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With the world growing consciousness towards green, Mutha Industries, is the first of its kind to introduce ‘Epitome’, a premier range of bamboo wood flooring in India. Epitome's core mission is to inspire eco-friendly living and espousing the most environment responsive production processes, ensuring customers an unparalleled quality of bamboo wood flooring. Spread across 10 acres in Bamboo Park, Agartala, Tripura, the upscale production unit is equipped with state of the art technology to cater to the growing demands of the environment conscious customer. With a well-defined focus on Research and Development, Mutha Industries aims to give its customers top notch eco-friendly flooring. Mutha Industries Pvt. Ltd. is the first company in India to endeavor into the field of bamboo wood flooring; named as ‘Epitome’, a product, which is taken from nature without harming it. Venturing into the field of eco-friendly bamboo wood flooring, the industry seeks perfection, depends on which the products are bringing to the market. The main manufacturing unit is located in the industrial district of Agartala, Tripura known as the ‘Bamboo Park’. Tripura has more than 15 species of bamboo and is one of the foremost bamboo growing states in India. Working in association with a German, Chinese and Taiwanese based company, known for their technical expertise; the industry strives for excellence in manufacturing high quality bamboo wood flooring. Bamboo wood flooring and Bamboo wood decking are trendy flooring material that can elevate the elegance of any constructional space almost instantly. It has an appearance and feels that is similar to hardwood flooring and yet, is still distinct and different, adding an ineffable quality to the room.

Physiological processes within the thalli of lichens respond differently to accumulated pollutants. The chemical and physiological responses of lichens to atmospheric pollution from a petrochemical industrial complex were used to develop a lichen-air quality index (LiAQI). Thalli of the lichen Parmotrema tinctorum collected from an unpolluted area were transplanted to eight monitoring sites in the surrounding area of the Map Ta Phut industrial estate, two sites in an agricultural zone and a control site in a national park. Thirty chemical substances and eight physiological parameters were measured and analyzed. These data were then used to calculate the LiAQI of each monitoring site. The LiAQI values suggested that three industrial sites within 3–5 km of the main industrial area had poor air quality, three sites at a distance of 4–7 km had moderate air quality and two sites at a distance of 8–9 km had good air quality. Both agricultural sites at a distance of 35–55 km had very good air quality when compared with the control site. Air quality was found to improve with greater distance from the industrial center. The LiAQI developed from lichens was effective at detecting atmospheric pollution.

To explore the spatio-temporal pollution characteristics and induced heath risk of toxic elements (Cu, Cr, Cd, Zn, and Pb) in road dust from different land use patterns of a typical industrial district (the Qingshan District), the seasonal contents and bioaccessibility fraction of toxic metals in the diverse particle sizes (diameters μ m, 63–100​ μ m and 100–150 μ m) were investigated. The stochastic simulation of triangular fuzzy number (SS-TFN) was introduced to conduct the improved health risk assessment. The mean contents of the studied metals exceeded their corresponding values of soil background, while below the screening value of metals for construction land. Both the pollution level and bioaccessibility of dust metals generally increased with the decrease of particle size. Seasonally, the heavy metal contamination in winter dust was generally more serious than that in summer, with the summer pollution levels of dust metals decreasing in the order of Zn > Pb > Cd > Cu > Cr, while the winter in Cd > Zn > Pb > Cu > Cr. Further, there were no non-carcinogenic risks for the public to expose to dust metals, but the risk levels of dust metals at some points in industrial area and sensitive area had a deteriorating trend. Meanwhile, there were no carcinogenic risks, with Cr dominated. The dust metal contamination and corresponding health risk in sensitive area and industrial area were obviously higher than that in residential area and traffic area. Stochastic-fuzzy health risk assessment provides more scientific and accurate risk management advice for both decision makers and potential receptors.

Currently, solar energy technologies are in the stage of intensive development. With booming solar industry, there is a challenge to seek for appropriate solar energy solutions for different district typologies. This paper presents a comparative study on solar energy utilization patterns for different types of districts located in Kunming, China. Four district typologies are investigated: residential district (RD), official district (OD), commercial district (CD) and industrial district (ID). For each district, the objective is to identify such solar energy utilization patterns that result in an optimal design and operation of solar energy system. The optimum system is defined and obtained through minimizing life cycle CO 2 emissions and costs as well as maximizing exergy efficiency. To that end, a multi-objective optimization approach based on Genetic Algorithm is proposed. The results of the case study suggest that solar energy is to represent 3.7%, 5.9%, 7.9% and 21.4% of annual energy consumption for RD, OD, CD and ID, respectively. For each district, the portfolio of solar energy technologies is different. Solar power systems factually contribute to the energy supply of ID only. The final work aims at investigating the effects of different solar energy parameters on the solar utilization patterns for these districts.

Industrial symbiosis (IS) has gained more attention in the production economics as the pressure on companies increases for the reduction of waste emissions and primary resources consumption. In fact, this has forced companies to provide other companies their wastes as primary resources and vice-versa. These supply circles lead to IS that can mitigate environmental impacts and costs in industrial areas (IA). The aim of this paper is to provide guidelines for the future evolution of IA operating on the basis of IS principles. Given a production network within an IA, perfect IS within the network is defined as a theoretical optimum for IS design where no primary resources is needed from outside and no wastes are discharged outside. Adopting an enterprise input–output approach, the conditions for a perfect IS are found for one-waste and multi-waste cases, and the distance between the states of the actual network and of the related perfect IS is measured. Proposed approach is empirically applied to Santa Croce sull’Arno industrial district of tannery where the recycling of chrome liquors, fleshing, and wastewater are investigated. Results show under which conditions perfect symbiosis is achievable for two waste types. Policy implications are also suggested for the design of IA when IS principles are adopted.

