Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-8kt4b Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-14T09:33:05.618Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

12 - Nitrogen flows and fate in urban landscapes

from Part III - Nitrogen flows and fate at multiple spatial scales

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2011

By
Anastasia Svirejeva-Hopkins ,
Stefan Reis ,
Jakob Magid ,
Gabriela B. Nardoto ,
Sabine Barles ,
Alexander F. Bouwman ,
Ipek Erzi ,
Marina Kousoulidou ,
Clare M. Howard  and
Mark A. Sutton
Edited by
Mark A. Sutton ,
Clare M. Howard ,
Jan Willem Erisman ,
Gilles Billen ,
Albert Bleeker ,
Peringe Grennfelt ,
Hans van Grinsven  and
Bruna Grizzetti
Anastasia Svirejeva-Hopkins
Affiliation:
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
Stefan Reis
Affiliation:
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
Jakob Magid
Affiliation:
Copenhagen University
Gabriela B. Nardoto
Affiliation:
Universidade de Brasília
Sabine Barles
Affiliation:
Université Paris Est – LATTS
Alexander F. Bouwman
Affiliation:
Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency
Ipek Erzi
Affiliation:
TUBITAK Marmara Research Centre
Marina Kousoulidou
Affiliation:
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Clare M. Howard
Affiliation:
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
Mark A. Sutton
Affiliation:
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
Mark A. Sutton
Affiliation:
NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, UK
Clare M. Howard
Affiliation:
NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, UK
Jan Willem Erisman
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
Gilles Billen
Affiliation:
CNRS and University of Paris VI
Albert Bleeker
Affiliation:
Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands
Peringe Grennfelt
Affiliation:
Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL)
Hans van Grinsven
Affiliation:
PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency
Bruna Grizzetti
Affiliation:
European Commission Joint Research Centre
Get access

Summary

Executive summary

Nature of the problem

  • Although cities take only 1.5%–2% of the Earth's land surface, due to their dense population, settlement structure, transportation networks, energy use and altered surface characteristics, they dramatically change the regional and global nitrogen cycle. Cities import and concentrate Nr in the form of food and fuel, and then disperse it as air and water pollution to other ecosystems covering much larger areas.

Approaches

  • A mass-balance approach was used in order to quantify the fluxes of reactive nitrogen (Nr) in and out of cities.

  • Cities can be characterised either as a source of Nr (i.e. emitting large amounts as liquid or solid household waste, automobile exhaust, air pollution from power plants) or a sink of Nr (through importing more food, fossil fuels, etc., and having fewer emissions to the air and water).

  • Paris metropolitan area is used as a case study, which represents an evolving European capital with much available data.

Key findings/state of knowledge

  • The Paris Metropolitan Area changed from being a sink in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to a source of Nr today. Major changes in the city functioning occurred before 1950, but especially recent decades have been characterised by an unprecedented amplification of those changes.

  • […]

