Mycelial Network-Inspired Urban Waste-to-Resource Networks: Biomimetic Circular Economy Design for Indian Metro-Satellite Cities

Abstract

Urban India faces an unprecedented waste management challenge as rapid urbanization gives rise to increasingly complex metropolitan ecosystems that include core cities with their satellite developments. This paper proposes a new, never-before conceptualized biomimetic framework inspired by fungal mycelial networks for the redesign of inter-city waste-to-resource systems. Drawing analogies between fungal nutrient distribution mechanisms and urban resource flows, a theoretical conceptualization of interconnected waste management systems is put forth that transform metropolitan waste streams into valuable resources along symbiotic exchange pathways. The framework takes Indian metro-satellite city clusters as biological ecosystems in which the waste from one urban node becomes an input for another in a methodical manner reminiscent of how forest fungal networks cycle resources so efficiently. This interdisciplinary step bridges the urban metabolism concept, biomimicry principles, and circular economy to plug the glaring gap that exists in inter-municipal waste management coordination. Theoretically founded, mycelial-inspired networks could improve resource efficiency, bolster environmental conservation, and enhance economic value through the systematic conversion of wastes to resources across boundaries comprising cities. The present study gives a first-of-its-kind conceptual framework for sustainable urban development that could seriously alter the way Indian cities manage resources in a collective fashion rather than in an isolated manner.