STOCK OUT: THE METABOLISM OF CITIES AND THE LIMITS OF SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION

Abstract

This article analyzes how the concept of urban metabolism has been fundamental to the development of discourses on sustainable urban consumption, exploring how the interactions between capitalism and nature generate metabolic fractures that turn ecosystems into simple resource inventories. In addition, it criticizes how large cities expand their metabolism globally, exploiting ecosystems in territories located on the margins of development. Finally, it proposes to rethink these processes by orienting them towards the promotion of multi- species and interdependent interactions, where ecological repair is a fundamental part of urban life.