Through a short desk study, the DPU is contributing to the development of a flagship report of the International Resource Panel (IRP) commissioned by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The study is concern with providing an in-depth interdisciplinary understanding of the resource flows through cities and the infrastructures that have been configured to conduct these flows. This is a highly relevant task, insofar as insufficient attention within the sustainable cities literature has been given to the fact that the design, construction and operation of infrastructures create a socio-technical environment that plays an important role in shaping the “way of life” of a city’s denizens and how resources are procured, used and disposed by the city.