Culture-led urban regeneration has been the buzzword of many cities around the world nowadays. There are two related ways to interrogate this problematic. First, it is about the extent to which it is a real urban future for cities. Second, it is about its applicability to cities other than those in the West. This article attempts to tackle these related queries by, first, invoking Lefebvre's concepts of utopia vs isotopia and, then, drawing on two cases of cultural regeneration in an industrial district and an old residential neigbourhood in Hong Kong. The conceptual discussion of utopia highlights the imperative of spatial contradictions as the prerequisite for the emergence of concrete utopia; otherwise, it only results in isotopia. As such, it is difficult for cultural regeneration to produce utopia. This, in turn, calls for greater attention to the historical–geographical processes that have produced the conditions for the concerned city. It is these processes that differentiate Hong Kong from many others in the West. The prevailing land (re)development regime has favoured some processes at the expense of others. The two empirical cases have confirmed that either spatial contradictions were not there, or if they ever emerged, they were time and space specific. These conditions rendered it difficult to nurture creativity and to really relegate the decision-making power to the people, thereby denying the possible applicability of the problematic of cultural regeneration to Hong Kong.

The environmental crisis affecting the Taranto provincial industrial district in Italy, centred around the Ilva steelworks, has made its existence within the surrounding contexts unsustainable. The application of industrial symbiosis principles in this district can certainly represent a purposeful means for a move towards a more sustainable industrial system. This work presents the results of a research project, funded by the Caripuglia Foundation, for a study of industrial symbiosis in the Taranto industrial district. The study of the district, which is characterized by the presence of heavy industries such as steelworks, oil refinery, cement industry and power stations with an energy consumption of 182.4 PJ/year, identified the industrial sectors and firms that could be involved in symbiotic activities and the spontaneous existing synergic interactions taking place among the largest firms of the district. The study has also quantified and illustrated the useful recycling, within various industrial sectors, of inefficiently used and disposed waste energy (44.6 PJ/year of heat) and material waste and by-products (3.28 Mt/year). Among the latter are steelworks slag, mill scale, spent refractories and coal fly ash. However, the study has revealed that, despite the presence of multiple anchor tenants on the territory, the industrial symbiosis is still implemented at a basic level. There are different constraints on the full development of the industrial symbiosis in the industrial district of Taranto. Among these, the focus of the entrepreneurs on their core business was the main one, while additional uses of the current waste are seen as a diversion of human resources and capital.

Although air pollution decreased in some cities that shifted from an industrial to a service-based economy, and vehicular emission regulation became more restrictive, it is still a major risk factor for mortality worldwide. In central São Paulo, Brazil, air quality monitoring stations and tree-ring analyses revealed a decreasing trend in the concentrations of particulate matter and metals. Such trends, however, may not be observed in industrial districts located in the urban periphery, where the usual mobile sources may be combined with local stationary sources. To evaluate environmental pollution in an industrial district in southeastern São Paulo, we assessed its spatial variability, by measuring magnetic properties and concentrations of Al, Ba, Ca, Cl, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, P, S, Sr, Zn in the bark of 62 trees, and its temporal trends, by measuring Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, V, Zn in tree rings of three trees. Source apportionment analysis based on tree barks revealed two clusters with high concentrations of metals, one related to vehicular and industrial emissions (Al, Ba, Cu, Fe, Zn) in the east side of the industrial cluster, and the other related to soil resuspension (Cu, Zn, Mn) in its west side. These patterns are also supported by the magnetic properties of bark associated with iron oxides and titanium-iron alloy concentrations. Dendrochemical analyses revealed that only the concentrations of Pb consistently decreased over the last four decades. The concentrations of Cd, Cu, Ni, V, and Zn did not significantly decrease over time, in contrast with their negative trends previously reported in central São Paulo. This combined biomonitoring approach revealed spatial clusters of metal concentration in the vicinity of this industrial cluster and showed that the local population has not benefited from the decreasing polluting metal concentrations in the last decades.

The increase of intensive anthropopression since the Middle Ages has been recorded in numerous anthropogenic forms (embankments, dumps, canals, pits, etc.) and sediments (changes of sedimentation type, buried soils, slags, charcoals, geochemical changes) of the valleys of the Holy Cross Mountains. The development of small-scale water retention systems associated with functioning forges and mills on the watercourses resulted in changes in river patterns (anthropogenic anastomoses) and the reduction of the flood stage maximum during the Little Ice Age (on the Kamionka River). In the twentieth century, after the disappearance of the small-scale retention system caused by economic changes on the Kamionka and Czarna Konecka rivers, hydrotechnical failures appeared that led to the formation of catastrophic flash floods previously unknown during the Holocene. The geomorphological effects of these floods exceeded by many times the effects of secular processes.

