SPAIU PUBLIC I MOBILITATE URBAN

THE SMART MOBILITY AND THE STRUCTURING

OF AN INTELLIGENT AND RESILIENT
URBAN SYSTEM MODEL
Assoc. prof. arch. Cerasella CRCIUN PhD
Faculty of Urban Planning, Urban Landscape and Design Department,
Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism Bucharest
cerasellacraciun@gmail.com
REZUMAT. Sistemele crono-metaboliste urbane clasific oamenii, obiectele i energia ca informaii,
articuleaz aceste circuite n viziune flexibila i pun ordine n rapoartele i grilele informaionale, precum i
ntre unitile de spaiu i unitile de timp. Studiul relaiei Spaiu-Timp conduc ctre modelri i modulri ale
spaiului urban i peisagistic, precum i ctre o coordonare n cadrul organismului urban a diferitelor sisteme
i subsisteme ale acestuia. Flexibilitatea elementelor din sistemele metabolice urbane conduce ctre
concepte de nchidere i deschidere a spaiului si la succeptibilitatea schimbrilor funcionale, la fenomenul
de reciprocitate interior-exterior i la integrarea factorului temporal n cadrul dezvoltrii conceptului de peisaj,
in toate componentele sale, naturale, antropice/construite i culturale. Natura vie i componentele fizice, prin
metabolismul organismului urban, sparg acordul unui ritm stabilit al cadrului antropic, construit, iar sistemele
crono-urbane i tipologiile conectoare ale sistemului de spaii verzi, interacioneaz cu sistemului de
mobilitate i crono-accesibilitate i transport. Contiina schimbrii, alturi de metamorfoza i permanenta
schimbare, sunt factori determinani n crono-urbanism, prin cicluri metabolice verzi i conductori de peisaj
att la nivel urban, ct i la nivel teritorial.
Cuvinte cheie: mobilitate inteligent, model, organism urban metabolic, sistem urban inteligent i rezilient.
ABSTRACT. Chrono-metabolic urban systems classify people, objects and energy as pieces of information; they
articulate these circuits in a flexible vision and they order information grids and reports, as well as space units
and time units. The study of the Space-Time relationship leads to modelling and modulating the urban space and
the landscape as well as to a coordination within the urban organism of its different systems and subsystems.
The flexibility of the elements within the metabolic urban system leads to space opening and closing concepts
and to the susceptibility of functional changes, to the phenomenon of interior-exterior reciprocity and to the
integration of the temporal factor within the development of the concept of landscape with all its natural,
anthropological / built and cultural components. Living and breathing nature and its physical components,
through the metabolism of the urban organism, break the accord of the set rhythm within the built anthropogenic
environment and the chrono-urban systems and the connecting typologies of the system of green spaces interact
with the mobility, chrono-accessibility and transport systems. The consciousness of change together with the
metamorphosis and permanent change are crucial factors for chrono-urbanism through green metabolic cycles
and landscape conductors both at a urban and a territorial level.
Keywords: Smart mobility, Model, Urban organism, metabolic, intelligent and resilient urban system.

1. INTRODUCTION. THE CONCEPT

OF URBAN METABOLISM
The idea of the city seen as an organism [1] is not
new; this idea appeared in Gaston Bardet, Marcel
Poet etc., and found a concrete form of expression
later on, in 1960, with the writings of Marc Emery
who defined the city as an organic phenomenon,
regulated by one or more logics [2], accepted even
by Le Corbusier who believed that cities are biological phenomena, or later by Japanese metabolists [3].
The analogy between the Biological Organism
and the Urban Organism the City leads to complex
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phenomena and processes that integrate mobility in

an urban, metabolic sense.
Thus, the Urban Metabolism [4] is epistemologically defined in a trans-disciplinary sense [5] as the
totality of the biochemical reactions that occur in the
organisms cells and tissues namely in the
urban tissues and parcels and which are accompanied by energy consumption and release.
These are achieved through processes that provide for the exchange of matter and energy between
the urban organism and the environment, including
all the nutritive processes that involve assimilation
and dissimilation and that take place in the urban
organism, presenting two main aspects known as the
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THE SMART MOBILITY AND THE STRUCTURING OF AN INTELLIGENT AND RESILIENT MODEL
intermediary metabolism and the energy metabolism
[6]. These processes start with ingestion (input) and
end with the elimination of unused products (output)
in three stages: at the level of urban phenomena and
processes (similar to the digestive stage in biological
organisms), at an urban cellular level (tissue, parcel)
and at the level of waste disposal (analogous to the
excretory function in biological organisms).
The link between these stages is provided through
mobility and through communication lines and urban
utilities, but also through the elements that are continually changing, mobile and in temporal passage,
including man as an important urban player and
ultimate finality.
The term URBAN METABOLISM becomes a
metaphor that comes from the conceptual structure
of metropolitan areas as places that feed the
population, services and energy, but also a processor
of their transformation in qualities of life and in
cores that issue production activities, services and
their performance [7].
Starting from the processes that ensure the exchange of matter and energy between the organism
and the environment through the physical, chemical
and biochemical reactions that take place at the level
of each cell, it is necessary to investigate the
relationship between metabolism and urban mobility
as integrated phenomena in the urban systems [8].

