BANGALORE URBAN METABOLISM

The key policy tool that we will develop is a deliberative modeling framework - the metabolism framework - that will treat cities as living entities, that use energy and resources to generate useful products and waste What are the material and energy inputs that keep the city running? What are the waste products of the city? A pedagogical computer model will be built for Bangalore city - India's burgeoning software capital that serves as a poster-child of these problems - that will integrate diverse aspects of the urban environmental problem, and the diverse actors involved in crafting solutions. We bring together a strong, multidisciplinary team of ecological economists and environmental scientists from SEI and the Indian Institute of Management (IIM). Consumption data will be compared with social, economic and demographic information. Current and future development scenarios will be gauged against dimensions of economic efficiency, social equity and environmental sustainability.