Peats, which have high compressibility, considerably high water content and low shear strength, are often unsuitable for supporting structures of any kind since they mainly cause excessive and differential settlement and slope instability problems. Peats cover about 8 % of the earth’s land surface and particularly are common in Canada, Russia, Malaysia and Indonesia, while Turkey has limited areas of peatland when compared to these countries. However, some of the peatlands in Turkey are located at or close to settlement areas and cause some structural damages. One of the well-known peatlands in Turkey is found in the Ambarkoy district of Kayseri city where two large industrial districts were constructed on the peat and evidences of excessive settlement on some buildings are clear. By considering the lack of geomechanical behavior of the peats and the presence of some settlements next to peaty areas in Turkey, and the ground problems associated with settlement of some structures founded in the above mentioned rapidly growing industrial region, this study has been carried out. This study aims to assess compression characteristics of these peats and to develop an approach for the prediction of in-situ settlement based on the laboratory experiments and field monitoring conducted on these peats. For these purposes, in order to investigate the in-situ characteristics of the peat deposit, boreholes were drilled, trial pits were excavated and seismic surveys were carried out and long-term field settlement was monitored from an externally loaded concrete platform which was constructed on the peat. In the second stage of the investigation; mineralogical, some index and compression characteristics of the peat samples collected from the site were determined in laboratory. The compression process of the investigated peat realized in three stages, namely primary consolidation and secondary and tertiary compressions. The primary consolidation of the peat has been completed shorter than one minute under normal stresses smaller than 54 kPa and its secondary compression indices showed an increase in a non-linear trend. The results of the back-analysis, using the average values of laboratory determined compressibility characteristics of the peat, indicated that the calculated settlement was greater than that measured from the monitoring platform. This was due to that the idealized compressibility parameters, which have been determined from the laboratory tests, correspond to a stress level greater than those imposed by the monitoring platform onto the peat. By considering this, back-analyses based on the use of the compression characteristics, which were re-evaluated, yielded amount of settlements consistent with those measured in the field from the monitoring platform. Therefore, it is suggested that the amount of settlement can be more precisely estimated if the compression characteristics of the peat are re-evaluated and used in the analyses by following the approach suggested in this study.

The results of the study carried out by the sociological laboratory of Ekaterinburg Academy of Contemporary Art in 2014 has shown a detailed behavior segmentation of the population of one of the industrial districts of Yekaterinburg - Uralmash, in particular, the socio-demographic characteristics of the “cultural activity” and features of the people's addressing to the cultural institutions. The segmentation within the used methods has been performed according to the following parameters: the use of the services of cultural institutions in general, the regional localization – a practice of addressing to the services of the municipal cultural institutions in the district, the demand for other services, the unsatisfied demand. The Uralmash residents’ demand for services in the field of culture is not satisfied to the large extent, which means that there is a cultural gap with its own target audience. The citizens set hopes on a new neighbor- the Academy of Contemporary Art.

Family firms and industrial districts represent the pillars of the Italian manufacturing industry. Yet, the interplay between corporate ownership and the districtual organization of the industry has been basically overlooked. This paper reports preliminary evidence on the joint contribution of family firms and industrial districts to the competitive performance of Italian manufacturing firms. Descriptive and econometric analysis shows a positive effect of family ownership on firm profitability, as measured by the industry-adjusted Return on Sale (ROS), whereas the advantage of being located in an industrial district is less evident. Empirical evidence shows that the comparative advantages of family ownership change along the firm size distribution and according to the nature and relevance of the external (districtual) economies. Specifically, the performance impact of the interaction between the “district effect” and the “family effect” changes significantly across firm size classes: while these two effects operate as a substitute in smaller sized classes, they are complements in medium-sized firms. In particular, medium-sized firms (100–250 employees) are the best at leveraging the benefits of districtual organization, but only in the case of family ownership.

The regeneration of industrial districts in Shenzhen is self-organized, dependent on starting conditions and engagement with the market, in contrast with other areas where city governments continue to exert effective control over urban planning and its physical outcomes. The permissive industrial regulatory regime in these districts allows rapid transformation of properties to exceptionally high density, a mix of land uses, and minimal service provisions. The city continues to support the rapid transformation of such districts through flexible lease management and the provision of transport infrastructure. The unique road and leasehold system of the industrial district supports the emergence of a non-motorized zone that in turn promotes further real estate investment. The process appears to be iterative and bottom-up, with successive effects between land holdings and real estate investment, transport infrastructure and the non-motorized environment, and the non-motorized environment and further real estate investment. The evidence comes from comparable field studies of real estate development (2000–2013) and transport outcomes (2007 and 2013). The informal practices of the district and city, not yet part of official policy, are nevertheless, having a transformative effect on several former industrial zones.

In recent years, increasing attention from both industries and research has been focused on carbon capture and, subsequently, storage technologies. These technologies will contribute to companies’ strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from fossils fuels. However, less effort has been spent on evaluating another interesting option after carbon capture: carbon utilisation or reuse. A feasibility study regarding an Italian industrial district is discussed: the district is characterised by the nearby locations of a CO2 producer (i.e. an natural gas combined cycle power plant) and a CO2 user (i.e. a sugar factory). The annual average CO2 emission by the power plant is about 1.7 million tonnes. Under current conditions the sugar factory ‘produces’ CO2 to use it in the sugar refining process; thus, the idea is to evaluate the feasibility of capturing CO2 emitted from the power plant and reusing it in the sugar factory process from both a technological and an economic point of view. The results indicated a cost saving of about 42% in the operational costs of the sugar factory due to the introduction of the carbon reuse technology.

