Mapping material stocks of buildings and mobility infrastructure in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland
Journal article, 2024
Understanding the size and spatial distribution of material stocks is crucial for sustainable resource management and climate change mitigation. This study presents high-resolution maps of buildings and mobility infrastructure stocks for the United Kingdom (UK) and the Republic of Ireland (IRL) at 10 m, combining satellite-based Earth observations, OpenStreetMaps, and material intensities research. Stocks in the UK and IRL amount to 19.8 Gigatons or 279 tons/cap, predominantly aggregate, concrete and bricks, as well as various metals and timber. Building stocks per capita are surprisingly similar across medium to high population density, with only the lowest population densities having substantially larger per capita stocks. Infrastructure stocks per capita decrease with higher population density. Interestingly, for a given building stock within an area, infrastructure stocks are substantially larger in IRL than in the UK. These maps can provide useful insights for sustainable urban planning and advancing a circular economy.
Sustainable resource use
Material stocks
Sustainability
Earth observation
Sentinel-2
Sentinel-1
Social metabolism
Infrastructure mapping
Author
Dominik Wiedenhofer
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences
Franz Schug
University of Wisconsin Madison
Humboldt University of Berlin
Hannes Gauch
University of Cambridge
Maud Lanau
Chalmers, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Building Technology
University of Sheffield
Michal P. Drewniok
University of Bath
University of Leeds
André Baumgart
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences
Doris Virág
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences
Harry Watt
University of Sheffield
André Cabrera Serrenho
University of Cambridge
Danielle Densley Tingley
University of Sheffield
H. Haberl
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences
David Frantz
University of Trier
Humboldt University of Berlin
Resources, Conservation and Recycling
09213449 (ISSN) 18790658 (eISSN)
Vol. 206 107630Driving Forces
Sustainable development
Subject Categories (SSIF 2011)
Civil Engineering
Earth and Related Environmental Sciences
DOI
10.1016/j.resconrec.2024.107630