Special Issue "Sustainable Urban-Industrial Symbiosis"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Social Ecology and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Zhe Liu
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Population and Development Studies, School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Interests: environmental system analysis; environmental policy and management; circular economy; eco-industrial development; urbanization and sustainability; climate change
Dr. Minoru FUJII
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
Interests: zero-carbon industry/city; circular economy; waste to energy
Dr. Liang Dong
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Public Policy, School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR 999077, China
Interests: industrial symbiosis and eco-industrial parks (EIPs); urban sustainability and sustainable urban planning; environmental management and policies; industrial ecology and environmental system analysis; low-carbon city; eco-city and smart city

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In 1989, a cluster of companies from different industries and a community that were intensively sharing resources was uncovered in Denmark. Afterward, it became known as a “regional industrial symbiosis (IS) at Kalundborg”. The most commonly cited definition for IS was proposed in 2000, which was defined as “a physical exchange of materials, energy, water, and/or by-products to promote resource efficiency between traditionally separate industries with the intent of promoting collective competitive advantage”. Urban symbiosis (US) is an extension of IS was proposed by Van Berkel and his colleagues in 2009, defined as “the use of byproducts (wastes) from cities (or urban areas) as alternative raw materials or energy sources in industrial operations”. The difference between IS and US is that IS recognizes the exchanges of wastes and by-products between firms that conventionally do not exchange, while US recognizes the use of municipal solid waste as inputs to industries that conventionally do not accept. Both IS and US focus on waste recycling and symbiosis network that can offer apparent benefits to the whole society by saving virgin materials and/or reducing environmental emissions and even greenhouse gas emissions reductions. However, regarding sustainable development of urban–industrial symbiosis, there are few studies in this research area. Therefore, this Special Issue aims to highlight such a topic to collect the studies associated with sustainable development of urban–industrial symbiosis.

Papers related, but not limited, to methodologies, analysis and optimizations associated with sustainable development of urban-industrial symbiosis are welcome in this Special Issue. Papers related to fundamental research and policy in the regard of sustainable development of urban-industrial symbiosis are also welcome. Papers submitted to this Special Issue will be selected via a rigorous peer-review procedure.

Dr. Zhe Liu
Dr. Minoru FUJII
Dr. Liang Dong
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short 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 thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • urban symbiosis
  • industrial symbiosis
  • sustainable development

Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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