From industrial districts to industrial symbiosis: an opportunity. The case of Ponte Rosso area, Italy

The article highlights the importance of industrial symbiosis in the industrial ecology literature, which refers to geographically close relationships between companies in which networks and geographic proximity play a vital role. Industrial symbiosis traditionally deals with different industries in a collective approach to economic and environmental management. The research was carried out in the northeast of Italy in the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, close to the Slovenian border. The Ponte Rosso was used as a case study. The empirical analysis served to highlight some critical aspects of the environmental, geographic-economic, and social factors that could hinder the development of industrial symbiosis in this region.