Special Issue "Challenges in Industrial Ecology"

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Thomas L. Theis
Institute for Environmental Science and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago, 2121 West Taylor Street, MC 673 Chicago, IL 60612, USA
Website: http://www.uic.edu/depts/ovcr/iesp/about/bios/theis.htm
E-Mail: theist@uic.edu
Phone: +1 312 996 1081
Interests: mathematical modeling and systems analysis of environmental processes; industrial pollution prevention; industrial ecology; the environmental chemistry of trace organic and inorganic substances; interfacial reactions; subsurface contaminant transport; hazardous waste management

Dear Colleagues,

Industrial Ecology is an interdisciplinary field of study that fosters an integrated understanding of the ways in which environmental, social, economic, and ethical dimensions can be integrated for holistic solutions to critical human problems. Although a relatively young science in the formal sense, the field has matured rapidly, making seminal contributions to our understanding of such phenomena as material and substance flows, life cycle assessment, environmental impact analysis, and sustainability science to name a few.

And yet the challenges to sustain human industry and its impacts continue to grow, encompassing such areas as:

• Food supply and food security
• Sustainability and resilience in urban systems
• The development of new energy supplies and their distribution
• The future of nuclear energy
• The economics of sustainability
• Resource supply and equity
• Reuse and control of wastes
• Lessening impacts of rapidly industrializing nations
• New integrated policies informed by industrial ecology
• Efficiency, consumption, and the “rebound effect”
• Economic growth and financial stability
• Links between environmental and social justice
• Connections between the sustainability and resilience of human-natural systems
• Global and local education challenges

This issue of “Challenges” invites scholars from all fields to contribute research and discussion that explore and illuminate core sustainability challenges ahead for this growing and dynamic field of study.

Prof. Dr. Thomas L. Theis
Guest Editor

Submission

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Challenges is an international peer-reviewed Open Access biannual journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. For the first couple of issues the Article Processing Charge (APC) will be waived for well-prepared manuscripts. English correction and/or formatting fees of 250 CHF (Swiss Francs) will be charged in certain cases for those articles accepted for publication that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections.

• industrial ecology
• life cycle impact analysis
• material flow analysis
• sustainability
• resilience
• human-natural systems
• industrial metabolism
• policy