Characterizing urban building metabolism with a 4D-GIS model: A case study in China

The continued and rapid urbanization of China has led to a large range of urban renewal activities, which have consumed large amounts of resources and generated a massive amount of waste. Therefore, how to recycle this waste, to alleviate the current shortage of resources, and to realize sustainable economic development has become an important issue. The present study established a '4D-GIS' model of Longwu Village in Shenzhen city, combining material flows and stocks analysis (MFSA) and geographic information systems (GIS) to illustrate the spatio-temporal patterns and material metabolism evolution of buildings. The results show that an accumulated amount of approximately 290 thousand metric tonnes (Kt) of building materials would be consumed, and 125 Kt of C&D waste would be generated from 2006 to 2022. This study also built a dynamic urban database of construction material metabolism and used a Web page as a data carrier and visual model display platform, which can provide a means of data acquisition and mining for planning departments and related stakeholders. Overall, this 4D-GIS model could promote the sound management of urban renewal projects, and then reduce the material consumption and increase the recycling rate of construction debris. In addition, this 4D-GIS model can be extended to the regional or city level to provide a basis for city planning and sustainable development. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.