Evaluating the area energy performance of suburban industrial parks in the tokyo metropolitan area

Suburban industrial parks (SIP) are crucial for cities; yet their environmental and economic sustainability require continuous efforts regarding energy intensity. While recent studies have examined the energy performance of individual SIPs, there is limited understanding of their mutual influence in local industrial contexts. This study introduced a new area energy performance (AEP) indicator to assess the energy productivity of SIPs in the Tokyo metropolitan area (TMA) using a suburban industrial community (SIC) model. Enterprise-based location quotients for 89 SIP samples across 11 industrial sectors were used to evaluate local industrial structures (LIS) at SIP, its surrounding, and regional scales. The results showed that SIPs in Tokyo Prefecture had exceptionally high AEP values owing to outstanding industrial energy productivities, suggesting their potential to lead sustainable development. The spatial variation in AEP reflects the characteristics of LIS, with machinery industries dominating SIPs and their surroundings, whereas living-related industries prevailed regionally. Furthermore, the AEP values of neighborhood areas were usually between those of the SIPs and their municipalities. This suggests that the agglomeration effects of SIPs' energy productivity could help the SIC perform better overall, especially in the eastern TMA. Our analysis revealed that 18 out of 43 low-performing SIPs exceeded municipal averages when expanded to the SIC scale, highlighting the importance of neighborhood synergies. The findings highlight the importance of contextualized industrial spatial planning and SICs’ sustainable revitalization in the metropolitan peripheries, providing spatial-specific insights for policymakers and industrial planners.