Development of urban-industrial symbiosis to support sustainability: bibliometric analysis and systematic literature review

Abstract

The concept of urban-industrial symbiosis, which integrates urban and industrial activities through the use of unutilized resources, waste, and energy, is necessary to be applied to support sustainability. This concept continues the development of the industrial symbiosis concept, which integrates the use of unutilized resources from nearby industries. This article analyzed relevant research related to the development of urban-industrial symbiosis that has been published previously. This research conducted a bibliometric analysis to see how the trend of urban-industrial symbiosis research developed from previous works. Furthermore, this research used a systematic literature review (SLR) to analyze the form of symbiosis that occurred, its enablers and barriers, methods, and impact. It was found that the enablers that were widely mentioned in the selected articles were the existence of supporting regulations, the availability of supporting technology, and the potential for reusing existing waste. Meanwhile, the barriers that hindered the development of urban-industrial symbiosis, as mentioned in at least four publications, were the availability and exchange of information and limited investment capability. A total of 31 articles (79.5%) discussed the environmental impact of urban-industrial symbiosis in reducing greenhouse gas emissions whereas 22 articles (61.5%) discussed the impact of material or energy savings. On the basis of the results of bibliometric analysis and SLR, this article proposes a framework for the development of urban-industrial symbiosis.