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A web-GIS tool for industrial symbiosis - Preliminary results and perspectives

Cycling the use of material in product manufacturing is the conceptual framework of industrial ecology. Within this context, industrial symbiosis creates physical exchanges of materials, energy, water, and/or by-products among economic activities that are collocated or spread through a state or region. Detecting and assessing potential industrial symbiosis and promoting eco-industrial development on a multifunctional territory call for decision support methodologies and tools. Information on material flows needs to be stored in a way that allows data treatment to detect potential exchanges of residues and service mutualization and to assess their feasibility. A database was created to store data on economic activities, manufacturing processes and related material and energy flows. A clearly defined terminology allows application of algorithms for treatment and retrieval of information. In addition, a geographic information system interface (web-GIS) was developed as technical and decision support tool for engineers and territorial planners. It allows, among other things, the detection and the visualization of potential exchanges, the assessment of technical and geographical feasibility, the detection of new potential partners within the manufacturing activities and the identification of optimal location for new facilities based on material flows consideration. Interactions with other spatial layers extend the detection to other economic activities such as agriculture, housing or services. The methodology and the tool developed aim at providing useful information for a more efficient and local use of resources. They may be a valuable instrument in the hands of public and private institutions seeking information on manufactures and their organization. This paper aims at establishing how a web-GIS tool for industrial symbiosis may support decision making in industrial and territorial planning. This paper focuses on the experience initiated by the state and republic of Geneva (Switzerland). Since 2004, the state’s Agenda 21 supports a project aiming at detecting and implementing industrial symbiosis on its territory.