Indicators and options towards sustainability in industrial areas. (3rd October 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Antonopoulos, Ioannis Sofoklis; Zouboulis, Anastasios; Samaras, Petros; Karagiannidis, Avraam
• Is Part Of: International journal of innovation and sustainable development. Volume 7:Number 3(2013)
• Page Start: 215
• Page End: 232
• Publication Date: 2013-10-03
• Subjects: industrial areas -- sustainability indicators -- SWOT analysis -- sustainability options -- sustainable development -- small and medium–sized enterprises -- SMEs -- eco–industrial development -- social impact -- economic impact -- environmental impact -- Greece; Sustainable development -- Periodicals; Technological innovations -- Periodicals; 338.92705
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1740-8822

Abstract

The industrial sector is traditionally considered as responsible for negative environmental impacts. Nowadays, sustainable strategies approach both in industrial areas and in individual small–and–medium sized enterprises plays a key role in regional economies, providing and fostering capacity, innovation and competitiveness in various fields, including energy, construction and environmental technologies per sector. Eco–industrial development is a recent policy development that seeks to integrate economic, social and environmental considerations into physical, adaptable sustainability models. This paper presents an integrated procedure for industrial areas towards sustainability in social, economic and environmental aspect. The structure of the proposed procedure is based on the results from SWOT analysis, which was performed for 15 Hellenic industrial areas. The industrial areas management and operation was divided in four thematic categories, where specific processes towards sustainability steps are in detail suggested. Finally the developed procedure was certified by integration of indicators, covering environmental, economical and social issues.