Dominik is a Senior Scientist/PostDoc at the Institute of Social Ecology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna. His research aims at understanding the potentials for a sustainable socio-economic metabolism in the Anthropocene. He currently works in two specific areas: Firstly, the systemic assessment of societal uses of materials and energy, its links to the ongoing accumulation of manufactured capital or material stocks of buildings and infrastructure, all emissions and waste produced, and the subsequent potentials for a sustainable circular economy. Secondly, He is also investigating the role of consumption, by linking resource use and emissions across international supply chains to households, affluence and inequality, to better understand the options and agency for a sustainable/carbon-free everyday life.
Dominik’s main research interest areas:
- Socio-economic metabolism
- Sustainability transformation potentials and limitations
- Dynamic material and energy flow analysis/modelling
- Linking production & consumption (EE-IO)
Dominik’s favorite cities and why:
- Vienna - because its where I live and where I feel at home.
- Sydney - because of the beaches, the great vibe and the inspiring time I had there.
- Nagoya - because of the fascinating Japanese culture, the warm welcome I received when staying there and the ongoing exchanges.
Dominik’s collaboration interests:
- Linking socio-economic metabolism and complexity science
- Linking institutions, power and individual agency with the systems approach of the socio-economic metabolism
Dominik’s path to urban sustainability research:
During my undergraduate studies, I started to realize that the global environmental crisis is rapidly unfolding and that cities are a huge part of the story: as drivers due to affluence & consumption, but also due to the potentials for different everyday lives and "economies of scale". Understanding the links between urbanization, urban-rural differences and resource use & emissions therefore has been an ongoing topic throughout my research so far.
