Roles of geospatial technology in eco-industrial park site selection: state-of-the-art review

Abstract

Globally, most industrial parks that have not gone through a proper site selection process have been neglected or underutilised and such active sites tend to burn a lot of fuels and generate greenhouse gases. Technology must be used to conduct on-site investigations of the spatial and non-spatial factors of industrial parks, especially the emerging Eco-Industrial Park (EIP). The paper seeks to appraise the global application, capability and acceptability of Geographic Information System (GIS) and Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) tools in the EIP sites selection and planning. Also, to identify the benefits of mixing MCDM tools when integrating with GIS. There have been some reviews on the use of GIS and MCDM methods, but so far, there is none on the role of GIS and MCDM methods in EIP site selection. Geospatial and MCDM tools can be used to carefully select EIP sites, where materials and energy can be shared to achieve cleaner production, reduce environmental pollution and promote sustainable development.