the concept of sustainable islands: cleaner production, industrial ecology and the network paradigm...

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J. Cleaner Prod., Vol. 2, No. +I, pp. 167-171, 1994 Copyright 0 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd

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The concept of sustainable islands: cleaner production, industrial ecology and the network paradigm as preconditions for regional sustainable development

Heinz Peter Wallner and Michael Narodoslawsky

STENUM GmbH and Institute for Chemical Engineering, Graz University of Technology, Sparbersbachgasse 22, A-8070 Graz, Austria

This paper introduces a bottom-up approach towards sustainability which is called the Island approach. The basic assumption of ‘Islands of Sustainability’ is that development towards sustainability can be introduced starting from small sustainable regions. An Island is an area where sustainability is reached locally. Key points to create a sustainable region are communication activities, such as exchange of matter, energy, information, culture, capital and persons within the regional network and with the environment. One of the main theses is that sustainability is linked to the complexity of the regional network. The intensity, the speed and the comprehensive of internal and external interactions, as well as the connectedness of the regional network, have to be changed in order to reach local sustainability.

Relations between different approaches such as the Cleaner Production approach, the Industrial Ecology approach and the Island approach are investigated. It is assumed that a combination of these approaches will lead to sustainability, which might not be the case with one approach in isolation. All concepts are based on the new Network Paradigm, which is a reduction of the holistic world view. Cooperation on different hierarchical levels, from the interfirm level up to the interregional level, becomes an important part of behaviour. Networks, such as information networks or matter-flow networks, are introduced and become most important with regard to sustainability.

Keywords: Sustainable Islands; Cleaner Production; industrial Ecology

Introduction

The concept of sustainable development can be seen as a holistic approach in dealing with our environment. For sustainability, both economic development and environmental protection are seen as being very important. However, in a holistic approach societal and cultural objectives must not be ignoredl. In most cases, technological approaches to reach sustainability only take into account the interactions of the economic system and the ecosphere. From a systems analysis interpretation, sustainability is also related to structural aspects of the anthropogenic system. The problem of interaction is widely discussed and can be characterized by an operational working hypothesis which has been formulated by the Task Group Ecological Bioprocess- ing of the European Federation of Biotechnology’ and the SUSTAIN Group3:

l anthropogenic material flows must not exceed local assimilation capacities and should be smaller than natural fluctuations in geogenic flows;

o anthropogenic material flows must not alter the quality and the quantity of global material cycles;

l renewable resources can only be extracted at a rate that does not exceed the local fertility;

l the natural variety of species and landscapes must be sustained or improved.

It is assumed that, beside these interactions, the structural aspects of the anthropogenic system are strongly related to long-term stability and resilience of the regional economic system and therefore the main question of sustainability. Structural aspects of the regional anthropogenic system and its relationship to sustainable development are discussed further in this paper.

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The concept of sustainable islands: H.P. Wallner and M. Narodoslawsky

Cleaner production from a regional point of view

The system under consideration is the regional anthropogenic system. This system itself is a representation of one hierarchical level of the whole system. On this level, the system can be characterized by the elements, their interactions and the boundaries of the system. For a brief system analysis the following definitions should be given. The regional system is spatial and surrounded by geographic boundaries. There are however other types of boundaries, the so-called non- geographic boundaries, which represent the interface between the anthroposphere and the ecosphere. Both of them have to be considered because of cross- boundary flows, which partly determine the degree of sustainability.

The interactions of the system elements can be seen as communication activities. Communication is the exchange of matter, energy, information, culture, capital and persons. In the first run, matter and energy exchanges are under consideration. The elements of the system, the so-called process units (PU), are entities which generate communication activities. They are open systems in the thermodynamic sense. Process units are exposed to certain constraints from the higher hierarchial level, which is the regional system. For example, PU are subject to competition for resources. However, PU have a set of choices within which they can create their order by self-organization.

