Redesigning the industrial ecology of the automobile

This article explores the potential of industrial ecology to inform the redesign of an existing industry: that which is concerned with the production, sale, and support of automobiles. In so doing, it brings together the concepts embedded in industrial ecology with issues of economic scale, product design or technology, process technology, and the way in which new combinations of these features can result in an alternative structure for the automotive industry that has the potential to enhance sustainability performance. In so doing, the article advances the general argument that the economic, technical, and spatial organization of production and consumption are co-determined in a manner that collectively shapes the industrial ecology of an industry. In contradistinction to the prevailing industry, the article then advances the concept of micro factory retailing as an alternative framework for the industry that would result in significantly different performance in terms of industrial ecology.