A systems engineering framework for eco-industrial park formation

Understanding eco-industrial park formation requires a multidisciplinary viewpoint [Haskins, Syst Eng 9 (2006b)] that includes systems thinking, industrial ecology, organizational dynamics, logistics, and supply chain theory. The most often referenced eco-industrial park found in Kalundborg, Denmark, serves as an ideal, and is typified by tight interdependency between industrial partners, green logistics, and closed-loop supply chains. But the planet is in crisis [Atiyah and Press, joint statement from The Royal Society and the Hational Academy of Sciences on Population Growth and Sustainability, February 1992] and cannot afford to wait 30 years for more of these parks to emerge. Systems engineering has been found to be effective when bringing together stakeholders from diverse backgrounds and experts from multidisciplinary engineering and technical backgrounds to coordinate the creation of complex systems. This paper uses literature drawn from multidisciplinary sources to investigate the attributes of eco-industrial parks, and then proposes a systems engineering framework, iFACE, for the formation of eco-industrial parks. (C) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Eng 10: 83-97,2007.