Economic clusters have been recognised as important elements of urban and regional economic strategies, but their role in spatial planning is under-appreciated. This paper examines the initiatives and outcomes of economic clusters in relation to urban spatial planning in the periods of planned and market economies in China. Through an examination of the planning and development practices in Beijing, the effect of economic clusters in facilitating local growth and shaping urban spatial structure is revealed. The significance of economic clusters in achieving synergy between economic and spatial policies is discussed. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In the era of a global knowledge economy, urban regions that seek to increase their competitive edge and become destinations for talent and investment have little chance of achieving these goals without forming effective knowledge-based urban development strategies. Hence, the development of clusters of knowledge-based corporations has become an important strategic factor in increasing the competitiveness of knowledge cities. Whereas previous studies have tended to focus on the characteristics of local clusters and the causes of their success, empirical studies of the long-term development of local knowledge-based industries are few. Accordingly, this investigation takes the knowledge city region-Hsinchu as its subject, and quantitatively analyzes the correlation between the spatial dynamics of knowledge in major industries and innovation based on empirical data. This finding shows that steadily developing industries in the Hsinchu region have continued to strengthen their new knowledge of product development and innovation. An overview of innovative activities of firms also revealed that their knowledge patterns have been changing from patterns of internal dependency to a locality-based, broader networking and agglomeration pattern.

The paper investigates the mechatronics industrial district of the Veneto region, key for Industry 4.0 and for pursuing development opportunities related to smart specialization strategies. It shows how firms of a local system can gain competitiveness from different modalities of participation to processes of globalization of innovation. Firms’ size matters when exploiting own innovation in the international markets, but it is not essential for linking to specific external knowledge sources which can sustain the injection of new knowledge into the system and help firms increase their innovation performances.

In the dense European cities it is almost impossible to find new spaces for the private traffic. On the other hand the centripetal force of the most metropolitan areas is still raising, increasing more and more the pressure on the mobility infrastructures. Metropolitan trains allow high capacities with moderate space consumption. The success of these systems and the huge generated pedestrians flows can lead to new and sometime unexpected capacity problems. A micro simulation approach has been used to check and improve the functionality of the booming station Hardbrücke in the former industrial district of Zurich.

There is increasing awareness that university–industry collaboration provides an important knowledge transfer channel and, thus, is a powerful driver of innovation. Universities are increasingly being asked to play incisive roles in the process of regional economic development. This paper assesses the extent to which university–industry collaboration, expressed in terms of private funding for university consulting research activities, is affected by the geographic proximity of an academic institution to an Industrial District (ID). Although the economic literature insists on the positive effects of proximity for these collaborations, empirical work on Italian ID so far shows no particular effects. This paper provides new insights into the effects of academic proximity to ID on university–industry collaboration, by presenting robust evidence that proximity to districts promotes the establishment of collaboration agreements. This sheds new light on the need for targeted policies to support local productive systems. The empirical evidence is based on an analysis of qualitative information and an econometric analysis of financial data for the whole population of Italian university departments engaged in research in the Engineering and Physical Sciences.

The aim of the present study is to provide information on the ecological integrity of an industrial district located in the estuary of Pará River (Amazon estuary), by applying a selection of fish based multimetric indices of ecosystem integrity: Abundance Biomass Comparation (ABC); Biological Health Index; Estuarine Fish Community, Transitional Fish Classification and Estuarine Biotic Integrity Indexes. To evaluate the impacts of the industrial area and cargo terminal, three areas were considered: Zone 1, (maximum impact), Zone 2 (median risk) and Zone 3 (reference area). All the biological indices used were considered to be excellent indicators of the ecological integrity of the different sectors of the study area and were especially effective for the demonstration of the critical alterations of the fish community of Zone 1 and Zone 2. The simultaneous use of different indices family, with different assumptions, did strengthen the results enhancing the confidence in the diagnostic.

Networks within an organization and also among organizations are expected to work as conduits of resources and knowledge for innovation. Previous papers have shown that dense networks are closely related with innovation performance. Tight relationships in a close knit group foment trust among actors in the network and therefore promote collaborations, and diverse connections with the others can open an opportunity for breakthrough. In this paper, we quantitatively evaluate the network structure of an industrial cluster and compare its results with that of a field study, and found that firms in the cluster do not regard it as dense, which means that there are opportunities even in the densest network. This is because it is not so easy to look for business partners beyond a company's current partnerships while tight communication exists among firms having partnerships. Therefore, we propose a system of finding a plausible business partner to span the current boundary and to support the networking.

While research on vertical relationships has demonstrated that suppliers' capabilities can be developed via partnerships, we lack studies that relate the development of such capabilities to the management of business relationship portfolios. This paper partially fills this research gap by investigating how small to medium subcontractors (SMSs) align their customer relationship portfolios with their design and marketing capabilities. Applying one-way ANOVA to a sample of 62 subcontractors located in the mechanical industrial district of Pordenone (North East Italy), we show that the development of marketing and design capabilities affects subcontractors' business relationship portfolios. Our study suggests that SMSs strategically manage their customer relationships, moving from traditional subcontracting to a more articulated portfolio characterized by a stronger presence of partnership and market relationships. Marketing and design capabilities shape SMSs' autonomy and strategic options in choosing the appropriate combinations of different relationship types.

This study provides insight into the impact of industrial districts on the international activities of firms, in the particular context of one traditional manufacturing industry: the Spanish home-textile industry. Using a sample of 128 manufacturing firms, the paper shows how location influences the timing and levels of exports and imports. Moreover, our results demonstrate how these influences have been diluted in recent years as the home-textile industry becomes more involved in the global arena. Our findings challenge some key arguments exploring the advantages of the district in the international activities of firms; in particular, first, in questioning the capacity of the district to prevent international sourcing, and second, its vulnerability to the threats created by the growing integration of the world economy.

