An Assessment of Transforming a City into a Construction Sector Metabolism via Industrial Symbiosis Implementations

Abstract

This study examines waste flow network differences concerning future industrial symbiosis (IS) implementations to assess the possibility of transforming an entire city into an industrial ecosystem and thereby increasing environmental sustainability. The existing waste flow network of one Asian city is compared to a prospective future waste flow network scenario in which discovered IS relations are theoretically implemented in the scenario to examine the city's changing status. The exploratory findings of the study reveal that the city planned by a conceivable future scenario adheres to several natural sustainable traits by increasing the symbiotic connections by 336.33%. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the industrial network built by the hypothetical future scenario is less vulnerable (- 258.96%) and more resilient than the existing one. This paper's theoretical contribution is in the format of a case study to the industrial symbiosis body of knowledge, demonstrating how a collection of potential IS implementations enhances a city's sustainability, thus simplifying its transition into an industrial ecosystem. The methodological contribution is a generic technique for detecting and choosing potential symbiotic implementations targeted at an anchor industry.