Type
Chapter
Information
The European Nitrogen Assessment
Sources, Effects and Policy Perspectives
 , pp. 249 - 270
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Asman, W. A. H., Sutton, M. A. and Schjørring, J. K. (1998). Ammonia: emission, atmospheric transport and deposition. New Phytologist, 139, 27–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atasoy, E., Murat, S., Baban, A. and Tiris, M. (2007). Membrane bioreactor treatment of segregated household wastewater for reuse. Clean, 35, 465–472.Google Scholar
Baker, L., Hoper, D., Xu, Y., Edmonds, J. and Lauver, L. (2001). Nitrogen balance for the Central Arizona–Phoenix (CAP) ecosystem. Ecosystems, 4, 582–602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barles, S. (2007). Feeding the city: food consumption and flow of nitrogen, Paris, 1801–1914. Science of the Total Environment, 375, 48–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barles, S. and Lestel, L. (2007). The nitrogen question: urbanization, industrialization, and river quality in Paris 1830–1939. Journal of Urban History, 33, 794–812.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bazilevich, N. I. (1979). Biogeochemisty of the Earth and functional models of exchange processes in natural ecosystems. In: Modern Concepts and Problem of BiogeochemistryProceedings of the Biogeochemical Laboratory, vol. 17, Nauka, Moscow, pp. 56–73.
Bazilevich, N. I. and Tytlanova, A. A. (2007). Biological Cycling on Five Continents: Nitrogen and Elements in Natural Ecosystems. Novosibinsk, Nauka (in Russian).
Beirle, S., Platt, U. and Wagner, T. (2004). Global Mean Tropospheric Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) Vertical Column Density (VCD) for Europe: Map. Institute for Environmental Physics, University of Heidelberg.
Beevers, S. D. and Carslaw, D. C. (2005). The impact of congestion charging on vehicle emissions in London. Atmospheric Environment, 39, 1–5.CrossRef
Bettencourt, L. M. A., Lobo, J., Helbing, Y., Kuchnert, C. and West, G. B. (2007). “Growth, innovations scale and the pace of life in cities”, Vol. 104, No. 17 pp. 7301–7306.
Billen, G., Barles, S., Garnier, J.et al. (2009). The food-print of Paris: long-term reconstruction of the nitrogen flows imported into the city from its rural hinterland. Regional Environmental Change, 9, 1436–1498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Billen, G., Silvestre, M., Grizzetti, B.et al. (2011). Nitrogen flows from European watersheds to coastal marine waters. In: The European Nitrogen Assessment, ed. Sutton, M. A., Howard, C. M., Erisman, J. W.et al. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bobbink, R. (1998). Impacts of tropospheric ozone and airborne nitrogenous pollutants on natural and seminatural ecosystems: a commentary. New Phytologist, 139, 161–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boussingault, J. B. (1858). Note relative à l'emploi industriel et domestique des eaux de puits de Paris. Gazette hebdomadaire de médecine et de chirurgie, 5, 507–508.Google Scholar
Cohen, J. E. (1995). Population growth and Earth's human carrying capacity. Science, 269, 341–346.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Demographia, (2009). World Urban Areas & Population Projections: 5th Comprehensive Edition (Revised April 2009). http://www.demographia.com (site accessed 30/07/2010).
Dumas, J. B. (1844). Essai de statique chimique des êtres organisés, 3rd edn. Paris.Google Scholar
Ridder, K., Lefebre, F., Adriaensen, S.et al. (2008). Simulating the impact of urban sprawl on air quality and population exposure in the German Ruhr area. II. Development and evaluation of an urban growth scenario. Atmospheric Environment, 42, 7070–7077.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
,EEA (2010). http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/figures (site accessed 30/07/2010).
Erisman, J.-W., Sutton, M. A., Galloway, J. and Klimont, Z. (2008). How a century of ammonia synthesis changed the world. Nature Geoscience, 1, 636–639.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faerge, J., Magid, J. and Vries, F. W. T. P. (2001). Urban nutrient balance for Bangkok. Ecological Modelling, 139, 63–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
,FAO Nutritional Studies no.24. http://www.fao.org/ (site accessed 30/07/2010).
,FAO Yearbook (2005/2006). http://www.fao.org/ (site accessed 30/07/2010).
Ferreira, J., Martins, H., Miranda, A. I. and Borrego, C. (2008). Population Exposure to Atmospheric Pollutants: The Influence of Urban Structure. Wessex Institute of Technology Publications.Google Scholar
Fowler, D., Flechard, C., Skiba, U., Coyle, M. and Cape, N. (1998). The atmospheric budget of oxidized nitrogen and its role in ozone formation and deposition. New Phytologist, 139, 11–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammer, M. J., McKichan, K. A. (1981). Hydrology and Quality of Water Resources. John Wiley, New York.
Henze, M., Loosdrecht, M. C. M., Ekama, G. A. and Brdjanovic, D. (eds.) (2008). Biological Wastewater Treatment: Principles, Modelling and Design.
Hertel, O., Reis, S. and Ambelas Skjøth, C.et al. (2011). Nitrogen processes in the atmosphere. In: The European Nitrogen Assessment, ed. Sutton, M. A., Howard, C. M., Erisman, J. W., et al. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hohenberg, P. M. and Hollen, L. (1985). The Making of Urban Europe, 1000–1950. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
,IPCC (2007). Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland.