The most important types of PU are economic entities. They are systems on a lower hierarchical level and are therefore seen as ‘black box’. For regional investigations, the internal complexity of process units is reduced only to be considered by input and output flows. The Cleaner Production (CP) approach deals exactly with these economic entities. From a regional point of view, CP operates on a lower hierarchical level. CP, if seen in isolation, does not take into account regional aspects and therefore ignores constraints from the regional system. In order to evolve from an unsustainable region to a sustainable one - an Island of Sustainability - CP must consider regional aspects. Within the given set of choices for process units there is nothing wrong with the CP approach, but there certainly might be cases where CP - with preventive measurements for one isolated process unit - does not lead to benefits for the regional system.

Considering the general system theory, formulated by von Bertalanffy4, CP deals with elements of the regional system. These elements, which are economic entities, form the regional network by mutual communication. In order to reach an optimized regional metabolism it is necessary to deal with the system as a whole. ‘It is necessary to study not only parts and processes in isolation, but also to solve the decisive problems found in the organisation and order unifying them, resulting from dynamic interaction of parts, and making the behavior of parts different when studied in isolation or within the whole5.’ CP can be seen

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as a necessary precondition towards the sustainable development of a regional system, although it must be said that CP is not sufficient to reach sustainability and should therefore not be seen in isolation.

Networking economy - an intermediate step towards sustainability

As mentioned above, structural aspects of the economic system are important with regard to sustainability. The complexity of the regional network and sustainability are assumed to be related in as far as higher complexity and connectedness of the economic entities are necessary to evolve towards sustainability. It is therefore our goal to increase the complexity of the regional network.

Networking is an option within and between firms on an intraregional level as well as on an interregional level. Cook and Morgan6 make the criticism that organizational theories of today pay too little attention to networking activities. However, their work is based on regional economic development without taking into account the concept of sustainable development. Sustainable development means ecologically sustainable economic development, which is economic development in a broader sense. Even though they show that economically strong regions in Europe, such as Baden Wiirttemberg and Emilia-Romagna, can be characterized by intensive interactions and networking activities, networks can also be identified around productive areas in old and now declining industrial regions. They are continuously used and are an important aspect and advantage for the region7.

Cooke and Morgan coined the term ‘Network Paradigm’ meaning not so much the sum of theories and ideas of the present time but a framework for understanding the direction in corporate and spatial developments. It can therefore be seen as a reduction of the so-called holistic8y9 or the synergeticlO paradigm, taking into account only the aspects of cooperation. Implemented structures, according to the Network Paradigm, are first indicators of the ongoing paradigm change from the mechanistic world view to the holistic world. Moser gives a description of the holistic paradigm, in the sense of shifting from masters to servants. For individuals, it therefore becomes more important to be a servant to the whole system than to be a master. In networks it is characteristic for individuals to exist not by themselves, but in relation to other units of the systemll. For example, in economic networks as well as in neurological networks, the elements are mutually dependent upon resources. In Table I the main characteristics of the Network Paradigm are summarized.

For sustainable regional economic development, not only the networking activities but also the connectedness and the intensity of these ‘matches’ are an important question. For example, close producer-user interactions are becoming more critical on account of accelerating technological change9 and are a question


Table 1 The ‘Network Paradigm’ - a holistic approach

0 Systems view is dominating; the whole system is more than just the sum of the elements

0 Individual units are servants rather than masters*; they exist not by themselves but in relation to other units’l

: Benefits and burdens come to be shared” Trust and cooperation are system-inherent

of survival in the high-tech industries. Weak ties between supplier and customers have especially been diagnosed as main failures of US industries, not taking into account feedbacks and criticisms of customers, which are important sources for product development@.

