Abstract：
In-use steel stock is the amount of steel embodied in products that are in active use. The spatio-temporal dynamics of in-use steel stocks is an important indicator of economic development, urbanization rate, and human well-being level. Existing in-use steel stocks studies are mostly implemented on national scale, and those focused on spatio-temporal dynamics of in-use steel stocks on urban scale have rarely been developed. This project set the Haixi urban agglomeration, a typical region of rapid urbanization, as the study area. By dividing steel into five main end-use sectors, this project will:
(1) identify a list of major steel-containing products in each sector and build a database for the in-use steel stocks within each city from 2000 to 2017; (2) recognize socio-economic and land surface characteristics that affected the changes of in-use steel stocks and establish an empirical model between the in-use steel stocks and the socio-economic and land surface parameters; (3) reveal the spatial distribution pattern of the in-use steel
stocks based on the empirical model and remote sensing images and GIS technology; (4) analyze the regional differences of in-use steel stocks and
the response mechanism of in-use steel stocks. The results of our research can
be used to understand the development of steel stocks in the process of
urbanization, and to accurately model future steel demand and urban mining
potential in China. We expect the methodology and database developed by this
project will be of big significance for similar studies on other metals such
as copper and aluminum.
Keywords:
In-use stocks; Urban mining; Resource policy; Spatialanalysis model; Model simulation