Urban factories—interdisciplinary perspectives on resource efficiency

Abstract Urban factories are situated in an urban environment that acts as a multifunctional settlement area with complementary uses for production entities in close proximity. Today factories in cities are commonly associated with negative impacts. By cooperation, production sites in urban environments would be able to contribute to an overall increase in resource efficiency of the factory-city-system. To establish a functional cooperation, it is vital to understand the underlying exchange between factories and cities. These exchange potentials are shaped by the interests of the stakeholders. To manage this factory-city-system, its exchange potentials, and stakeholders, a common control system has to be identified and established to make use of unused potentials for more resource-efficient urban factories.