New research field at Chalmers in collaboration with MIT

Yuliya Kalmykova, assistant professor at Chalmers’ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been granted three million Swedish crowns for the project “Sustainable and attractive cities” in Vinnova’s program VinnMer. The project is conducted in close collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and aims to establish a new Swedish research direction at Chalmers, and develop a  model for  analysis of the flows of the materials and energy within cities; Urban Metabolism.

Yuliya Kalmykova will spend two of the project's three years at the MIT. The research team is known for their expertise within the area and will offer a dynamic research environment and a wide international network. The collaboration will support the establishment of an Urban Metabolism research direction at Chalmers which is unique for Sweden. Together they will develop a master’s course in Urban Metabolism to be introduced at Chalmers in the autumn of 2012.

Knowledge will be produced and exchanged between the groups regarding the use of resources in urban environments, and pathways towards efficient management of resources will be discovered. The derived urban metabolism model will be useful as a decision support for city planners and as an inspiration source for research and innovation towards sustainable urban development.

The project will also develop the existing network between Chalmers and the MIT, which both are partners within the Alliance for Global Sustainability. AGS is an alliance of four top international universities: Chalmers University of Massachusetts University of Technology (MIT), Boston USA, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland and the University of Tokyo, Japan, and leading industrial companies, in order to solve global environmental problems.

Contact:
Yuliya Kalmykova, Assistant professor
yuliya.kalmykova@chalmers.se
+46 31 772 21 62
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Division of Water, Environment and Technology

Further information:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Vinnova - VINNMER