Kaye, J. P., McCulley, R. and Burke, I. C.et al. (2005). Carbon fluxes, nitrogen cycling and soil micro-organisms in adjacent urban, native and agricultural ecosystems. Global Change Biology, 11, 575–587.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keuken, M. P., Jonkers, S., Wilmink, I. R. and Wesseling, J. (2010). Reduced NO2 and PM10 emissions on urban motorways in The Netherlands by 80 km/h speed management. Science of the Total Environment, 408, 2517–2526.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kousoulidou, J., Ntziachrios, L., Mellios, G. and Samaras, Z. (2008). Road transport emissions projections in European urban environments. Atmospheric Environment, 42, 7465–7475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeming, C.R. and Stenstrom, T. A. (2002). Faecal contamination of source-separated human urine based on the content of faecal sterols. Water Research, 36, 1965–1972.Google Scholar
Magid, J., Eilersen, A. M., Wrisberg, S. and Henze, M. (2006). Possibilities and barriers for recirculation of nutrients and organic matter from urban to rural areas: a technical theoretical framework applied to the medium-sized town Hillerod, Denmark. Ecological Engineering, 28, 44–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
,Mayor of London (2010). http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/strategies/air_quality/docs/chap_2.pdf
McPherson, E. G. (1998). Structure and sustainability of Sacramento's urban forest. Journal of Arboriculture, 24, 174–190.Google Scholar
Miksashevsky, N. V. and Korolkova, S. V. (2000). Clean Water Treatment Systems and Fitters. BHV–Petersburg, (in Russ.)
Moldanová, J., Grennfelt, P., Jonsson, Å. et al. (2011). Nitrogen as a threat to European air quality. In: The European Nitrogen Assessment, ed. Sutton, M. A., Howard, C. M., Erisman, J. W.et al. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Nowak, D. J.et al. (1997). Environmental and economic benefits of preserving forests within urban areas: air and water quality. In: de Brun, Constance, T. F. (ed.), The Economic Benefits of Lland Conservation. The Trust for Public Land, pp. 28–47.Google Scholar
Odum, H. T. (1973). Energy, ecology and economics. Ambio, 2, 220–227.Google Scholar
Oenema, O., Salomez, J., Branquinho, C.et al. (2011). Integrated approaches to nitrogen management. In: The European Nitrogen Assessment, ed. Sutton, M. A., Howard, C. M., Erisman, J. W.et al. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pataki, D. E., Alig, R. J., Fung, A. S.et al. (2006). Urban ecosystems and the North American carbon cycle. Global Change Biology, 12, 2092–2102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rees, W. E. (1992). Ecological footprints and appropriated carrying capacity: what urban economics leaves out. Environment and Urbanisation, 4 (2), 121–130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berlin, Senate (2010). http://www.berlin.de/sen/umwelt/luftqualitaet/de/emissionen/index.shtml
Simpson, D., Aas, W., Bartnicki, J.et al. (2011). Atmospheric transport and deposition of nitrogen in Europe. In: The European Nitrogen Assessment, ed. Sutton, M. A., Howard, C. M., Erisman, J. W.et al. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Smil, V. (1999). How many billions to go?Nature, 401, 429.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sutton, M. A., Dragosits, U., Tang, Y. S. and Fowler, D. (2000). Ammonia emissions from non-agricultural sources in the UK. AtmosphericEnvironment, 34, 855–869.Google Scholar
Sutton, M. A., Howard, C. M., Erisman, J. W.et al. (2011). The need to integrate nitrogen science and policies. In: The European Nitrogen Assessment, ed. Sutton, M. A., Howard, C. M., Erisman, J. W.et al. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Svirejeva-Hopkins, A. and Schellnhuber, H. J. (2008). Urban expansion and its contribution to the regional carbon emissions: using the model based on the population density distribution. Ecological Modelling, 216.CrossRef
Tallec, G., Garnier, G., Billen, G. and Gousailles, M. (2007). Nitrous oxide emissions from denitrifying activated sludge of urban wastewater treatment plants, under anoxia and low oxygenation. Bioresource Technology, 99 2200–2209.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thomsen, M and Lyck, E. (2005). Emission of CH4 and N2O from Wastewater Treatment Plants (6B). No. 208, 1–46. 2005, Research notes from National Environmental Research Institute, Roskilde, Denmark.
Tobler, W., Deichmann, V., Gottsegen, J. and Maloy, K. (1995). The Global Demography Project, Technical Report TR-95–6. National Center for Geographic Information Analysis, University of Santa Barbara, CA.
,UNCHS (2003). Global Urban Indicators Database. http://ww2.unhabitat.org/programmes/guo/urban_indicators.asp 2003
Drecht, G., Bouwman, A. F., Harrison, J. and Knoop, J. M. (2009). Global nitrogen and phosphate in urban waste water for the period 1970–2050. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 23, GB0A03, doi:10.1029/2009GB003458.Google Scholar
Vincent, C. (1901). Ammonia and its Compounds: Their Manufacture and Uses, translated by Salter, M. J.. Scott, Greenwood & Co., London.Google Scholar
Voegt, D. and Voegt, J. G. (2003). Biochemistry, 2nd edn. John Wiley and Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Wackernagel, M. and Rees, W. E. (1997). Perceptual and structural barriers to investing in natural capital: Economics from an ecological footprint perspective. Ecological Economics, 20, 3–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
,WHO (2006). Guidelines for the Safe Use of Wastewater, Excreta and Greywater, Vol. 1, Policy and Regulatory Aspects. World Health Organization, Geneva.
,WWF (2002). Living Planet Report. http://www.panda.org/about_our_earth/.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×