Since 1989, efforts to understand the nature of interfirm resource sharing in the form of industrial symbiosis and to replicate in a deliberate way what was largely self-organizing in Kalundborg, Denmark have followed many paths, some with much success and some with very little. This article provides a historical view of the motivations and means for pursuing industrial symbiosis-defined to include physical exchanges of materials, energy, water, and by-products among diversified clusters of firms. It finds that "uncovering" existing symbioses has led to more sustainable industrial development than attempts to design and build eco-industrial parks incorporating physical exchanges.By examining 15 proposed projects brought to national and international attention by the U.S. President's Council on Sustainable Development beginning in the early 1990s, and contrasting these with another 12 projects observed to share more elements of self-organization, recommendations are offered to stimulate the identification and uncovering of already existing "kernels" of symbiosis. In addition, policies and practices are suggested to identify early-stage precursors of potentially larger symbioses that can be nurtured and developed further. The article concludes that environmentally and economically desirable symbiotic exchanges are all around us and now we must shift our gaze to find and foster them.

International audienceThe aim of Industrial ecology (IE) is to optimize resource management by densifying interactions between stakeholders occupying a common geographic area. This article considers ports, understood as platforms of circulation and transformation of material and energy flows. It addresses the role and capacity of ports to foster the implementation of IE in port cities and to contribute to the optimization of resource management in coastal areas.This article presents the result of a research project (2011–2012) consisting of an international inventory of innovative resource management initiatives in port areas. 18 port-based industrial complexes were visited, enabling the analysis of 23 port IE initiatives. Cross-case analysis was carried out following a 3 step methodology: 1/ definition of the research boundaries; 2/ qualitative data collection by means of interviews and a literature review; 3/ data analysis in order to build a typology of port contribution to the implementation of IE in port-city areas.The case studies analyzed can be classified into 9 patterns based on temporal and spatial characteristics of P-IE initiatives. They provide insights on the ports' influence on local IE dynamics: as areas of testing and implementation of industrial symbiosis, ports can constitute exemplary self-sufficient areas, likely to boost the development of other local eco-parks; as drivers of local economic development, ports act as levers for the implementation of sustainable policies at a regional scale; as nodes in a global port network, ports can develop inter-port by-product exchanges and utility sharing. Ports question the relevance of geographical proximity in IE

Industrial port cities are essential components in a society dependant on fossil fuels and low cost energy. In the global move towards a low-carbon society, industrial port cities are emblematic of complex and integrated socio-ecological systems, which are experiencing transition processes related to interactions between bio-geo-physical components and governance. Using a socio-ecological system framework, this article provides insights into innovative regional eco-industrial development strategies for moving toward a low-carbon future in industrial port areas. Based on three case studies (Marseille-Fos in France, Ningbo in China, and Ulsan in South Korea), our analysis focuses on the changing relationships between energy, land cover, time use, and governance. The historical socio-ecological transition of industrial port cities is described as a stepwise process of spatial and functional disconnection/connection of port industrial complexes, which decouple/combine the port city's metabolism from local resources. We highlight the impacts of globalization on port-city socio-ecological trends, describing the effects of the integration of port cities into global economic processes, the impact of global awareness on global environmental changes, and the accelerating pace of change. We compare low-carbon strategies, revealing similarities in terms of conversion toward low carbon sources and growing connectedness and functional diversity of port-industrial systems.

We address the territorial embeddedness of resource management: the way in which resource management is shaped by the territorial context in which it occurs, as well as the way in which resource management con-tributes to shape new territories. We demonstrate that Industrial Ecology (IE), as a specific resource management approach, can be used to gain new perspectives on territorial patterns emerging with resource optimization. First, we lay down a theoretical framework that should underlie the use of territory as a concept, building bridges between geography and IE. Then, drawing upon this theoretical framework, we develop a methodolo-gical structure that can lead to and manifest the process of territorial construction at work in IE. We test the knowledge production capacity of this theoretical and methodological approach to territory in IE by applying it to a specific case study in the Aix-Marseille Provence metropolitan area (France). This paper thus enhances knowledge about the territorialization process at work in IE, by identifying different IE territories within the same geographic area and positioning local stakeholders, understood as local inhabitants, with respect to ter-ritorial interfaces. Finally, we discuss how IE, as a specific resource management approach, questions the different aspects of the connection between people and geographical places in a natural management context.

La connaissance des flux de matières traversant les territoires afin de valoriser les sortants et de diminuer les entrants est une préoccupation croissante des autorités municipales. Les auteurs ont été chargés de ces calculs par la ville de Lille. Ils ont choisi la méthode recommandée par Eurostat. La méthode centrée au départ sur les ressources énergétiques a permis de mettre en valeur des améliorations possibles quant au recyclage des matériaux de construction.