Mapping urban-industrial symbiosis through a business ecosystem lens

This paper examines the evolution of urban industrial symbiosis (UIS) through a business ecosystem lens. UIS, defined as the synergistic integration of urban and industrial systems where waste and by-products are repurposed as industrial inputs, has demonstrated strong potential to address climate change, urbanization challenges, and supply chain vulnerabilities. Existing UIS research has primarily focused on material flows, network structures, and policy arrangements. However, limited attention has been paid to how coordination mechanisms evolve as ecosystem interdependence and complexity increase over time. This omission is consequential because even powerful coordinators face structural limits when coordinating expanding interdependencies among heterogeneous actors and resource flows, creating a coordination gap. Drawing on case studies of Ulsan (South Korea), Händelö (Sweden), EcoPark (Hong Kong), Metro Vancouver (Canada), Kalundborg (Denmark), HS Orka (Iceland), and Kawasaki (Japan), the paper develops a process model of UIS ecosystem coordination that links generation-processing-auxiliary (G-P-A) subsystems, coordination tensions and mechanisms, and governance pathways across three analytical phases. The study advances UIS research by shifting from exchange-oriented perspectives toward dynamic ecosystem coordination and theorizing how coordination mechanisms evolve under increasing ecosystem complexity. It further extends business ecosystem theory by explaining how increasingly distributed coordination capacity sustains ecosystem resilience as growing interdependence strains centralized orchestration.