Strategic niche management for industrial ecosystems: A cross case study on management of synergy based initiatives in Catalonia and Basque Country

Abstract

Industrial production is a crucial human activity especially since industrial revolution and it has been the centre of many academic and policy discourses and discussions. Undoubtedly, sustainability has found a central place in majority of these arguments of the related literature as it has been turned into an imperative to fight against the economic, environmental and social problems in tandem, and to create a more equal and better quality of living standards for today?s and future?s generations, ever since the concept was first coined in 1972 at Stockholm UN Conference on Sustainable Development. In the meantime, especially at regional and local scales, for achievability purposes, sustainable industrial production initiatives have found a strong emphasis (Gibbs, et al., 2005) from academicians, policy-makers and practitioners.