Integrative technology hubs for urban food-energy-water nexuses and cost-benefit-risk tradeoffs (I): Global trend and technology metrics. Issue 13 (3rd June 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chang, Ni-Bin; Hossain, Uzzal; Valencia, Andrea; Qiu, Jiangxiao; Zheng, Qipeng P.; Gu, Lixing; Chen, Mengnan; Lu, Jia-Wei; Pires, Ana; Kaandorp, Chelsea; Abraham, Edo; ten Veldhuis, Marie-Claire; van de Giesen, Nick; Molle, Bruno; Tomas, Severine; Ait-Mouheb, Nassim; Dotta, Deborah; Declercq, Rémi; Perrin, Martin; Conradi, Léon; Molle, Geoffrey
• Is Part Of: Critical reviews in environmental science and technology. Volume 51:Issue 13(2021)
• Page Start: 1397
• Page End: 1442
• Publication Date: 2021-06-03
• Subjects: Cost-benefit-risk tradeoff -- food-energy-water nexus -- technology hubs integration; Pollution -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Environmental protection -- Periodicals; Environmental engineering -- Periodicals; Environmental health -- Periodicals; Nature -- Effect of human beings on -- Periodicals; 363.73
• DOI: 10.1080/10643389.2020.1759328
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1064-3389

Abstract

Abstract: The Food-Energy-Water (FEW) nexus for urban sustainability needs to be analyzed via an integrative rather than a sectoral or silo approach, reflecting the ongoing transition from separate infrastructure systems to an integrated social-ecological-infrastructure system. As technology hubs can provide food, energy, water resources via decentralized and/or centralized facilities, there is an acute need to optimize FEW infrastructures by considering cost-benefit-risk tradeoffs with respect to multiple sustainability indicators. This paper identifies, categorizes, and analyzes global trends with respect to contemporary FEW technology metrics that highlights the possible optimal integration of a broad spectrum of technology hubs for possible cost-benefit-risk tradeoffs. The challenges related to multiscale and multiagent modeling processes for the simulation of urban FEW systems were discussed with respect to the aspects of scaling-up, optimization process, and risk assessment. Our review reveals that this field is growing at a rapid pace and the previous selection of analytical methodologies, nexus criteria, and sustainability indicators largely depended on individual FEW nexus conditions disparately, and full-scale cost-benefit-risk tradeoffs were very rare. Therefore, the potential full-scale technology integration in three ongoing cases of urban FEW systems in Miami (the United States), Marseille (France), and Amsterdam (the Netherlands) were demonstrated in due purpose finally.