The organization of eco-industrial parks and their sustainable practices

Eco-Industrial Parks (EIPs) are defined as a community of firms located in the same area and linked in a network of collaborative relationships mainly aimed at enhancing sustainability. A number of EIPs have recently spread in both developed and developing countries through diverse formation processes, resulting in different configurations. The topic has received a growing attention by the literature, even though to our knowledge the available studies lack to characterize the EIPs’ organizational models and analyse how models reflect on the EIP’s sustainability. The aim of this paper is to fill this gap, proposing a framework that characterizes EIPs along two dimensions related to organization and sustainability, which are further described through specific variables. We apply the framework on 28 EIPs and conduct cluster analysis to group them according to the organizational dimension. We then identify different organizational models of EIPs and discuss the possible linkages between such models and the adopted sustainability practices. The research findings have practical implications concerning policies and strategies to enhance EIPs sustainability.