[EN]: The industrial district of Castellón is characterized by a great dynamism based on technological innovation, both product and process, the origins of which are to be found on its providers, the machinery industry and the frit, glaze and colours industry. In this paper the current situation of the frit, glaze and colour industry is analyzed, accounting also for the situation of its main European competitor in Italy. The formation and development of the industry is also described in relation to the industrial district and the innovation system where it belongs, together with the R&D activity, the innovation activity, and the main technological milestones that have made it become the world leader. The analysis shows the challenges to which this subsector, and more generally, the tile innovation system need to react to, by means of cooperation, in order to maintain the tile district leadership. Globalization implies new behaviours and one of the most relevant is the increase of cooperation among the different actors in the innovation system., [ES]: El distrito industrial de Castellón se caracteriza por un gran dinamismo fundamentado en la innovación tecnológica, tanto de proceso como de producto, cuyo origen está básicamente en sus proveedores, la industria de equipamiento mecánico y la industria de fritas, esmaltes y colores cerámicos. En este artículo se analiza la situación actual de la industria de fritas, esmaltes y colores cerámicos española, atendiendo además a la situación de su mayor competidor europeo, Italia. Se describe también la formación y desarrollo de la industria en el entorno del distrito cerámico de Castellón y de su sistema de innovación, se analizan, asimismo la actividad en I+D e innovación así como los hitos tecnológicos que le han llevado a ocupar un liderazgo mundial. El análisis realizado identifica los retos frente a los que el subsector y, en general, el sistema de innovación cerámico necesitan reaccionar, cooperando, con el fin de mantener el liderazgo del distrito cerámico. La globalización implica nuevos comportamientos y uno de los más importantes es el aumento de la cooperación entre los actores del sistema de innovación., Los autores agradecen al Alto Consejo Consultivo de la Generalitat Valenciana la financiación para realizar esta investigación.

The idea behind this paper is that social capital (SC) is interpreted as a component of an investment, which implies entangled private and public benefits. Within a theoretical framework that considers SC as the public component of the impure public good R&D we show that the ‘civic culture’ of the district in which a firm is located is not a sufficient incentive for the firm to increase its investment in SC, because SC/networking dynamics might positively and complementarily evolve only if the opportunity cost of investing in innovation is sufficiently low. Consequently, we focus our attention on a specialised biomedical industrial district characterised by a strong pattern of innovative activity. We observe that R&D and networking/social capital arise as complementary driving forces of innovation outputs. When the empirical evidence confirms that this complementarity plays a key role, policy efforts should be targeted toward both market and non-market characteristics, rather than solely to the production of local public goods or innovation inputs as independent elements of firm performance. This is very important in terms of policy effectiveness. In fact, we argue that SC/networking dynamics might positively evolve only if the private opportunity cost of investing in R&D innovation is sufficiently low. Nevertheless, this exogenous economic incentive works as long as complementarity, as defined here, holds.

Treatment studies on the effluents originating from an organized industrial district (OID) wastewater treatment plant were investigated. Wastewater samples were taken from an OID where most of industries consist of textile producers having mainly dying and finishing processes. Chemical precipitation and ion exchange methods were applied to the samples in the lab conditions. Optimum removal efficiencies were determined based on the applications of different chemical species and pH. Ca(OH) 2 at pH 11 has provided the maximum removal efficiency in chemical precipitation experiments. In the experiments, removal efficiencies for TSS, COD, Fe, SAC 436 (spectral absorption coefficient), SAC 525 and SAC 620 were 96%, 27%, 94%, 75%, 88% and 90%, respectively. After chemical precipitation, ion exchange experiments were conducted to improve the quality of wastewater. Optimum dosage and resin type were determined. The experiments revealed that resin I gave the best removal rates for the parameters considered in this study. Study results indicated that the quality of the treated wastewater reached the suggested process water limits of the textile industry.

The goals of an organization of data and information collected from the European industrial systems and concerning networks of enterprises, mainly small-mid enterprises (SMEs), are many: (a) to offer an intelligent support system (ISS) to industrial analysers when they try to understand if a SME network, either cluster or industrial district, could be enforced by proper financing, or it cannot give sufficient assurance for a new development; (b) to offer to political people a support in understanding the dynamics of these SME networks, in order to be able to take decisions about public politics; (c) to give tools for analysing the performance of these industrial bodies to industrial people, mainly technicians and managers, such to be able to apply new strategies for their improvement; (d) to give information and data to researchers operating in university and RTD centers, such to be able to improve their knowledge about these so important industrial bodies. To reach this goal, the aim of the EU-funded CODESNET (COllaborative DEmand & Supply NETwork) project is to give new ideas and concepts sufficient to drive the attention of the above-mentioned different types of people towards the SME networks and districts. To this aim, a crucial problem must be approached and solved: which model of a SME network should be stated and used as the basis for developing a clear and useful ISS, that is, able to collect information and data from existing SME networks and transfer such data into standard formats, easy to be read by both industrial people and scientific researchers. The present paper describes the theoretical methodology on which the data organization and interpretation adopted in the CODESNET project is based. The application of an original meta-model of SME network, developed in the mentioned project, is detailed according to the following steps. After the meta-model formulation (in Section 2), it is shown how the variables to be measured (such to have a clear understanding of the network status), have to be selected, and how the main issues concerning the design and management of the network has to be classified (Section 3). Then, it will be shown how the archive of both data/information from existing SME networks (for purpose of comparison-based analysis) and the catalogue of technical/scientific reports (for purpose of justifying the analysis considerations) has been organized in an integrated form. The scope is to give at disposal of industrial people the mentioned ISS which allow them to approach some main issues concerning the network design and management (Section 4). An example of ISS application in an Italian industrial district will be presented, such to illustrate the CODESNET results’ usefulness.

