Policies of Sustainable Economic Zones under the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR): A Case Study on Suez Canal Area Using Fuzzy Geographic Information System (Fuzzy GIS)

Abstract

Industrial zones are considered one of the most important sectors of economic development in any country. All countries seek to develop these zones and transform them into the fourth and fifth industrial revolution zones. This paper relies on an extrapolation approach and comparative analysis of the industrial and economic zones that include the currently enforced policies dealing with these zones all over the world. Accordingly, this study consists of three main stages. The first stage concerns reviewing the concepts and definitions of industrial and economic zones, defining policies for dealing with them, and then concluding the bases and criteria of those policies. The second stage focuses on defining the criteria of the fourth industrial revolution industrial zones, then determining the criteria for differentiating between the current economic zones according to their suitability to absorb the fourth-generation industries, and finally determining the criteria for the localization of these industries spatially, relying on Fuzzy GIS methods to identify the best sites for localizing high-quality industries. The third stage is about conducting a field application to the Suez Canal area in Egypt to determine the best high-tech industrial site within the selected area in Egypt. The site identified as the most suitable for the settlement of high-tech industries is the area located in the northwest and southeast of the special economic zone (SEZ), northwest of the Suez Canal, with an area of 22 km², a weight of 0.357724, and a score of 20.