The transformation of industrial areas towards greater sustainability results from a strategic objective to address the effects of economic and environmental crisis. Such transformation, however, requires methodologies and tools that support and facilitate the process. This paper proposes an analytical model that favours the redesign of industrial areas based on sustainable strategies for eco-industrial parks. The proposed model is enhanced by the definition of building blocks of an agent-based modelling method. The methodology that was followed favours the detailed description of the objectives of the system, with individual elements and adaptation to the surrounding environment, amongst other features. The proposed model integrates a knowledge database that supports the process of identification of cooperative strategies such as material exchange networks in industrial areas. The underlying theory for the assessment of cooperative interactions is game theory, which supports the resolution of problems with strategic choices. This work covers the stage of analytical model formulation that is essential for advancement towards the inference process based on simulation models.
Keywords: Agent-based modelling; Cooperative strategies; Eco-industrial parks; Industrial symbiosis; System dynamics.
© 2013.