2. MATRIX ON SPATIAL TIERS

AND RELATIONSHIP LEVELS
The programs that aim at the scientific research
of metabolic urban systems are able to produce
changes in the performance of smart cities through a
matrix that organizes a possible scheme for an
Extended Model of the Urban Metabolism [9], to
underpin a resilient development that is extremely
important in the current context.
A concept studied in psychology, technical
sciences, ecology, urban planning, Urban resilience
is a positive adaptation of a system in the face of a
significant stressor that affects the development and
even the survival of a territory/landscape/human
settlement. It is a characteristic and, at the same
time, a phenomenon, with reference to the degree of
adaptability of the structure and the elements of the
urban system, which represents the capacity to
prepare for and respond to threats and sometimes
major changes with minimal impact on the health of
the urban organism and the territorial / urban,
human, economical safety etc.
Also, the relationship that is established at the
level of the organism, between Urban Resilience /
Buletinul AGIR nr. 2/2014 aprilie-iunie

Territorial Cohesion / Sustainability and which reunites the macro- and mezzo-territory, the urban
areas and the landscape with all its (quasi- or seminatural, anthropogenic / built and cultural) components is extremely important and defining.
The instruments and the theme proposed for
research will lead to the development of a possible
analysis model for a city seen as urban organism,
which will include highlighting several relationship
and spatial levels, set vertically or horizontally,
which support the development of an intelligent and
resilient urban system.
These relationships are grouped into the following levels of research

3. ZONAL CAPACITY
Physical capacity: surface, limits / inside and
outside built-in areas, administrative;
Functional capacity of the various areas /
subareas at a micro- / macro-territorial level;
Mobility capacity (energy-information and virtual mobility, communication means: road, rail, air,
sea, pedestrian, public transport);
Capacity of urban utilities (water, sewer,
electrical grid, heating, telecommunications);
Spatial capacity, functional diversification and
responsiveness to human needs;
Resilient ability to adapt of the structure and
elements of the urban system;
Green spaces and the ability to respect ecological
indicators in improving the quality of life.

4. PHYSICAL AND INDUSTRIAL

DYNAMICS
Assessing the quality of life through material
products;
Storage and flow modelling (people, water,
food, energy);
Dynamics expressed through environmental
methodologies (ecological fingerprints & footprints
methodology [10]);
National statistical database collation on
physical metabolic components;
Implementing sustainable production processes
and substitute chains, links;
Implication of the resources provided by national
and sectoral development policies;
Modelling the natural and built, the financial
and the human capital;
Promoting green industry [11].
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SPAIU PUBLIC I MOBILITATE URBAN

5. PROCESSES AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL / BUILT SYSTEMS

Developing concept plans / drawings (tools to
articulate and manage human needs and decisions);
Introducing performance indicators, targets,
milestones;
Modelling ecological eco-efficiency;
Avoiding the risk of modelling and resilience
of certain metabolic components;
Introducing high-performance models seen
through a holistic approach;
Modelling the built environment and the
infrastructure system;
Balancing the relationship between employment
and sustainable productivity;
Measurable performance and monitoring ;
Planned urban development.

6. METABOLIC URBAN DEVELOPMENT

Promoting natural and anthropogenic landscape
ecology ;
Modelling the urban and human interface;

Introducing environmental health factors,

factors regarding the city as an organism and human
welfare;
The practice of urban biodiversity ;
Reserving farmland used in metropolitan areas;
Urban facilities and new economies;
Modelling real estate value;
Final monitoring and development costs;
Correlating the relationship between urban
form and the performance of the urban environment.

7. INFORMATION AND URBAN

MODELLING
Integrating CAD-GIS-RS spatial models in the
metabolic-type design and research process;
Introducing the geomatics and geomantic study;
Visualisation and software (meant to recognize
the urban metabolic system);
Modelling and optimizing complex systems;
Promoting semantic web and scalar systems
study;
Introducing basic models and promoting interoperability;
Monitoring 3d information and participatory
models.

