ABSTRACT
In its short history, industrial ecology has distinguished itself from other approaches to achieving environmental quality by analyzing the systemic effects of human resource use on environmental burden and by use of an analogy with natural ecosystems. Although there are examples of the application of these principles to consumer products and industrial processes, their application to the built environment presents new challenges. Current recycling levels for many construction materials remain low. Recovered materials and alternative feedstocks can supplant many virgin materials flows but must overcome economic and technical barriers. Property degradation after material use, non-uniform waste streams, and geographically dispersed sources limit the economic feasibility of recovery. Independent of materials use and management, industrial ecology must develop consistent approaches to building design and construction as well as the utilization of land for structures. Finally, the natural ecosystem analogy focuses the question of how industrial ecology should view the built environment: as its own ecology or as part of a larger one. Based on the principles that form its conceptual core, what strategies does industrial ecology offer for smart design and systems thinking about the human built environment?
