This design-research project translates urban-metabolism evidence into a catalogue of spatial tools for practitioners. It responds to a recurring limitation in the field: resource-flow assessments can be analytically sophisticated yet difficult to apply in the design of streets, public spaces and community facilities.

The research builds on an inventory of 104 alternative resource-governance systems in Latin America and Europe. From this comparative evidence, it identifies nine urban archetypes combining resource harvesting, storage, transformation, distribution and shared community space. Three archetypes were subsequently explored in Caracas through axonometric and spatial design studies, testing how different configurations could respond to local resource conditions and social practices.

The project gives material form to the Lab’s resource-sensitive and community-inclusive planning agenda. Rather than proposing universal design solutions, the archetypes act as adaptable boundary objects between metabolism analysis, local governance and spatial practice. They help practitioners discuss where flows become visible, who participates in their management and how public space can support both resource efficiency and collective life.