Componente
de tip
INPUT

FIZICE /
BIOLOGICE
- Aer
- Ap
- Energie
- Materii
prime
- Produse

Componente
de tip
OUTPUT
MOBILITATE /
INFRASTRUCTURA
- Transport
- Comunicaii
- Locuire
- Utiliti
- Energie
- Ap
- Canalizare
D
i

FIZICE /
BIOLOGICE
- Gaze
MOBILITATE /
- Deeuri
CALITATEA
ENERGIE
-Ap
FACTORILOR DE
- nclzire i
MEDIU: CLIM,
-Solide
prepararea
hranei
SOL, AER, APA,
-Toxine
- Sisteme industriale -Cldur
SPAII VERZI
- Transport
- Produse
eliminaten
CALITATEA VIEII
Atmosfera

STAREA DE
SANATATE
URBAN
SIMBOLICE:
- Cunoatere
- Informaii
- Tehnologie
- Valori

UMANE
- Nateri
- Rata de
mortalitate

REZERV
DE SPAIU

PATOLOGIE
URBAN

SISTEM URBAN METABOLIC

INTELIGENT SI REZILIENT Structural, funcional, energetic i
informaional-virtual

MOBILITATE /
SERVICII
SOCIALE
Educaie

MOBILITATEA /
DINAMICA
POPULAIEI
Durata de via

ORGANIZARE
SOCIAL

SIMBOLICE:
- Cunoatere
- Informaii
- Tehnologie
- Valori

UMANE
- Migraie

METABOLISMUL ORGANISMULUI URBAN

Pic.1. Scheme for an Intelligent and resilient urban system model structurally, functionally,
from the point of view of energy and information [4].

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THE SMART MOBILITY AND THE STRUCTURING OF AN INTELLIGENT AND RESILIENT MODEL

8. CONCLUSIONS. THE DEVELOPMENT

PLAN OF AN INTELLIGENT
AND RESILIENT URBAN SYSTEM
In the sense of what has been exposed above, next
to cultural, natural / semi- or quasi-natural, built /
anthropogenic systems and processes, within the
intelligent urban development, a special place is
occupied by the intelligent physical, informational
and virtual mobility that leads to specific and resilient
urban modelling.
The process by which the urban metabolism
expresses itself is comprised of the sequence of
operations, actions and activities, states or phenomena
through which metabolizing, changing and permutetion, subsequent and progressive transformation,
evolution, development, the action and evolution and
involution in time of the urban phenomenon happens.
The urban metabolic phenomenon [12] represents the external manifestation of the urban
metabolic reality, of the essence of the metabolic
system that is accessible and perceptible; it is at the
same time a process of the natural and / or anthropogenic environment, of man / communities / societies,
an event and real fact in connection with the essence
of the city, designating the interior / exterior aspect in
which the essence of things / components and processes directly perceived through sensory organs is
manifested; it can also moving, temporal urban aspect
(that is perceptible through the senses) changing.
Thus, a possible research scheme for an Intelligent
and resilient urban system model from the point of
view of sustainable but also physical, structural,
functional, energetic and informational-virtual mobility
is proposed. be a complex of the characteristics of the
urban organism that may change within specific
limits without the city or any othe.
This model exemplifies several metabolic components of possible research and / or modelling
methods within the research of the characteristics and
indicators of knowledge levels in studying and
determining the urban organism [13], by quantifying
the metabolic issue on several study levels, in a transdisciplinary way, having as a starting point sustainable and intelligent mobility.

4. NOTES / BIBLIOGRAPHY
[1] CRCIUN, Cerasella, Article. The City as an urban
organism. Biological analogies at a structural anthropologic urban level. [Oraul ca organism urban. Analogii
biologice la nivel structural antropologic urban] (pp. 3037), in the publication of the National Conference of Urban

