Carolina Cardoso Pera Eboli
Urbanism
Metabolic Horizon: a regional strategy for Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Region’s (RMBH) wastewater and solid waste
This project explores relations between Urban Metabolism’s framework and regional planning in Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Area (RMBH) - Brazil, and possible solutions to promote sustainable development through a better management of resources. The starting point is the area’s rapid urbanization heritage and its main environmental pressures: wastewater and solid waste. Through the combination of territorial, policy and metabolic analysis, this research provides a new perspective on the urban comprehension of the region and identifies decentralization as main path to reduce current issues. The regional proposal embraces the flows perspective, creating 4 different and integrated decentral systems, applied in pre-defined regional clusters. It also explores the spatial implications of the proposed strategy, together with local governance and stakeholders with two test cases: Belo Horizonte and Ribeirão das Neves. Lastly, this research reflects upon the translation between theory and design, within the concept of Urban Metabolism, contributing to the academic field.