Engineering Projects Addressed From the Social Metabolism Perspective: A Critical Review

This review delves into the role of engineering in addressing socio‐environmental challenges through the lens of social metabolism (SM). SM is introduced as a mixed‐methods analytical lens increasingly applied to offer fresh perspectives on socio‐environmental impacts, recognizing its profound relevance in achieving sustainable development goals and addressing social issues. The study underscores the growing importance of SM as an innovative framework for comprehending the relationship between nature and humans, integrating social approaches and highlighting a quantitative emphasis in the analysis of energy and material flows. Employing a systematic review, the article scrutinizes how engineering approaches SM, identifying spatiotemporal patterns, analyzing conceptual frameworks, and revealing relationships between research outcomes and areas. It begins by framing the global context of sustainability debates and then analyzes regional trends. Significant collaboration among European and North American countries is emphasized. Noteworthy connections also exist between Europe and South America, reflecting the exploration of new sustainability approaches tailored to Latin American countries' needs. Authors present diverse interpretations of SM, lacking a well‐defined methodology and analysis framework. Six identified aspects of the concept lean towards nature‐society relationships, socio‐environmental aspects, and social justice, signaling an intention to shift towards a measurable and observable relationship between society and nature. The article acknowledges engineering's limitations in managing energy flows and land usage, contributing to the global ecological crisis. Industrial agriculture and livestock farming negatively impact energy efficiency, increase emissions, and cause pollution. Enhancing this contribution holds the potential to leverage underutilized capacity of farmland landscapes for biodiversity and related ecosystem services.