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Changing lifestyles in developing and emerging economies entail a shift in technology use, everyday practices, and resource consumption. It is important to understand the sustainability consequences of these changes and the potential for policy to guide practices toward more sustainable lifestyles. In this study, we investigate laundry practices in the City of Manila, the Philippines, and compare the resources consumed in three different modes of laundering. We examine (1) traditional washing by hand, (2) washing by machine at home, and (3) using a laundry service. In addition to comparing the consumption of water, energy, and detergents, we also examine the social aspects of laundering using the lens of social practice theory. We use empirical data gathered in interviews with laundry service operators and people laundering at home to undertake qualitative and quantitative analyses of laundry practices and resource consumption. We find that hand washing uses the least water and energy, but large quantities of detergents. Machine washing and laundry services are comparable for water consumption, but energy use is much higher for services as they use dryers. Social changes, such as an increase in work available for women and the nature of future housing, are likely to influence the dominance of either shared or individual laundering methods. These findings illustrate the social complexity of transitions to product‐service systems and the interdependencies between their social and environmental impacts. ; Thanks to the Australian Government Endeavour Fellowship and CSIRO for providing financial support and to De La Salle University for hosting this research.

In den siebziger Jahren begann der Umweltdiskurs zunächst als Kritik an der Wohlstands- und Überflußgesellschaft unter dem Stichwort der "Grenzen des Wachstums". Gegenwärtig wird die Forderung nach einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung (Sustainable Development) erhoben, die Wirtschaftswachstum und ökologisches Verhalten in Einklang zu bringen sucht. Die Autorin sieht darin einen "Mythos" und die "letzte große Erzählung" (Lyotard) der Moderne. Dieser Umweltdiskurs mit dem klaren Ziel, durch einen treuhänderischen Umgang mit der Natur eine ökologische verträgliche Welt für Generationen zu schaffen, ist selbst noch ein Projekt der Moderne mit ideologischem Charakter. Der Prozeß der Umweltzerstörung hat seit dem Beginn der Neuzeit um 1500 inzwischen den Charakter eines "Naturschauspiels zweiter Ordnung" angenommen. Er ist zwar das Resultat menschlicher, kultureller Aktivitäten, doch steht heute kein "Subjekt" oder irgendeine Instanz zur Verfügung, die in der Lage wären, auf dem Niveau zu agieren, auf welchem er sich organisiert. (pre)

Physical economy research has, thus far, focused on the throughput of materials that underpin economic development. The role of stocks of buildings and infrastructure has remained underexplored, yet it is the physical stock that provides service to society. To fill this gap, this research investigates stock dynamics in Japan in relation to population and economic drivers using panel regression and IPAT analyses for the past five decades. We recognize characteristic changes in the strength and relative influence of the drivers throughout time, in different subnational regions, and on the dynamics of buildings compared to transportation infrastructure. We find that material stock accumulation mainly occurred due to growth in economic activity, specifically by tertiary sector demand. Apart from a period of government-driven stock accumulation in the 1990s to stimulate economic growth, as economic and population growth slowed stock accumulation dynamics also changed signaling a new stock saturation trend. Migration from rural to urban areas has recently become an influential driver, leaving behind underused buildings and roads. This analysis provides a case study on how socio-economic drivers and stock accumulation interacted and changed while the country matured, which may have implications for understanding stock dynamics in rapidly industrializing economies.

Physical economy research has, thus far, focused on the throughput of materials that underpin economic development. The role of stocks of buildings and infrastructure has remained underexplored, yet it is the physical stock that provides service to society. To fill this gap, this research investigates stock dynamics in Japan in relation to population and economic drivers using panel regression and IPAT analyses for the past five decades. We recognize characteristic changes in the strength and relative influence of the drivers throughout time, in different subnational regions, and on the dynamics of buildings compared to transportation infrastructure. We find that material stock accumulation mainly occurred due to growth in economic activity, specifically by tertiary sector demand. Apart from a period of government-driven stock accumulation in the 1990s to stimulate economic growth, as economic and population growth slowed stock accumulation dynamics also changed signaling a new stock saturation trend. Migration from rural to urban areas has recently become an influential driver, leaving behind underused buildings and roads. This analysis provides a case study on how socio-economic drivers and stock accumulation interacted and changed while the country matured, which may have implications for understanding stock dynamics in rapidly industrializing economies.

The study of long-term historical trends in material flows has gained some prominence in Ecological Economics since the first studies for Austria and the United Kingdom were published as part of a special section in 2002. This research expands the existing knowledgebase by presenting material flows for the Russian Federation and its predecessor states employing a standard accounting framework. The study of material flows for the Russian Federation provides an interesting and unique case of a planned economy and its transition to a market based form of economic organization. We show that in spite of considerable differences in the physical economy, the USSR developed material use patterns similar to that of Western industrialized economies. Lower levels of consumption were more than outweighed by inefficient production. The transition towards a market economy drove rapid improvements in resource productivity but also growth in metabolic rates. The results indicate that the transition to an industrial metabolic profile proceeds largely irrespective of economic and political conditions. An improved understanding of the evolution of socio-economic systems and the material flows that fuel them is increasingly relevant for designing new systems of production and consumption and facilitating a transition towards a more sustainable industrial metabolism.

The successor states of the former Soviet Union present a unique opportunity to study the changes in the socio-metabolic profile of a cohort of nations which underwent a radical and contemporaneous shift in economic system. That change was from being regions within an economically integrated, centrally planned whole, to being independent nations left to find their own place in the global economic system. The situation of these nations since the dissolution of the Soviet Union provides a rare experiment, in which we might observe the influence of the different starting conditions of each nation on the development path it subsequently followed, and the attendant socio-metabolic profiles which resulted. Here we take the opportunity to examine patterns for the region as a whole, and for three individual countries. We also examine the relative importance of three different drivers of material consumption using a version of the IPAT framework. Finally, an area for follow-on investigation was suggested by a significant positive correlation observed between the economic growth of individual successor states, and the degree to which they improved their material productivity. This latter is of potential importance in assessing whether dematerialization acts primarily to accelerate or retard economic growth.

The successor states of the former Soviet Union present a unique opportunity to study the changes in the socio-metabolic profile of a cohort of nations which underwent a radical and contemporaneous shift in economic system. That change was from being regions within an economically integrated, centrally planned whole, to being independent nations left to find their own place in the global economic system. The situation of these nations since the dissolution of the Soviet Union provides a rare experiment, in which we might observe the influence of the different starting conditions of each nation on the development path it subsequently followed, and the attendant socio-metabolic profiles which resulted. Here we take the opportunity to examine patterns for the region as a whole, and for three individual countries. We also examine the relative importance of three different drivers of material consumption using a version of the IPAT framework. Finally, an area for follow-on investigation was suggested by a significant positive correlation observed between the economic growth of individual successor states, and the degree to which they improved their material productivity. This latter is of potential importance in assessing whether dematerialization acts primarily to accelerate or retard economic growth.