Approaches to increase networking activities

Different approaches can be used to increase networking activities within a system. The chosen approach depends on the system itself and on the kind of view. The new approach in management systems (intrafirm) is based on the theory of self-organization in social systems12J3. On the regional level, one approach has the economic development of a region in mind, not considering ecological aspects6,14. In industrial metabolic systems a technological approach is used15. The Island approach is introduced as a new and more general approach to increase networking activities (the means) and to develop towards sustainability (the goal). The basic aim is to create an Island of Sustainability by increasing certain networking activities within a regional system. Matter and energy networks within the anthropogenic system as well as between the anthropogenic system and ecosphere are considered to be important. All approaches have in common that they are based on the holistic paradigm and try to increase cooperation and networking activities within different networks. The approaches on the regional level should be discussed in more detail.

Approach to economic development of regions

Captured in strictly economic considerations is the discussion given by Wood14, where the concept of ‘local economic development network (LEDN)’ is introduced. This discussion is focused on networks created to increase the attraction of regional areas (especially urban areas) for industrial investments. The economic development network consists of four organizations: investor-owned gas and electric utilities, chambers of commerce, real estate developers, and local government economic development departments (this discussion is valid for the USA). All of these organizations are characterized by mutual dependencies on a local level.

However, this approach towards more networking activities is based on information exchange. The aim is to create the best preconditions for investment in new industrial projects. The regional metabolism

(matter and energy flows) is not taken into account; hence, the ecosphere is not concerned. As a consequence, the increase of networking activities as described above is necessary but not sufficient for sustainable development. To go even further, it might be the case that increased networking activities act contrary to sustainable development (e.g. communication networks that help to stabilize the old economic system based on a mechanistic world view).

The Industrial Ecology approach

An important approach is that of Industrial Ecology or Industrial Symbiosis. This concept deals with matter and energy flows building up the industrial metabolism1”19. Industrial Ecology is a technologically orientated approach towards sustainability. The goal of this approach is to create an ‘Industrial Ecology Park’20. The industrial system should be functionally orientated at biological systems. Natural evolution has brought about complex systems with efficiently operating life structures. In biological communities the input and output flows of matter are in general small compared with inner cycles. This is the solution with which biological communities have met the problem of limited resources. Resources are considered as valuable and waste as an output flow of one system is input for another - the concert of ecosystems is perfectly organized. Depending on the setting of system boundaries, the ecosystem can be seen as a quasicyclic system (approximately closed) regarding matter and as a linear open system for energy flows. Living systems, for example, are open systems with relatively small input and output flows but maintaining a huge inner circle flow.

In Graedel15 the linear open system is described as a Type I system, the semicyclic or quasicyclic system as a Type II system. The Type III system is a completely cyclical system, where resources and wastes are undefined within the system. Waste of one subsystem is resource for another subsystem - the whole system is closed for matter but open for energy. ‘Accordingly, industrial systems (and other anthropogenic systems) are and will be increasingly under pressure to evolve from linear (Type I) to semicyclic (Type II) modes of operation15.’

The means to create an Industrial Ecology Park are multiple. There is the Cleaner Production approach with which the internal metabolism of firms is optimized. For an Industrial Ecology Park, Cleaner Pro- duction is a precondition. On a higher hierarchical level, where single firms are subsystems, the means to reach industrial symbioses are the network approach and interfirm cooperation. Networking in this case means using waste as raw material. The opportunities to create an industrial park are given by Allenzl.

The Island approach - Islands of Sustainability (IOS)

The Island approach deals with the whole anthropo- genie network on a regional scale. Similar to the

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Industrial Ecology concept, the anthropogenic metabolism is to be optimized. The goal is not so much to reach a completely cyclic system, but a metabolism which conforms with the operationalization criteria for sustainability. Interaction between the anthropogenic system and the ecosphere is not forbidden but limited to certain constraints. Intraregional communication within the regional system and interregional communication across the system boundaries must be kept in balance. This means that the regional system should be the core of the communication network. The connectedness of the elements within the system and with the ecosphere compartment is important. Questions of economic diversity and redundance are also asked, as well as of social and community aspects. The Island approach is more general and deals with many objects of the regional system.

