 Leonardo Rosado is a PhD student from the MPP Doctoral Program in Sustainable Energy Systems (SES). Leonardo entered the program in 2007 and he is conducting his research under the theme Urban Metabolism: Contributions to establish standard methods to analyze Urban Material Flows. Supervised by Paulo Ferrão (IST) and co-supervised by John Fernandez (MIT) and Samuel Niza (IST). Leonardo aims to contribute towards the field of Urban Metabolism. Urban areas have become one of the main focal points in order to tackle sustainability problems. The urban metabolism of a city depends on anthropogenic and natural physical flows of energy and materials, what might be studied by Material Flow Analysis (MFA). Therefore, Leonardo took it upon himself to develop a standard method to measure the MFA that can be applied to different Urban areas, namely in European Countries. During his PhD, Leonardo spent a month at MIT. He has published at the Journal of Industrial Ecology, presented his work at several conferences related with Industrial Ecology and Material Flow Accounting, created a standard model to describe Metropolitan Areas flows of materials, within the Urban Metabolism concept and has contributed to the development of two FCT projects – iTeam and Resist. Besides his demanding academic work, Leonardo Rosado is also a successful musician (access his latest work Mute Words here) and owner of his own record label the FeedbackLoop Label.
1) Where are you from? Lisbon, Portugal 2) How did you learn about the MIT Portugal Program and what motivated you to apply for the SES PhD? I have been working for a couple of years with Paulo Ferrão at IN+ Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research and I was preparing to embark on a PhD so it was a perfect match to apply to the SES PhD, not only because it meant that I could deepen my knowledge in the field of Urban Metabolism, but because I would have the chance to experience the “MIT way” of dealing with this subject. 3) What is your research project about and what do you hope to achieve? My research project aims to contribute towards the development and strengthening of the Urban Metabolism field of research, by proposing a method to describe urban stocks and flows that can function as a standard method to be applied anywhere in the World or, at least, in European Urban areas. Hopefully, the application of the method I propose in other Metropolitan Areas will prove the value of my work and, if possible, will be adopted as a standard tool. 4) What are the major benefits of this project on peoples’ lives? The Urban Metabolism method I propose provides several types of information that can have a direct impact on the functioning of urban areas. Among the information that can be beneficial, a clear estimation of the amounts of materials (by 28 material types) available for recycling / reuse, as well as the estimated year of availability and the approximate location provide different stakeholders, such as, municipal governments and waste management companies, important information to properly manage the available resources / materials / waste within the area. 5) How do you see this area evolving in the future? The Urban Metabolism field is a relatively new field of research and therefore there are still several gaps that need to be filled in order to consolidate this approach. Nevertheless, with an appropriate integration with other, more traditional, urban planning tools I expect it to become another complementary way to deal with urban areas, in terms of urban policies and material / waste management. 6) How do you think this kind of research project/ international partnership can positively contribute for Portugal’s economic development? In terms of eco-innovation: waste management, industrial symbiosis and as progress develops urban metabolism are increasingly areas where new opportunities appear. The scarcity of resources in Nature, coupled with the fact that more and more materials are accumulating in urban areas only highlights the fact that soon urban areas can function as places where to retrieve materials for transformation. With that in mind and since the development is still in an early stage, this kind of research allows Portuguese stakeholders to be ahead of this event, to properly tackle it. 7) How was your experience at MIT? I’ve spent one month at MIT and I think it went well, maybe if I stayed longer it would have been more fruitful, in the sense that I could have deepened my work while I was there. But on the other hand, that month was quite intense, and I managed to focus on a specific task and doing it from beginning to end. | 
