Research Statement

I study the relationship between human needs and wants, their associated anthropogenic metabolism, and the environmental impacts of the latter, in order to identify strategies for increasing quality of life while reducing resource consumption and environmental impacts.
My research focuses on the understanding of long-term changes in the anthropogenic metabolism, the characterization of stocks of products in use (secondary resource inventories), and the integration of modeling activities with urban design and decision-making processes through transdisciplinary case studies.

Modeling long-term changes in the anthropogenic metabolism:
Through empirical studies, I’m investigating the historical cycles of various materials on local, regional (e.g., national) and global scales. Changes in these historical cycles are used for more theoretical studies to identify long-term patterns and drivers (e.g., levels of services, technology, population, culturally shaped habits, geographic constraints) for material stocks and flows in different societies. These models are subsequently used to develop long-term scenarios for resource management.

Characterization of stocks of products in use (secondary resource inventories):
Of particular interest for my studies in resource management are the stocks of materials embodied in products in use. These stocks provide services to the users and therefore satisfy their needs and wants. At the same time, these stocks are reservoirs for future secondary resources (scrap); a better understanding of the quantities and qualities of in-use products is therefore essential for long-term prospects for increasing recycling. And, last but not least, in-use stocks also consume resources, for example when products in use are replaced to maintain or increase a certain level of service. The stocks of products in use are analyzed with bottom-up accounting or top-down modeling approaches.

Transdisciplinary learning:
The large resource management problems cannot be solved within the scientific community. I’m therefore ultimately interested to learn how mathematical models can be used best to support decision-making and urban design processes. In case studies in Switzerland and The Netherlands, we developed a framework for transdisciplinary learning (double-loop learning for urban planning), which helps project participants to collaborate more effectively, for example by identifying the complementary roles of design, modeling, and decision-making.

Topics

• Global Change Science and Policy
• Industrial Environmental Management
• Urban Ecology and Environmental Design