This chapter applies urban-metabolism analysis to the measurement of resource consumption in Reading, United Kingdom. It examines the city through the material and resource flows required to sustain urban activities and everyday life.

The contribution demonstrates how urban-scale accounting can make dependencies, consumption patterns and environmental pressures more visible. It places quantitative resource evidence within the wider debate on the future development of Reading as a smart and sustainable city.

The chapter belongs to an earlier phase of Daniela Perrotti’s research at the University of Reading. It contributed to the comparative urban and infrastructure perspective later developed within the Urban Metabolism Lab.