Andreas Koenig shares his vision for eco-industrial development.
Andreas Koenig, international consultant for sustainable development in the urban-industrial sector, addressed a full-to-capacity brownbag lunch session at Metro Regional Center on Dec. 16 to share lessons, tools and strategies for the efficient and sustainable use of existing industrial and employment land.
As a champion of eco-industrial park initiatives that he characterizes as "the networking of businesses and communities for resource efficiency," Koenig challenged the audience of planning and development staff, council members, business representatives and sustainable development enthusiasts to "imagine our knowledge being designed into a system."
Drawing from cases studies of eco-industrial parks, villages and commercial yards (vertical mixed-use development) both in Europe and the United States, Koenig guided the audience through examples of sustainable business communities including the Kalundborg Industrial Symbiosis in Denmark, the Phillips Eco-Enterprise Center in Minnesota, and Devens in Massachusetts.
Characterized by combinations of land conservation, shared energy resources, recreational amenities, easy highway and rail access, a residential component and – on varying levels – a commitment from stakeholders to apply sustainable practices throughout their businesses, eco-industrial developments operate, Koenig observes, as "industry behaving like an ecological system."
The shared allocation of resources, suggests Koenig, helps companies generate better results, increase production, and save natural and financial resources. With co-location of businesses and collaboration as key elements, the model moves beyond the sum total of each individual sustainable practice to a systems approach built on sound business practices.
To close, Koenig shared his vision of bringing all the tools, models, and technology for sustainable development to one central location he refers to as an eco-industrial development center. These hubs of sustainable innovation would serve to build awareness, inspire and help communities and businesses to be sustainable, offer consulting and management services, address community building elements of eco-industrial developments and provide exhibition areas for public/private functions.
Koenig left the audience with just one recommendation for applying eco-industrial development concepts to their own projects: "Start with a vision for where you want to go."