Urban metabolism analyzes the supply and consumption of nutrition, material, energy, and other resources within cities. Food, water, and energy are critical resources for the human society and have complicated cooperative/competitive influences on each other. The management of interactive resources is essential for supply chain analysis. This research analyzes the food-water-energy system of urban metabolism for sustainable resources management. A system dynamics model is established to investigate the urban metabolism of food, water, and energy resources. This study conducts a case study of Shihmen Reservoir system, hydropower generation, paddy rice irrigation of Taoyuan and Shihmen Irrigation Associations, and water consumption in Taoyuan, New Taipei, and Hsinchu cities. The interactive influence of the food-water-energy nexus is quantified in this study; the uncertainty analysis of food, water, and energy nexus is presented.

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) face enormous sustainability challenges such as heavy reliance on imports to meet basic needs, tenuous resource availability, coastal squeeze, and reduced waste absorption capacity. At the same time, the adverse effects of global environmental change such as global warming, extreme events, and outbreaks of pandemics significantly hinder SIDS’ progress towards sustainable development. This paper makes a conceptual contribution by framing the vulnerability of small islands from the perspective of socio-metabolic risk (SMR). SMR is defined as systemic risk associated with the availability of critical resources, the integrity of material circulation, and the (in)equitable distribution of derived products and societal services in a socio-ecological system. We argue that specific configurations and combinations of material stocks and flows on islands and their ‘resistance to change’ contribute to the system’s proliferation of SMR. For better or for worse, these influence the system’s ability to consistently and effectively deliver societal services necessary for survival. By positioning SMR as a subset of systemic risk, the paper illustrates SMRs and tipping points on small islands using insights from three sectors: water, waste, and infrastructure. We also identify effective leverage points and adaptation strategies for building system resilience on small islands. In conclusion, our synthesis suggests that governing SMR on SIDS would mean governing socio-metabolic flows to avoid potential disruptions in the circulation of critical resources and the maintenance of vital infrastructures and services while inducing interventions towards positive social tipping dynamics. Such interventions will need strategies to reconfigure resource-use patterns and associated services that are sustainable and socially equitable.

In most cases, disasters are assessed at an event-level, for example, by focusing on quantitative surveys of casualties, physical damages, and qualitative root-cause analyses of individual events. The disaster risks are evaluated based on expected utility loss by calculating the probability of occurrence and potential consequences. However, we should know that disaster causes are increasingly sophisticated and usually entangle quickly with deep social and organizational problems, and their impacts are prolonged with a further complication in the nexus of societal systems. To reduce disaster risk, we propose to consider disasters as inseparable parts of the societal operation and critical resource and service circulation, deviating from the well-established concept that a disaster is simply the tragic outcome of human casualties and property damages. Therefore, we will develop a novel DR3 analysis framework to address the dynamic change patterns of risks, i.e., “risk dynamics,” as a key concept for analyzing risk in complex socio-technical systems. In this proposition, DR3 analysis should consider all components of the socio-technical systems that are susceptible to disaster-induced functional perturbations and the DR3 assessment is associated with the overall state change of the socio-technical systems and their performance controllability of the organizations. The failures of the physical systems and individual human factors in the organizations are critical for comprehensive risk analysis. To achieve the goal, we establish a multidisciplinary team to address DR3 vital issues by using the participatory system dynamics modeling approach in this project. Consortium partners will focus on unique disaster cases and test the underlying hypotheses from multiple perspectives. Stakeholders from government agencies and infrastructure service providers will be engaged through continuous and direct involvement in dialogues and activities, supporting the development of risk-dynamics based DR3 solutions.

The water-food-energy (WFE) nexus are intertwined with urbanization, land use, and population growth and is rapidly expanding in scholarly literature and research projects as a novel way to address complex resource and development challenges. The nexus-related research aims to identify tradeoffs and synergies of water, energy, and food systems, internalize mutual impacts between the nexus and the urban systems, and guide the development of sustainable solutions. However, while the WFE nexus offers a promising conceptual approach, limited research focuses on systematically mapping the water, food, and energy interlinkages and evaluate the research trends and issues that we are facing in this field.Water, food, and energy are the basis for human livelihoods and economic activities; they are also closely interrelated: Agriculture, forestry, and the energy sector simultaneously depend heavily on and affect water resources. Energy is essential for water management, but also agricultural production, processing, and marketing. Land is needed for the production of food, fodder, and renewable energy, as well as for water resource protection. Demographic trends – such as population growth, progressive urbanization, and globalization, changing lifestyles and consumer habits – are increasing pressure on already limited natural resources. A sustainable urban system requires the achievement of mitigating human impact on natural ecosystems while fulfilling our need for development.Previous studies have discussed the research trends and nexus assessment tools (e.g., Endo et al. 2015;2017). Despite the increasing use of the WFE nexus in scholarly literature and research projects, few studies have systematically reviewed the broad range of linkages in the body of nexus literature. There is a need for a comprehensive review of, and critical reflection on, existing nexus linkages and issues to gain the big picture, improve clarity, and promote further advances in research for WFE nexus.This paper reviews current WFE nexus linkages and issues to promote further development of tools and methods that align with nexus thinking and address the complexity of multi-sectoral resource interactions. As a conceptual framework, the nexus approach leverages an understanding of WEF linkages to promote coherence in policy-making and enhance sustainability. A summary of the most frequently used nexus linkages, issues, and keywords obtained from journal articles provides the clues to discover the current research emphases. Findings will provide a better understanding of trends in this line of research, which will serve as a useful reference for future studies.