From flows to fiction: when urban metabolism reshapes our vision of the future
“ Measuring urban metabolism does more than simply describe reality: it demonstrates, through a forward-looking approach, that other worlds are indeed possible ”
- Publish On 27 March 2026
- Sabine Barles, Martine Drozdz
- 40 minutes
As part of the interdisciplinary research chair on City-Metabolism (PSL University), PCA-STREAM presents a dialogue between Sabine Barles, winner of the 2025 Grand Prix de l’urbanisme for her work on urban metabolism, Professor of Urban Planning and Development at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and researcher at the UMR Géographie-cités, and Martine Drozdz, PhD in Geography and Urban Planning, and a research fellow at the CNRS and the Maison française d’Oxford.
Their dialogue introduces the concept of urban metabolism and how measuring the flows into and out of cities enables us to gain a concrete understanding of how they function, to assess their environmental footprint and, perhaps, to influence the way they are managed. For, by integrating this data into holistic approaches, it becomes possible to simulate scenarios and confirm the viability of alternative trajectories. The figures are no longer mere numbers: they map out a landscape of possibilities on which multiple futures are already taking shape!
