The circulation of material and energy flows reflects the functioning of both biosphere and human societies. Industrial ecology, in its territorial approach, questions these socioecological interactions within a geographical area. It contributes to the definition and structuration of land into territory. Through an experimental approach led upon port areas, the aim is to reveal this dynamic of territorial configuration in industrial ecology. Territory constitutes a complex matrix of representations and practices, uncovered in actors’ speeches. From the analysis of 21 industrial ecology port case studies at an international scale, 9 territorial patterns are defined in order to observe and interprete this dynamic. Implemented in Marseille-Fos port area, these patterns allow the production and the interpretation of actors’ speeches in order to identify the territorial construction modes and to build a common territorial configuration, at the interface of actors’ representations and practices. This experimentation highlights a territorial embeddedness phenomenon for industrial ecology. It reveales industrial ecology’s contribution to a “territoriality-territorialisation” dynamic, leading to territorial configuration. It thus proposes a socioecological definition of territory, identifying biotopes and niches occupied by different actors. The overlapping of these biotopes and niches questions the evolution of port governance for the implementation of industrial ecology.
