Industrial Ecology for Sustainable Territorial Development: A MICMAC-Based Analysis of Tunisian Industrial Ecosystems

Industrial ecology (IE) offers a territorial approach to sustainable development by promoting resource efficiency, waste valorization, and coordinated interactions among industrial actors. However, empirical evidence on the structural factors shaping IE implementation in North African industrial ecosystems remains limited, particularly in Tunisia, where economic, technical, institutional, and organizational conditions may constrain the development of industrial symbiosis. This study aims to (1) identify the main enabling and constraining factors associated with the implementation of IE in Tunisian industrial ecosystems and (2) examine the structural influence and dependence relationships among these factors in order to identify strategic priorities for territorial governance. The study applies the MICMAC (Cross-Impact Matrix Multiplication Applied to Classification) method to two systems comprising 18 variables: 11 enabling variables and 7 constraint variables. Expert-informed direct influence matrices were constructed and analyzed to classify variables according to their levels of influence and dependence. The results identify public incentives for environmental protection (X10) and investment stimulation (X9) among the most structurally influential variables in the enabling system, while recycling recovery (X1), human commitment (X8), and emission minimization strategies (X11) also occupy strategic positions. In the constraint system, economic (Y2), technical and energy (Y1), and human-dimension constraints (Y7) emerge as particularly important relay factors. These findings suggest that the development of industrial ecology in Tunisia depends not only on technical capabilities but also on the institutional, economic, and organizational conditions shaping territorial coordination. The study contributes an exploratory structural perspective on Tunisian industrial ecosystems and provides evidence-based priorities for policymakers and industrial stakeholders while recognizing the contextual and expert-dependent nature of the analysis.