Weslynne Ashton
Biographic Data
| ID | 3709121 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Weslynne Ashton |
| GIVEN NAMES | Weslynne |
| FAMILY NAME | Ashton |
| SIGNATURE | ASHTON W |
| AFFILIATIONS | Illinois Institute of Technology |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2927-9733 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 15 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
A critical review of S-LCA methods since the Unep, 2020 guidelines: Lingering challenges in the search for standardization
As the least researched component of holistic Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA), Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) continues to face significant methodological fragmentation—hindering the integration of social dimensions in sustainability research. Despite the methodological consolidation efforts provided by the landmark 2020 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Guidelines, several challenges remain. To lay a foundation for gr…
Whither convergence? Co-designing convergent research and wrestling with its emergent tensions
Convergence has emerged as an important paradigm for conducting research that tackles grand societal challenges. It demands deep integration of multiple disciplines for a holistic understanding of the complexity of these challenges. In the last decade, most convergent research efforts have focused on the integration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). However, addressing societal challenges necessitates greater integratio…
Lessons, narratives, and research directions for a sustainable circular economy
The current enthusiasm for the circular economy (CE) offers a unique opportunity to advance the impact of research on sustainability transitions. Diverse interpretations of CE by scholars, however, produce partly opposing assessments of its potential benefits, which can hinder progress. Here, we synthesize policy‐relevant lessons and research directions for a sustainable CE and identify three narratives—optimist, reformist, and skeptical—that und…
Three research priorities for just and sustainable urban systems: Now is the time to refocus
Now is the time to refocus efforts in urban research and design. A changing climate and extreme weather events are presenting unique challenges to urban systems around the world. These challenges illuminate the social barriers that accompany disruptive events such as resource inequities and injustices. In this perspective, we provide three research priorities for just and sustainable urban systems that help to address these matters. The three res…
Diversity in financing and implementation pathways for industrial symbiosis across the globe
The Uncommon Good: Making Room for Radical Transition Imaginaries
Public, social and community organizations are, in many locales, driving systems change toward social and economic equity, and environmental justice. But their visions for what achieving systems change should look like and what it will take to realize them are as diverse as the organizations pursuing them. Organizational coalitions are spaces where diverse groups converge to negotiate their distinct transition imaginaries: "collectively held, ins…
Justice, equity, and the circular economy: Introduction to the special double issue
In the last decade, the Circular Economy (CE) has emerged as an important framing for business and policy action in support of sustainable development. In that time, there has been an explosion of academic publications, policy developments, and business activities related to the CE. Given that CE has been widely praised and adopted by policy think tanks, policy makers, and business, as a way to frame sustainable development, we think it is about …
Capital‐based life cycle sustainability assessment: Evaluation of potential industrial symbiosis synergies
Industrial symbiosis (IS) promotes collaboration among traditionally unrelated industries, finding ways to use waste from one as a raw material for another. To enhance IS sustainability, it is essential that involved firms are aware of potential costs and benefits of new exchanges to make informed decisions. Previous assessments have primarily focused on environmental and financial implications of potenial IS synergies, but social implications ar…
Linking education to industry: Water and energy sustainability in Latin America
Industrial Symbiosis at the Facility Scale
Industrial symbiosis (IS), as a subfield of industrial ecology, is concerned with cooperation among industrial firms in managing resources, particularly by‐products, such that the waste of one firm becomes the input of another. This “closed‐loop” pattern also lies at the heart of the concept of the circular economy (CE). Both concepts are typically considered at scales ranging from industrial parks to global supply chains, but rarely at the scale…
Island Waste Management Systems: Statistics, Challenges, and Opportunities for Applied Industrial Ecology
Island waste management professionals are faced with limited land resources, high energy costs, large seasonal fluctuations in waste volumes, and complex social and political dynamics that stem from their often closely knit societies. These and other factors can discourage typical waste management practices, but they also provide opportunities for island governments and businesses to explore alternative technologies and policies that suit their p…
Assessing the “Short Mental Distance” in Eco‐Industrial Networks
Like many economic exchanges, industrial symbiosis (IS) is thought to be influenced by social relationships and shared norms among actors in a network. While many implicit references to social characteristics exist throughout the literature, there have been few explicit attempts to operationalize and measure the concepts. The “short mental distance,”“trust,”“openness,” and “communication” recorded among managers in Kalundborg, Denmark, set a prec…
The Structure, Function, and Evolution of a Regional Industrial Ecosystem
A framework has been developed to assess the structure, function, and evolution of a regional industrial ecosystem that integrates insights from industrial ecology and economic geography dimensions with complex systems theory. The framework highlights the multilayered landscape of natural ecosystem functions, economic transactions, policy contexts, and social interactions in which interfirm collaboration evolves. Its application to a single case …
Understanding the Organization of Industrial Ecosystems: A Social Network Approach
Industrial Symbiosis in Puerto Rico: Environmentally Related Agglomeration Economies
Chertow M. R., Ashton W. S. and Espinosa J. C. Industrial symbiosis in Puerto Rico: environmentally related agglomeration economies, Regional Studies. Industrial symbiosis, a sub-field of industrial ecology, examines the flow of water, energy, materials, and by-products across firms in geographic proximity. Environmentally related co-location benefits often result that have not been a focus of traditional agglomeration economies, but extend the b…
Industrial Symbiosis in Puerto Rico: Environmentally Related Agglomeration Economies