An industrial district with polluting factories operating inside poses a potential threat to the air quality in the surrounding areas. Therefore, establishing a proper air quality monitoring network (AQMN) is essential for assessing the effectiveness of imposed pollution controls, strategies, and facilities in reducing pollutants. The geographic layout of such an AQMN should assure the quality of the monitored data. Monitoring stations located at inappropriate sites will likely affect data validity. In this study, a multiobjective approach was explored for configuring an AQMN for an industrial district. A dispersion model was employed to simulate hourly distribution of pollutant concentrations in the study area. Models optimizing pollution detection, dosage, coverage, and population protection were established. Alternative AQMNs with varied station numbers and spatial distributions were obtained using the models. The resulting AQMNs were compared and evaluated for effectiveness in monitoring the temporal and spatial variation of pollutants. Discussion of the differences among the AQMNs is provided. This multiobjective analysis is expected to facilitate a decision-making process for determining an appropriate AQMN.

In this paper, a detailed description of a project designed to reduce the energy consumption in a tissue mill in the Lucca industrial district (Italy) is presented: both technical and economic aspects have been thoroughly considered. First of all, an accurate analysis of the status of the previous steam plant for the paper drying process was developed, to identify possible improvement opportunities; then a new configuration for the steam system was proposed and designed. After that, by means of a comprehensive feasibility analysis, the typical economic indices were calculated assuring good economic profitability of the plant modification investment. The modifications to the system make it possible to achieve consistent annual savings of natural gas, fresh water and CO2 emissions through complete elimination of steam losses that were present in the original steam circuit. Implementation of the new steam system has fully confirmed the design results described in this paper.

A system optimisation approach is proposed to design biomass-based district-heating networks in the context of industrial districts, which are one of the main successful productive aspects of Italian industry. Two different perspectives are taken into account, that of utilities and of policy makers, leading to two optimisation models to be further integrated. A mixed integer linear-programming model is developed for a utility company’s profit maximisation, while a linear-programming model aims at minimising the balance of greenhouse-gas emissions related to the proposed energy system and the avoided emissions due to the substitution of current fossil-fuel boilers with district-heating connections. To systematically compare their results, a sensitivity analysis is performed with respect to network size in order to identify how the optimal system configuration, in terms of selected boilers to be connected to a multiple energy-source network, may vary in the two cases and to detect possible optimal sizes. Then a factorial analysis is adopted to rank desirable client types under the two perspectives and identify proper marketing strategies. The proposed optimisation approach was applied to the design of a new district-heating network in the chair-manufacturing district of North-Eastern Italy.

In order to estimate the importance of atmospheric fall-out of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) around the industrial district of Porto Marghera, Italy, atmospheric depositions of POPs were collected using bulk samplers inside the Lagoon of Venice. Seventy-seven atmospheric deposition samples were collected monthly over a 12-month period (March 2003-March 2004) at seven sites located close to the industrial area of Porto Marghera. Samples were analysed by HRGC/HRMS for PCDD-Fs, PCBs, HCB and PAHs. Differences in mean daily fluxes of all organic pollutants between industrial, urban and lagoonal stations were clear, atmospheric depositions at industrial sites being higher than target values for dioxin deposition recommended by the EU strategy on dioxins, furans and polychlorobiphenyls. In order to calculate atmospheric loadings of POPs around the industrial district, we considered an area defined by a distance of 10 km from the hypothetical centre-point of the main sources of atmospheric emissions from Porto Marghera. The calculated loadings, compared with the previous estimates, show that annual loadings of POPs are 12, 510, 90 and 130 kg of PCDD-Fs, PCBs, HCB and PAHs, respectively, corresponding to 350-500 mg TEQ, thus indicating a slight decrease in PCBs and a great decrease in HCB with respect to 1998-99. The input coming from the atmosphere is of the same order of magnitude of that due to the watershed runoff and approximately one-half of the direct industrial discharges.

We argue that industrial district firms possess a number of shared resources that explain the competitive superiority of these firms. These factors include common reputation , intensity of exchange and combination of resources , and participation of the local institutions . Using these shared resources we aim to address an unsolved question in the industrial district literature, namely, the internal heterogeneity of the clustered firms. Our empirical research drew upon a sample of 288 Spanish manufacturing firms belonging to industrial districts. Findings suggest that, even assuming a certain degree of homogeneity among internal district firms, they develop their own particular relationships and networks and, as a result, exploitation of the shared resources is irregular. These differences can therefore be used to explain the differences in value creation among firms.

Adopting a critical perspective on the industrial district concept, this paper explores the relationship between identity and entrepreneurship in the context of regional economic development in the North Staffordshire Potteries in the later nineteenth century. Contra to the model of the ‘ideal-typical’ industrial district, both business networks and any collective ethos of economic exchange were fragile in the Potteries. In this environment, entrepreneurship became a key issue. In particular, sections of the industry attempted to redefine the scope and practice of entrepreneurship in the local context, arguing that the entry into the industry of ‘illegitimate’ small firms was damaging the trade. The issue of regional representativeness was central to the process of redefining entrepreneurship.

Firms’ survival and longevity have recently emerged as a new intriguing theme of business history, spreading from the initial studies on family business to all forms of business. In family business the transition to the next generation can represent a strong limit to survival, as it depends on three different longevity factors: the family members’ involvement and commitment, the preparation of an adequate succession planning and the presence of a competitive advantage. Temporal continuity has become an independent topic involving all types of business, with respect to size, ownership and sectorial diversity. The goal of the analysis was to identify the determinants of longevity. The present research moves along this second line of investigation, focusing on small‐scale businesses and taking into consideration a case study. The small and medium‐scale (SME) system examined is that of Sesto San Giovanni, one of the most important Italian Company‐town during the 20th century, considered the ‘industrial district’ of Milan. The study first verifies the evolution of the local SMEs system, highlighting its development during the century. Having defined the context, the attention shifts to the temporal survival of local businesses and its determinants. Finally, the research includes the history of several enterprise experiences to illustrate the analysis’ results.

