Urban Flows Observatory

The Urban Flows Observatory is an EPSRC funded research institute at the University of Sheffield, co-founded by the departments of Civil and Structural Engineering, and Automatic Control and Systems Engineering. Urban Flows will help cities to thrive within the carrying capacity of the planet by developing a globally leading understanding of the flows of energy and resources. The Urban Flows Observatory seeks to understand how the physical (energy and material resources) metabolism of cities can be effectively measured, understood and utilised. To do this, we have deployed mobile and fixed sensors around Sheffield to improve our understanding of the city. We will use the knowledge obtained to answer questions such as what are the actual resource consumption characteristics of a city? How is this composed and how does it vary as a function of social, economic and environmental indicators? What are the environmental consequences of this type of consumption? Could the circular economy play a role in changing this balance? We aim to provide the methodologies and tools to design urban sensing architectures, to manage and analyse urban data streams. From this, we will develop a robust evidence base to facilitate local and national decision making, supporting the creation of zero carbon, healthy, happy cities.