Buletinul AGIR nr. 2/2014 aprilie-iunie

Anthropology, 2nd Edition (ISSN 2069-8364), organized

by the Organization of Urban Anthropology and the Francisc Iosif Rainer Institute of the Romanian Academy, the
Department for Urban Planning and Design, Faculty of Urban Planning of UAUIM, the Roman-Catholic Franciscan
Theological Institute of Roman, the Municipality of Roman, the Museum Complex of the County of Neamt the
History Museum of the city of Roman, Musatinia Publishing House, 2011.
[2] See EMERY, Marc, GREZEL, Nicole, Une Logique de
laglomeration , in LArchitecture daujourdhui, no. 132
and SANDU, Alexandru, Course Notes The Theory of
Urban Structures, UAUIM, Bucharest, 1993.
[3] NORIAKI, Kurokawa, Deux Sistemes de metabolisme, in
L' Architecture d'aujourd'hui, no.139.
[4] See also CRCIUN, Cerasella, Metabolismul urban. O
abordare Neconventionala a Organismului Urban [The
urban metabolism. An unconventional approach to the Urban organism], Ion Mincu University Publishing
House, ISBN 978-973-1884-14-1, Bucharest, 2008 (book
selected by an international jury at BAB THE
ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE Bucharest, 2008, Publications Section, presented in the exhibition organized at the
National Theatre of Bucharest, MNAC, Gallery , 15 October -15 November 2008) and presented at the Romanian
Book Review The Romanian Cultural Institute (no. 2/
March 2013).
[5] See also CRCIUN, Cerasella, Chapter: Pluridisciplinarity, Interdisciplinarity and Transdisciplinarity - Methods of researching the metabolism of the urban landscape
[Pluri-, Inter- si Trans-disciplinaritatea - Metode in Cercetarea Metabolismului Peisajului Urban], in the Book
Planning and Designing Sustainable and Resilient Landscapes, Series: Springer Geography, Editors: Cerasella,
Crciun; Botenaru-Dan, Maria, Springer Publishing
House, 2014.
[6] MOGO, Gheorghe, IANCULESCU Alexandru, Compendiu de Anatomie i Fiziologie [Compendium of Anatomy
and Physiology], Ed. tiinific, Bucharest
[7] See also GARRICK, E. Louis, Design for Development,
Systems Engineering Thornton Hall, Charlottesville, VA
22903, 2000.
[8] In agreement with other theories in the field of urban planning, such as the theory of ALEXANDER, Christopher,
explained in the book A New Theory of Urban Design, The
MIT Press, 1987.
[9] See also the space/time relationship in the metabolic system.
[10] At first the term was called appropriated carrying capacity,
later on inspired by the prints of the tracks left by a computer, introduced the term ecological footprint in 1992, by
REES, William i WACKERNAGEL, Mathis, Our Ecological Footprint. Reducing Human Impact on the Earth, 1996
[11] CRCIUN, Cerasella, Article: Landscape and the Ecological Crisis of the City [Peisajul si Criza ecologic a
oraului], in Analele Arhitecturii [Architecture Annals],
Bucharest, no. 1/2009.
[12] See also KENNEDY, C.A., CUDDIHY, J. and YAN, J.
Engel, The changing metabolism of cities, Journal of Industrial Ecology, May, 2007.
[13] WOLMAN, A., The metabolism of cities, article in Scientific American September, 1965.
[14] Scheme belongs to the author of the paper. See also the
scheme proposed by H. T. Odum: Relationship of energy
and complexity implanning, Architectural Design, no.
10/1972, pg. 628, and Environment, power and society, Ed. J. WILLE and SONS, NY.

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About the author

Architect Cerasella CRCIUN PhD
Faculty of Urban Planning, Urban Landscape and Design Department,
Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism Bucharest
Associate Professor Architect, Vice-Dean of Urban Planning Faculty Ion Mincu University of Architecture
and Urbanism; Coordinator of Planning and Landscape Design Bachelor's Program and Landscape and
Territory Masteral Program. Publications: 3 books author; 3 books as editor coordinator (including Springer
Publishing House); over 40, over 80 projects, studies, research and documentation of landscape, urbanism and
planning, architecture, interior design, object design, jewelry, costume - set design and scenography. Awards and
nominations: 2013 - nominated for "Outstanding Educator Award " - European Council of Landscape Architecture
Schools (ECLAS); 2010-2011 - "Honor of Understanding Performance and Dedication" - "Best Gardens Designer
Exhibition - 'Le Notre ' Jardins a la francais " from Huardiere Chateau, France; 2008 Award Planners
Landscape Award - Bucharest Herastrau and Cismigiu Park Protection Romanian Urbanists Register;
selection by an international jury for the Publications Section on 2008 Architecture Biennial - book author
''Urban metabolism. An Unconventional Approach of Urban Organism"; 2013 - Prize (collectively ) in
sustainability for "Educational initiative of the Green Building of the Year" - Romania Green Building Council;
2012 - Prize (collectively ) of the Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism to "Diploma for contribution
to the foundation and development of urban and regional strategic planning ", awarded by the Ministry of Tourism
Regional Rezvoltarii for "Integrated urban development strategy of Bucharest and its territory support and
influence - Bucharest 2035 Strategic Concept " Section: Public space, the quality of urban life and Landscape as
fragile Resource 2012 National Biennial of Architecture Bucharest; 2010/2011 - Winner of the Cultural Project
"Lost Gardens" Romanian Union of Architects; 2000 - Winner Contest "Urban-landscape and architectural Red
Islands - Danube Delta"; 1995 - winner of "Bucharest North Lakes".

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