From a planning perspective, this paper addresses a new format of retail found in China through a case study of Shenzhen City. The city has grown very fast in the last two decades from a small township of 60,000 people to a city of over 6 million. Dramatic economic growth and urbanization left planners behind, and a former industrial district turned into a commercial district within a few years of time in the late 1990s. This unplanned development pushed by market forces has shown some features commonly found in the evolution of ‘high-street’ in the West, while there are some unique features that are typically represented by a group of theme shopping complexes (TSC) in the district of Hua Qiang Bei (HQB). We argue that TSC as a special format of retail appeared in the world fastest growing city has its own reasons. They include (1) the lack of matured shopping center developers, (2) the lack of matured retail chains, (3) the uncertainty of government policy and regulations that resulted in short-term and fragmented leasing of space to small retail tenants, and (4) large and continuing demands from newly immigrated low-to-middle income working class. It is yet to be seen that this TSC format would continue and diffuse to other fast growing but less developed cities in China, or would be replaced by shopping malls soon when retain chains dominate.

This review article focuses on two recent volumes: Guilhon, B. (Ed.), 2001. Technology and Markets for Knowledge: Knowledge Creation, Diffusion and Exchange within a Growing Economy (Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston), pp. xx +206, ISBN 0-7923-7202-6, £87.50. Belussi, F. and Gottardi, G. (Eds.), 2000. Evolutionary Patterns of Local Industrial Systems: Towards a Cognitive Approach to the Industrial District (Ashgate, Aldershot), pp. xv +194, ISBN 1-84014-520-X, £39.50.

This paper reviews ideas and insights from recent firm strategy literature. We argue that these perspectives can be usefully extended to explain the competitive advantage of the industrial district. Most of the empirical studies seeking evidence of the competitive advantage of the industrial district consisted of case studies. This paper attempts to offer a measurement of the performance of industrial district firms on a comparative basis by using the case of the Spanish ceramic tile industry.

Using a case study of the export-oriented blue jeans industry in Torreon, Mexico, the authors discuss the role of US buyers in promoting full-package apparel production. While the networks associated with this model yield better development outcomes for firms and workers than those typical of the maquila industry, the Torreon cluster is not adequately described as a “high road” industrial district. The global commodity chains framework is used to assess the developmental implications of the apparel industry's growth in Torreon. By emphasizing the relationship between producers and foreign buyers, this approach provides a useful way to bridge the global–local divide in the literature on industrial clusters in developing countries.

This paper contrasts the theoretical model of flexible specialisation (FS) with recently collected empirical data from the UK ceramic tableware `industrial district', located in Stoke-on-Trent, North Staffordshire. Whereas there are facets of the industry that match the FS thesis, countervailing arguments can be found that discount much of their significance. There is a lack of association between the FS model and the conduct of interorganisational relations, development of production technology and `impannatore’ co-ordination. However, elements of productive organisation, work processes, product variety and regional infrastructure give partial support to the model. In summary, at best partial support can be found for the claim that the tableware `industrial district’ has witnessed large-scale productive and organisational restructuring over the past 10 years.

While striving to become the new economic power house of China and the East Asian region, Shanghai is undergoing a profound restructuring of its infrastructure and, more importantly, its physical form and appearance. Urban revival will in part rely on the successful redevelopment of the old central city where dilapidated housing and fragmented industrial use are no longer tolerable. Shanghai's revival also is dependent on the effective development of the Pudong New Area and several other new urban districts, which will facilitate the growth of industrial activities and the expansion of the tertiary sector.

This study examined serum protein and iron status of people aged 10 to 72 years living in the Itahari district (an industrial district, 40 males and 32 females) and in the Chitwan district (an agricultural district, 89 males and 82 females) in the Terai region of southern Nepal. The relationship between the results and food and nutrient intakes was also investigated. The mean values of weight were very low in both groups, which led to a low body mass index, 18–20. The mean values of serum total protein (TP) for the residents in the Chitwan district were higher than those of the Itahari (p

An integrated network is conceived that qualitatively relates environmental actors and environmental systems within a social unit such as a town, an industrial district or the like. The resulting matrix shows the flow of decisions and information between its active vector representing the environmental objectives, and its passive vector representing the environmental achievements. By way of three additional vectors, the properties of environmental systems are determined and compared to the expectations created by provisions of the environmental actors. The result is a set of residuals that define the living comfort in the social unit. The network motivates interested parties such as administrations, schools or individuals to go through the exercise of finding the causes of the residuals. In order to eliminate them, definite responsibilities have to be assigned to community members. The study pretends to involve all citizens in the flow of information, facts and decisions, and to help them identify themselves in the matrix. It is anticipated that as a result of this educational exercise, individual and collective responsibilities become apparent and are accepted and practiced.

After a historical survey of the diffusion of methodologies and techniques of systems analysis in engineering applications, a series of specific examples is reported, concerning the activities of the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment (ENEA). In the field of knowledge-based computer aids for plant operators, two applications are described, concerning, respectively, a primary aluminium production plant (aluminium smelter) and a plant which recovers energy from civil waste. About dynamic modelling of buildings, a method is described, which has been tested both in inhabited buildings and in an empty experimental house. Finally, a peculiar ENEA's experience is illustrated, which regards the development of distributed information systems for networks of small- and mediumdashsized enterprises (SME) in industrial districts, with the aim of improving logistic and manufacturing processes and of protecting the environment.