Islands of Sustainability

The goal is to reach sustainability on a regional level. A sustainable island will be characterized by the following requirements. On the level of the system elements (the economic entities) the concept of Cleaner Production, which is a necessary precondition, is realized. On the next hierarchical level, the concept of Industrial Ecology dealing with optimal metabolisms on an interfirm level is important to be considered. Considering these interactions with regard to the definition for sustainability given above, the next step, the ‘regional networking economy’, is introduced. A locally networking economy meets the requirements given in Table 2.

In order to create an Island of Sustainability, the networking economy is an intermediate step. The methodology to reach local sustainability is the following. On the lower hierarchical level the CP approach, e.g. increasing efficiency and hazardous substitution, is applied to the process units of the region. Industrial Ecology is the critical approach on the next hierarchical level, the regional system. Objectives such as community planning, regional energy planning, regional capacities and regional problems must also be taken into account on the regional scale. To optimize the whole system this process will be iterative.

The Island approach also takes into account long- term uncertainty and stability effects of the regional economic system. The unsustainable regional economy

Table 2 The regional networking economy

0 Regional network of process units is rather complex; the connectedness of economic entities throughout different branches is high

0 Intraregional communication is more important than interregional communication

0 Economic diversity and redundance are in a state of balance (small, medium, large enterprise mix; branches mix

0 - also agriculture and forestry)

Regional potentials are fully used and regional problems are considered; (human potentials as well as production and assimilation capacities of regional ecosystems)

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is stabilized by the huge throughput of matter and energy. It is therefore necessary to keep the throughput partly existent because otherwise the stability of the economy would be challenged. Certainly, a decrease in the matter throughput will lower the stability. To compensate for the loss of stability, the regional economy has to become more complex, which is achieved by higher levels of internal communication. The reduction of input of fossil resources (energy input) is compensated for by solar energy input. The whole amount of solar energy throughput has to increase in order to achieve higher levels of complexity. Figure I serves as an illustration of the two different economic systems.

It is also characteristic of an Island of Sustainability that the trade system we are using today has to change. The unsustainable trade system has to develop towards a sustainable one. In Rees and Wackernage122, sustainability is defined as follows: ‘If all human popu- lations were able to live within their own regional carrying capacities (i.e. on the continuous flows generated by local natural capital), the net effect would be global sustainability’. Non-sustainable regions are not living on their own carrying capacity, which means that additional carrying capacity has to be appropriated from elsewhere. Because of the inter- national trade system, natural resources can be imported very easily, and as a consequence, carrying capacity appropriated. Rees and Wackernage122 formu- late: ‘Regional ecological deficits do not necessarily pose a problem if import dependent regions are drawing on true ecological surpluses in the exporting regions. A group of trading regions remains within net carrying capacity as long as total consumption does not exceed aggregate sustainable production’. A trading system of regions considering these conditions can be defined as a sustainable trade system (sustainable interregional trade).

(a) Solar energy throughput

(b) Solar energy throughput

Non-sustainable economic Sustainable economic system of a region system of a region

Figure 1 Matter throughput of the regional economy. In (a) the unsustainable economic system is stabilized by a huge matter throughput. A major part are fossil fuels (energy). The throughput of solar energy is on a minimum level (agriculture and forestry products). In (b) the stabilizing matter throughput is compensated by a higher level of networking activities within the system, and by the throughput of solar energy


Conclusions

The behaviour of the ecosystem is uncertain, and the long-term influence of human activities on the biosphere cannot be predicted. Creating concepts of how to handle nature (interaction of human activities and the biosphere), we have to assume that development and evolution may become a surprise, and that there may be unexpected outcomes. Small disturbances can lead to unintentional consequences. It is important to point out that the planner can only introduce the development towards sustainable islands, setting necessary boundary conditions. The evolution step itself from the unsustainable system towards the sustainable island will be carried out by self-organization. The outcome can never be predicted with certainty.

The concepts of Cleaner Production, Industrial Ecology and Islands of Sustainability are means to change the unsustainable system into a sustainable one. However, there is no guarantee that these concepts can definitely initiate an evolution process towards sustainable development, but there is at least a chance that they might.

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