Chertow M. R., Ashton W. S. and Espinosa J. C. Industrial symbiosis in Puerto Rico: environmentally related agglomeration economies, Regional Studies. Industrial symbiosis, a sub-field of industrial ecology, examines the flow of water, energy, materials, and by-products across firms in geographic proximity. Environmentally related co-location benefits often result that have not been a focus of traditional agglomeration economies, but extend the b…
Understanding the Organization of Industrial Ecosystems: A Social Network Approach
Industrial Symbiosis in Puerto Rico: Environmentally Related Agglomeration Economies
Chertow M. R., Ashton W. S. and Espinosa J. C. Industrial symbiosis in Puerto Rico: environmentally related agglomeration economies, Regional Studies. Industrial symbiosis, a sub-field of industrial ecology, examines the flow of water, energy, materials, and by-products across firms in geographic proximity. Environmentally related co-location benefits often result that have not been a focus of traditional agglomeration economies, but extend the b…
The Structure, Function, and Evolution of a Regional Industrial Ecosystem
A framework has been developed to assess the structure, function, and evolution of a regional industrial ecosystem that integrates insights from industrial ecology and economic geography dimensions with complex systems theory. The framework highlights the multilayered landscape of natural ecosystem functions, economic transactions, policy contexts, and social interactions in which interfirm collaboration evolves. Its application to a single case …
Assessing the “Short Mental Distance” in Eco‐Industrial Networks
Like many economic exchanges, industrial symbiosis (IS) is thought to be influenced by social relationships and shared norms among actors in a network. While many implicit references to social characteristics exist throughout the literature, there have been few explicit attempts to operationalize and measure the concepts. The “short mental distance,”“trust,”“openness,” and “communication” recorded among managers in Kalundborg, Denmark, set a prec…
Island Waste Management Systems: Statistics, Challenges, and Opportunities for Applied Industrial Ecology
Island waste management professionals are faced with limited land resources, high energy costs, large seasonal fluctuations in waste volumes, and complex social and political dynamics that stem from their often closely knit societies. These and other factors can discourage typical waste management practices, but they also provide opportunities for island governments and businesses to explore alternative technologies and policies that suit their p…
Industrial Symbiosis at the Facility Scale
Industrial symbiosis (IS), as a subfield of industrial ecology, is concerned with cooperation among industrial firms in managing resources, particularly by‐products, such that the waste of one firm becomes the input of another. This “closed‐loop” pattern also lies at the heart of the concept of the circular economy (CE). Both concepts are typically considered at scales ranging from industrial parks to global supply chains, but rarely at the scale…
Linking education to industry: Water and energy sustainability in Latin America
Capital‐based life cycle sustainability assessment: Evaluation of potential industrial symbiosis synergies
Industrial symbiosis (IS) promotes collaboration among traditionally unrelated industries, finding ways to use waste from one as a raw material for another. To enhance IS sustainability, it is essential that involved firms are aware of potential costs and benefits of new exchanges to make informed decisions. Previous assessments have primarily focused on environmental and financial implications of potenial IS synergies, but social implications ar…
Justice, equity, and the circular economy: Introduction to the special double issue
In the last decade, the Circular Economy (CE) has emerged as an important framing for business and policy action in support of sustainable development. In that time, there has been an explosion of academic publications, policy developments, and business activities related to the CE. Given that CE has been widely praised and adopted by policy think tanks, policy makers, and business, as a way to frame sustainable development, we think it is about …
Lessons, narratives, and research directions for a sustainable circular economy
The current enthusiasm for the circular economy (CE) offers a unique opportunity to advance the impact of research on sustainability transitions. Diverse interpretations of CE by scholars, however, produce partly opposing assessments of its potential benefits, which can hinder progress. Here, we synthesize policy‐relevant lessons and research directions for a sustainable CE and identify three narratives—optimist, reformist, and skeptical—that und…
Three research priorities for just and sustainable urban systems: Now is the time to refocus
Now is the time to refocus efforts in urban research and design. A changing climate and extreme weather events are presenting unique challenges to urban systems around the world. These challenges illuminate the social barriers that accompany disruptive events such as resource inequities and injustices. In this perspective, we provide three research priorities for just and sustainable urban systems that help to address these matters. The three res…
Diversity in financing and implementation pathways for industrial symbiosis across the globe
The Uncommon Good: Making Room for Radical Transition Imaginaries
Public, social and community organizations are, in many locales, driving systems change toward social and economic equity, and environmental justice. But their visions for what achieving systems change should look like and what it will take to realize them are as diverse as the organizations pursuing them. Organizational coalitions are spaces where diverse groups converge to negotiate their distinct transition imaginaries: "collectively held, ins…
Whither convergence? Co-designing convergent research and wrestling with its emergent tensions
Convergence has emerged as an important paradigm for conducting research that tackles grand societal challenges. It demands deep integration of multiple disciplines for a holistic understanding of the complexity of these challenges. In the last decade, most convergent research efforts have focused on the integration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). However, addressing societal challenges necessitates greater integratio…
A critical review of S-LCA methods since the Unep, 2020 guidelines: Lingering challenges in the search for standardization
As the least researched component of holistic Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA), Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) continues to face significant methodological fragmentation—hindering the integration of social dimensions in sustainability research. Despite the methodological consolidation efforts provided by the landmark 2020 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Guidelines, several challenges remain. To lay a foundation for gr…
Ecology (10 works) · Sustainability (10 works) · Sustainable Industrial Ecology (10 works) · Business (9 works) · Economics (9 works) · Environmental resource management (7 works) · Industrial ecology (7 works) · Political science (7 works) · Sustainable Supply Chain Management (7 works) · Computer Science (6 works)