Supervisor

Martin Schmid, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0440-9802

Content

This project links historical urban metabolism with changes in riverine landscapes as coupled socio-ecohydrological systems. How did fossil-fuel based industrialization of Vienna’s metabolism affect the Danube system?

Skills and Qualifications

  • Required: Master or other equivalent university degree in (environmental) history, social ecology, industrial ecology, historical ecology or other interdisciplinary environmental or sustainability sciences; ability to read German-language historical sources
  • Desirable: experience with historical methods; (urban) Material and Energy Flow Analysis
 

 

Introduction/background

Fossil-fuel based industrialization, in Europe from the 19th century onwards, allowed rapid urban growth and contributed to the transformation of riverine landscapes into IRL, both close to the city and in urban supply hinterlands. The systematic integration of urban metabolism with ecological stream metabolism studies is a research frontier we address with this study. With the case of Vienna and the Danube system, this PhD project will focus on energy (including biomass) and sediment flows between the city and the riverine landscapes. An intensive exchange with PhD topic #9 focusing on nutrient flows is strongly encouraged. This research can build on extensive earlier environmental history (Winiwarter, Schmid & Dressel 2013; Krausmann 2013) and ecological (Sanon, Hein et al. 2012) research on Vienna and the Danube and will perform original, source-based qualitative and quantitative research on the intersection of historical with ecological research.

Main objective/research question/hypothesis

This project systematically analyses the ecohydrological and morphological consequences and conditions of European urbanization with the case of Vienna.  It asks how the fossil-fuel based reorganization and growth of a major city’s metabolism interacted via material and energy flows with riverine landscapes. Methodologically, we test existing and develop new indicators to assess the ecological and hydrological impacts of rapid urbanization processes on rivers, transforming them into IRL. Conceptually, we aim for a better understanding of how the role of rivers in urban metabolism changed during industrialization, by asking e.g.

• How  did  biomass  extraction  from  the  river  and  floodplains  for  urban  demand  (e.g., fuelwood,  food  and  fodder)  evolve  and  impact  the  biological  productivity  of  riverine  ecosystems? 

• Which  role  did  the  river  and  floodplain  play  in  providing  the  growing city  with  construction  material  and  what  can  we  say  about  hydromorphological  and ecological effects of this material extraction?

Approach/methods and time frame (Sites, areas, region of investigation)

This project combines methods and approaches from environmental history with ecology and hydromorphology and shall be performed in 4 phases: (1) literature survey, archival source work and data collection for a comprehensive historical material and energy flow accounting (h-MEFA) for Vienna, focusing on energy and sediment flows from and into the Danube stretch. (2) Analyze existing data to assess changes in hydromorphological conditions and connectivity patterns (hydrological and ecological connectivity). (3) Test existing and develop new ecological indicators to determine metabolic characteristics and dynamics in aquatic systems along different urbanization gradients. (4) Synthesize h-MEFA (1) with hydromorphological (2) and ecological (3) results.