead to a reduction is the minimalism that was previously consider, in which the mindset of people would be shifted from rampant consumers to minimalists. The idea is to not connect the purchasing power to consume, changing the idea that buying more leads to fulfilment.

The environmental is a consequence from those aspects, as through a different zoning and consume, the environmental would only have benefits. However, it’s not that simple to take those steps and reduce the waste production, there are lots of politics to be taken and development of consciousness.

5. RECOMMENDATION/CONCLUSION Reviewing the previous topics, it is possible to notice that there is a connection among them, in which, Minimalism is an alternative to Consumerism that also would affect positively the Waste Management of cities and lastly, it could improve the Urban Metabolism.

Although there are many fields researching the metabolism of cities, there are few agreements regrading this topic, as the perspectives changes according to the study field, being developed them many gray areas in those discussions. This paper focused on Urban Design and Planning in all the circumstances.

There are still many research to be developed in those fields due to the complexity and range of the subjects studied, being this only an introduction to those, covering the concepts. In the research context, the paper presents a new perspective to understand these topics relating them, as was never presented before.

Progressing with the research will provide a positive impact on the environment and society, as this could lead to an effective management of waste and not only that, also to a better planning for further designs. It is still a long way to cross, though it could be possible with research and practical applications from governmental and private institutions.

In short, it is required to develop further studies on those fields, connecting them aiming to improve life quality in urban cities.

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