Cities are large sinks for key resources like water, energy, and material goods globally. Within the greater metropole of Amsterdam are Europe’s 5th largest sea port, and one of Europe’s busiest airports. Huge volumes of material goods from bulk shipments to consumer products flow through these logistics nodes every day. It is increasingly important for cities to look for solutions in how to use and handle resources in a more efficient way, and identify opportunities for symbiotic exchanges and high value reuse of materials.

As a quick scan, we conducted an analysis of the types and volumes of key resource flows, including energy, water and nutrients, and agricultural flows and constructed a set of maps showing a handful of opportunities for closing these resource loops.

We produced a set of resource flow maps, highlighting opportunities on how to close some of the key resources within the metropole area of Amsterdam.