4. Closing production cycles

Industrial and regional entities mobilized around an industrial ecopark project, based on a shared desire to create synergy, must assess its qualitative and technical feasibility. These ecoparks are commonly regarded as the ideal tool for optimizing the use of a region's material resources, in particular by facilitating the looping of flows and exchanges. From a territorial ecology perspective, however, this evidence must be tempered by the fact that the transportation issue is rarely taken into account, and that the consumption side of the ecosystem is ignored. Moreover, urban planning is beginning to question the notion of territorial "zoning".

While the looping of flows remains a fundamental principle of the approach, there are a number of conditions to be aware of and respected. Direct use of a company's outgoing flow or a mixture of pooled flows is rarely possible....