Carmen Ruiz-Puente

The sustainability of socio-economic and industrial systems is a key concern, particularly within the framework of the 2030 agenda. A holistic understanding of the functioning and relationships of these systems is essential if we want to implement practical actions to achieve sustainability. This study uses econometric techniques, such as the distributed lag autoregressive model, to explore the interactions between industrial and environmental factors and the unemployment rate. The variables analyzed include working hours, wage costs, and tropospheric ozone concentration, over two periods: 2008-2020 (reduced period) and 2008-2024 (extended period). Between both periods, substantial differences have been found in the variables significantly influencing the unemployment rate. The significance of working hours and ozone (O3) concentration, determinants of the unemployment rate in the reduced period, are replaced by wage costs, determining the unemployment rate in the extended period. The results show that an initial increase in worked hours reduces unemployment, while wage increases and high levels of O3 tend to increase the unemployment rate. Granger causality analysis suggests bidirectional relationships between unemployment, wage costs, and O3 concentration, highlighting the connection between the different aspects and feedback collateral effects. The study underscores the need for balanced socioeconomic policies that promote both economic growth and environmental sustainability and the promotion of fostering of technological innovations. The importance of policies that mitigate the adverse effects of wage increases on employment is underlined, and that favor a more sustainable development model capable of decoupling economic well-being from intensive resource consumption. Keywords: Sustainability, Socioeconomic systems, ARDL techniques, Granger causality, unemployment, O3 concentration, working hours, hourly wage.

Complexity and Sustainable Development constitute a framework that challenges the evolution of current socioeconomic systems and, therefore, of organizations, which must gradually adapt to changes, transform, and be part of them. This reality must be accompanied by an adequate theoretical framework capable of supporting and responding to organizational needs, investigating new organizational forms and new forms of interaction with the environment. Bibliometric analysis has been carried out to clarify the theoretical roots and most relevant documents that support the current organizational theoretical framework between 1990 and 2022 on the Web of Science database, revealing theoretical foundations focused on Stakeholders, the Paradox, organizational resources and capabilities, complexity, and institutions. On the other hand, and closely related to the theoretical approaches, the topics of interest have focused on corporate social responsibility, business Sustainability, entrepreneurship, complex adaptive systems, emergency, resilience, and self-organization. Keywords: bibliometric analysis, organization, organizational theory, sustainability, complexity, environment, systemic view RESUMEN: La Complejidad y el Desarrollo Sostenible condicionan y plantean desafíos a la evolución de los sistemas socioeconómicos actuales y, por ende, de las organizaciones, las cuales deben adaptarse paulatinamente transformándose y constituyéndose en motor de cambio. Proporcionar una respuesta adecuada a los retos y oportunidades derivados de esta realidad requiere disponer de un marco teórico adecuado que sustente la investigación de nuevas formas organizacionales y de interacción con el entorno. En este trabajo se realiza un análisis bibliométrico, entre 1990 y 2022, para esclarecer las raíces teóricas y los documentos más relevantes que sustentan del marco teórico organizacional actual. Se han analizado las bases de datos Web of Science, revelando fundamentos teóricos centrados en los grupos de interés, la paradoja, los recursos organizacionales y las capacidades dinámicas, la complejidad y las instituciones. Adicionalmente a los planteamientos teóricos subyacentes, en este trabajo se tratan aspectos relacionados con la responsabilidad social empresarial, la sostenibilidad empresarial, el emprendimiento, los sistemas complejos adaptativos, la emergencia, la resiliencia y la autoorganización. Palabras clave: análisis bibliométrico, organización, teoría organizativa, sostenibilidad, complejidad, entorno, visión sistémica

The adoption of Industrial Symbiosis (IS) practices within urban areas is gaining interest due to the environmental impacts entailed by the development of cities. However, there is still a lack of knowledge about how the relationships between industrial and urban areas can be modelled. In this context, this research aimed at posing a conceptual model to understand and represent Urban-Industrial Systems (UIS). To this end, a set of worldwide previous UIS experiences were overviewed to identify the agents, dynamics, and collaboration opportunities that characterize them. The multi-perspective analysis of these cases indicated that UIS are complex systems, which means that they are autonomous, self-organized, responsive, nonlinear, and willing to consolidate their resilience. As such, Agent-Based Models (ABM) were suggested to be the most suitable approach for their representation.

Resource efficiency is a strategy with great potential to make progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), since it can contribute to meeting a variety of economic, environmental and social targets. In this context, this investigation developed a systemic analysis of co-located Industrial Symbiosis (IS) synergies in an industrial park formed of four companies. To this end, public data showing that the main activity in this park concerned materials, water and steam flows were supported with short visits to the companies for verification purposes. Then, the effects of nine exchange and twelve share synergies were analysed at different scales according to their impacts on sustainable development. The changes caused by these synergies in the flows in the industrial park enabled saving more than 10 k tonnes of raw materials and waste disposal and almost 10 Mm³ of raw water per year, as well as six auxiliary service systems. In the end, these figures might be translated into more than 200 kt CO₂ eq. and EUR 6M saved per year, which in turn corresponds to 0.05% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the region in which the park is located. In terms of sustainable development, these modifications were translated into contributions to nine SDGs and 14 of their specific targets, proving the domino effect associated with the application of IS policies by governments and public entities.

Digital evolution underwent great progress in the late 20th century, democratizing the use of the Internet and, therefore, access to public sources of information. This technological shift caused great impacts on different fields, including Industrial Symbiosis (IS). IS stems from the concept of Circular Economy and requires well-structured information to encourage waste reuse. Under these premises, this investigation aimed at processing and analyzing existing open-access IS databases from several perspectives, including types of business areas, waste and new uses involved. In addition, existing IS data were explored with the support of different tools, such as correspondence, network and correlation analyses. The application of this methodology to a set of 496 shortlisted IS exchanges led to several findings, highlighting the strong relationship between metallurgy and the production of cement, the key role played by the electricity production sector both as a donor and a recipient, the versatility of the agriculture area due to their capacity for reusing a variety of waste as fertilizers and the importance of chemical products and steam and hot water as new uses. Overall, these results provide companies with efficient and understandable knowledge to donate or receive materials.