In this paper we present the results of empirical research carried out in two footwear clusters located in Italy, the “land of industrial districts”, and two clusters of footwear enterprises in Mexico. The aim of the study is to present a comparison between the ideal-typical industrial district, as it is defined in the literature, and the case studies in Mexico and Italy. Material from a survey of clusters of firms in Italy and Mexico reveals how clusters in both countries differ in some aspects from the “textbook” model. Similarities and differences are investigated in some detail, and attention is given to the intensity and quality of backward and forward linkages, the existence of an “industrial atmosphere” and the nature and extent of institutional support.

The importance of peripheral industrial districts in the North American city during the nineteenth century has been underestimated. This paper presents an examination of the growth of a working-class industrial district on the eastern fringes of Montreal between 1850 and World War I. It is argued that the standard model of the historical evolution of urban industrial form does not cover the full diversity of possible forms that the economic geography of the city could take. The interpretation taken here is based on showing the range of productive strategies open to firms, the importance of control over the workplace, and the development of non-central external economies. Using an assortment of sources such as tax assessments rolls, trade journals and government reports the paper traces the emergence of an industrial district in the East End by 1850 and its development over the next sixty years. This is illustrated through a discussion of the district's components areas, and the growth of specific industries and firms.

The paper is an attempt to depict the political, social and economic framework in Poland, within which the decision to build the Central Industrial District was made in the mid-1930s. The question of whether this mission, being a vital element of the Polish industrialization effort, was consistent with the then prevalent logic, and had a chance to meet the hopes and goals put forward by the authorities and the society. After the introductory section, the general historical background is reconstructed. This is followed by the outline of the industrialization policy mix and the narrower study dedicated to the Central Industrial District itself. The section with inferences concludes the paper.

At a time when many aspects of American capitalism are being questioned, Frank Koller’s “Spark” puts the spotlight on the US economy's proclivity for mass layoffs. Lincoln Electric, a Fortune 1000 company located in Cleveland, Ohio, has bucked this trend by maintaining a no lay-off policy for decades; nonetheless, it is still standing, prospering in a mature industry in the heart of America’s rustbelt, the last major survivor of Cleveland’s formerly vibrant industrial district, which at the turn of the 20th Century was the Silicon Valley of its day. Why and how this model has worked for Lincoln Electric, what steady work has meant to generations of its employees and by extension to their families and their communities, and whether this business model can be exported to other companies are questions explored in “Spark” through interviews with the company’s executives, its active and retired workers and their families, academic experts, labor leaders, Wall Street analysts, and CEOs of other companies. This book makes an important claim that deserves close attention from government and industry leaders, as well as researchers, namely that it is possible to avoid mass layoffs and thus to mitigate the pernicious effects of economic downturns on workers, their families and their communities, even as patient shareholders are well served in the longer run.

This article presents an agent-based model of an Italian textile district where thousands of small firms specialize in particular phases of fabrics production. It is an empirical and methodological model that reconstructs the communications between firms when they arrange production chains. In their turn, production chains reflect into road traffic in the geographical areas where the district extends. The reconstructed traffic exhibits a pattern that has been observed, but not foreseen, by policy makers.

We study the internationalisation process in a representative sample of 786 firms in the Italian automotive supply chain. Most of these firms have agglomerated in the Turin industrial district, the cradle of FIAT, the dominant Italian car-maker and one of the global players in the automotive industry. Both FIAT and its suppliers have experienced a substantial process of internationalisation. Our main research question is straightforward: is the internationalisation process of the Italian firms in the automotive supply chain driven by the off-shoring of FIAT activities, or is it a relatively independent process, driven by the cumulated effect of agglomeration in a Marshallian-type urban district? We build an Internationalisation Strategy Index, that discriminates between firms that do not export at all, or that export without owning structured sale or production organisations abroad, or that possess such organisations. After controlling for firms’ characteristics, and building three simple agglomeration indicators, we perform a multinomial logit micro-econometric analysis. We find that there is an impact of agglomeration on firms’ internationalisation, independent from the vertical linkages between suppliers and their main customer FIAT. In fact, dependency from sales to FIAT decreases the probability of internationalisation, while being located in a high-density industrial district has the opposite effect. This result points to a positive impact of agglomeration per se, particularly in a urban context, and rejects the alternative view that internationalisation of firms in the supply chain is driven by the core firm in the “hub-and-spoke” context.

Given the changes that occurred in the organization and specialization of Italian industrial districts and the changing geography of the banking system, in this paper is we aim at reassessing the bank-firm relationship in industrial districts. Using firm-level data on a sample of Italian SME, we examine the determinants of credit rationing and relationship lending. Firstly, we test whether firms located in industrial district area have more access to banking credit and rely more on relationship lending. Secondly, we assess if being localized in industrial clusters have heterogeneous effects due to the structure of local credit markets. Our results point out the firms operating in industrial districts are less credit rationed, while their probability of relationship lending is not significantly different from the one of the average firm. Furthermore, a higher operational proximity of banks to local economies is associated with more access to banking credit and and to a lower probability of engaging in relationship lending, while a higher functional distance of the banking system from local communities is associated with tighter financing constraints and a lower probability of relationship lending. These effects are significantly intensified for firms located inside industrial districts.