# Urban metabolism
## MicroSim spec
### Parameters (tunable controls)
- `Material inflow` · 0–100 · resources entering the city per period
- `Recycling rate` · 0–1 · fraction of waste fed back into stocks
- `Population scale` · 1–10 · multiplier on consumption and output flows
### What animates
Material and energy tokens flow into city stocks and out as waste, with a recycling loop.
### Learning objective
Show how material and energy flow through a city and how recycling closes loops.
## Links (Wikipedia order)
<!-- injected from _registry/childlinks/Urban_metabolism.json (2026-07-30T02:09:12Z) -->
`Abel_Wolman` · [[Agent-based_model]] · `Agroecology` · [[Alexander_Bogdanov]] · [[Allenna_Leonard]] · [[Anatol_Rapoport]] · [[Anthony_Wilden]] · `Anthropogenic_metabolism` · `Anthrozoology` · `Atmospheric_science` · [[Barbara_J._Grosz]] · `Behavioral_geography` · `Biogeochemistry` · [[Biological_system]] · `Biology` · [[Béla_H._Bánáthy]] · [[C._West_Churchman]] · [[Charles_A._S._Hall]] · [[Chemistry]] · `Circular_economy` · [[Claude_Shannon]] · `Cleaner_production` · `Climate_change` · `Community_studies` · [[Complex_system]] · [[Control_theory]] · `Cost–benefit_analysis` · [[Coupled_human–environment_system]] · `Cradle-to-cradle_design` · [[Cybernetics]] · `DPSIR` · `Dematerialization_(economics)` · `Dematerialization_(products)` · `Demography` · [[Donella_Meadows]] · [[Doubling_time]] · `EIO-LCA` · `Earth_science` · [[Earth_system_science]] · [[Earth_systems_engineering_and_management]] · `Eco-efficiency` · `Eco-industrial_development` · `Eco-industrial_park` · `Ecolabel` · `Ecological_anthropology` · `Ecological_design` · `Ecological_economics` · [[Ecological_engineering]] · [[Ecological_footprint]] · `Ecological_modernization` · [[Ecology]] · `Economic_system` · `Ecopsychology` · [[Ecosystem]] · [[Edsger_W._Dijkstra]] · [[Edward_Norton_Lorenz]] · `Efficient_energy_use` · `Emergy` · [[Energy]] · `Energy_conservation` · `Energy_economics` · `Energy_policy` · `Environmental_anthropology` · `Environmental_chemistry` · `Environmental_communication` · `Environmental_crime` · `Environmental_degradation` · `Environmental_design` · `Environmental_economics` · `Environmental_education` · [[Environmental_engineering]] · `Environmental_epidemiology` · `Environmental_ethics` · `Environmental_full-cost_accounting` · `Environmental_health` · `Environmental_history` · `Environmental_humanities` · `Environmental_impact_assessment` · `Environmental_justice` · `Environmental_law` · `Environmental_management_system` · `Environmental_planning` · `Environmental_policy` · `Environmental_politics` · `Environmental_psychology` · `Environmental_racism` · `Environmental_remediation` · `Environmental_science` · `Environmental_social_science` · `Environmental_sociology` · `Environmental_soil_science` · `Environmental_statistics` · `Environmental_studies` · `Environmental_technology` · `Environmental_toxicology` · [[Eric_Trist]] · `Ethnobiology` · `Ethnobotany` · `Ethnoecology` · `Ethnozoology` · `Exergy` · `Extended_producer_responsibility` · `Fisheries_management` · `Forestry` · [[Francisco_Varela]] · `Fred_Emery_(psychologist)` · `Friedrich_Engels` · `Geodesy` · [[George_Dantzig]] · [[George_Klir]] · `Glossary_of_environmental_science` · `Green_chemistry` · `Green_criminology` · `Greenhouse_gas_emissions` · [[Gregory_Bateson]] · [[Heinz_von_Foerster]] · `Herbert_Girardet` · [[Howard_T._Odum]] · `Human_ecology` · `Human_geography` · `Human_impact_on_the_environment` · [[Humberto_Maturana]] · `Hydrology` · [[Ilya_Prigogine]] · [[Industrial_ecology]] · `Industrial_metabolism` · `Industrial_symbiosis` · [[Information_system]] · `Input–output_model` · `Integrated_chain_management` · `Integrated_geography` · [[James_Grier_Miller]] · [[James_J._Kay]] · [[Jay_Wright_Forrester]] · [[Jennifer_Wilby]] · [[John_Seddon]] · [[Karl_Marx]] · [[Kathleen_Carley]] · [[Katia_Sycara]] · `Kenneth_E._Boulding` · [[Kevin_Warwick]] · `Land-use_planning` · `Landscape_architecture` · `Life-cycle_assessment` · `Life-cycle_cost_analysis` · [[Limiting_factor]] · `Limnology` · `List_of_environmental_degrees` · `List_of_environmental_journals` · `List_of_environmental_research_institutes` · `List_of_environmental_social_science_journals` · [[List_of_systems_sciences_organizations]] · `List_of_systems_scientists` · `List_of_years_in_the_environment` · [[Living_systems]] · [[Ludwig_von_Bertalanffy]] · [[Lydia_Kavraki]] · `MET_Matrix` · [[Manfred_Clynes]] · [[Manuela_M._Veloso]] · [[Margaret_Boden]] · [[Margaret_Mead]] · [[Mary_Cartwright]] · `Mass` · `Material_flow` · `Material_flow_analysis` · [[Mathematical_model]] · [[Mihajlo_D._Mesarovic]] · `Mike_Jackson_(systems_scientist)` · `MuSIASEM` · [[Multi-agent_system]] · [[Murray_Bowen]] · `Natural_resource_management` · [[Negative_feedback]] · [[Nervous_system]] · [[Niklas_Luhmann]] · [[Norbert_Wiener]] · `Occupational_safety_and_health` · `Oceanography` · `Patrick_Geddes` · `Permaculture` · [[Peter_Senge]] · [[Physics]] · `Political_ecology` · `Political_representation_of_nature` · `Polluter_pays_principle` · [[Positive_feedback]] · `Precautionary_principle` · [[Principia_Cybernetica]] · `Public_health` · `Public_transport` · [[Qian_Xuesen]] · [[Radhika_Nagpal]] · `Radioecology` · `Rebound_effect_(conservation)` · [[Recommender_system]] · `Recycling` · `Regional_planning` · `Regional_science` · `Renewable_energy` · `Road_ecology` · `Rural_sociology` · `Russell_L._Ackoff` · `Ruzena_Bajcsy` · `Science_studies` · `Scientific_modelling` · `Sewage_treatment` · `Sexecology` · `Social_geography` · `Social_metabolism` · `Social_system` · `Sociology` · [[Sociotechnical_system]] · `Solar_energy` · `Spatial_planning` · [[Stafford_Beer]] · `Stakeholder_analysis` · [[Stephanie_Forrest]] · `Sustainability` · `Sustainability_reporting` · `Sustainability_science` · `Sustainability_studies` · `Sustainable_architecture` · `Sustainable_development` · [[System]] · [[System_dynamics]] · `Systemics` · `Systems_analysis` · `Systems_art` · [[Systems_biology]] · [[Systems_ecology]] · [[Systems_engineering]] · [[Systems_neuroscience]] · [[Systems_pharmacology]] · `Systems_philosophy` · `Systems_psychology` · [[Systems_science]] · [[Systems_theory]] · `Systems_theory_in_anthropology` · [[Systems_theory_in_archaeology]] · [[Systems_theory_in_political_science]] · [[Systems_thinking]] · [[Talcott_Parsons]] · `Technogaianism` · `Thermoeconomics` · [[Twelve_leverage_points]] · `Urban_design` · `Urban_ecology` · `Urban_geography` · `Urban_planning` · `Urban_studies` · `Urbanization` · `Victor_Aladjev` · `Waste_hierarchy` · `Waste_management` · `Waste_minimisation` · `Waste_valorization` · `Water_purification` · `World-systems_theory`
## From the Real GENERATIVE library (beauty pass)
*Urban metabolism — animation hotlinked from Wikimedia Commons (via the Real G.E.N.E.R.A.T.I.V.E. course library, Engineering room). [Details & license](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Energy_Systems_Symbols_H.gif).*
*Urban metabolism — image hotlinked from Wikimedia Commons (via the Real G.E.N.E.R.A.T.I.V.E. course library, Engineering room). [Details & license](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MFASystem_1.png).*
> Urban metabolism (UM) is a model to facilitate the description and analysis of the flows of the materials and energy within cities, such as undertaken in a material flow analysis of a city. It provides researchers with a metaphorical framework to study the interactions of natural and human systems in specific regions.[1] From the beginning, researchers have tweaked and altered the parameters of the urban metabolism model. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_metabolism))
<!-- BEAUTY-PASS-MEDIA:END -->
> p5.js MicroSim stub · part of Systems Engineering · [Wikipedia source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_metabolism)
## Concept summary
Urban metabolism (UM) is a model to facilitate the description and analysis of the flows of the materials and [[Energy|energy]] within cities, such as undertaken in a material flow analysis of a city. It provides researchers with a metaphorical framework to study the interactions of natural and human systems in specific regions.
## Build checklist
- [ ] Claim it: set `status: in-progress` + `lease` + `leased_at`
- [ ] Write the child page explaining the concept (tie it back to Systems Engineering)
- [ ] Finalize parameter ranges and defaults
- [ ] Implement the p5.js sketch (drawing + control regions)
- [ ] Add caption + the learning objective on the page
- [ ] Set `status: done`
## p5.js sketch
```javascript
// MicroSim: Urban metabolism
const ARTICLE = "Urban_metabolism";
let p1, p2, p3;
function setup() {
createCanvas(720, 520);
pixelDensity(2);
// stock-flow sim — create the three sliders described above:
// Material inflow (0–100), Recycling rate (0–1), Population scale (1–10).
// TODO: build labelled sliders in the control region (below the drawing region).
}
function draw() {
background(248);
// TODO: read p1/p2/p3; render the stock-flow in the drawing region and respond live.
// TODO: HUD — title + en.wikitube.io/wiki/Urban_metabolism + control hints + live readouts.
}
```
---
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> *The semiotic universals this article invokes, machine-derived from the crossref — **unverified** (born so). Populated 2026-07-06 for the Systems room.*
**Universals (8):** 🟡 system (25) · 🟢 flow (23) · 🟢 energy (13) · 🟡 science (5) · 🟢 emergence (2) · 🟢 feedback (2) · 🟢 equilibrium (1) · 🟢 tradeoff balance (1)
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## Wikipedia : Wikitube
**Strict pair:** [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_metabolism) : [Wikitube](https://en.wikitube.io/wiki/Urban_metabolism)
## Previous hub tags
Tree parents: [[Agent-based_model]] · [[Control_theory]] · [[Cybernetics]] · [[Operations_research]] · [[Reliability_engineering]] · [[System_dynamics]] · [[Systems_engineering]] · [[Systems_science]] · [[Systems_theory]].
Legacy hubs: none.
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*Sources: 4 legacy notes. Minted wave 1, 2026-07-30 (v1.6 order).*