Velenturf, APM and Jensen, PD (2016) Promoting Industrial Symbiosis: Using the Concept of Proximity to Explore Social Network Development. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 20 (4). pp. 700-709. ISSN 1088-1980
Abstract
Industrial symbiosis (IS) has been identified as a strategy for promoting industrial sustainability. IS has been defined as the development of close working agreements between industrial and other organizations that, through the innovative reuse, recycling, or sharing of resources, leads to resource efficiency. Key to IS are innovation and social network development. This article critically reviews IS literature and concludes that, to inform proactive strategies for promoting IS, the understanding of the social processes leading to resource innovation needs to be improved. Industrial ecologists generally believe that close geographical proximity and trust are essential to the development of IS. This article argues, however, that there is a need to learn more about the meaning of, need for, and specific role of geographical proximity and trust in IS and, additionally, that other potentially important social factors have remained underexplored. To move IS research forward, this article suggests to engage with research in economic geography on the concept of ‘proximity,’ which draws attention to the ways in which geographical, cognitive, institutional, social, and organizational distances between actors might affect innovation. Arguably, the analytically distinct, but flexible, dimensions of proximity can be useful to explore how and why IS develops. The resulting qualitative knowledge would form a basis for researching whether general patterns for IS development exist and, more important, could inform public and private strategies that indicate which actions could be taken, as well as when and in what way to promote resource synergies and sustainable industrial development.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2015 by Yale University. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Velenturf, A. P.M. and Jensen, P. D. (2016), Promoting Industrial Symbiosis: Using the Concept of Proximity to Explore Social Network Development. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 20: 700–709. doi:10.1111/jiec.12315, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12315. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | geographical proximity; industrial ecology; innovation; resource synergies; social factors; trust |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Civil Engineering (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 19 Feb 2018 14:19 |
Last Modified: | 22 Mar 2018 01:14 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/jiec.12315 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:126935 |