Industrial park

Part of the Municipal Airport industrial complex, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park, which has offices and light industry, rather than heavy industry.

Benefits

Industrial zone in Dakar (Senegal)
Industrial zone in Trier-Zewen, (Germany)

Industrial parks are usually located on the edges of, or outside the main residential area of a city, and normally provided with good transportation access, including road and rail.[1] One such example would be the large number of industrial estates located along the River Thames in the Thames Gateway area of London. Industrial parks are usually located close to transport facilities, especially where more than one transport modes coincide, including highways, railroads, airports and ports.

This idea of setting land aside through this type of zoning is based on several concepts:

  • To be able to concentrate dedicated infrastructure in a delimited area to reduce the per-business expense of that infrastructure. Such infrastructure includes roadways, railroad sidings, ports, high-power electric supplies (often including three-phase electric power), high-end communications cables, large-volume water supplies, and high-volume gas lines.[2]
  • To be able to attract new business by providing an integrated infrastructure in one location.
  • Eligibility of Industrial Parks for benefits[3][4]
  • To set aside industrial uses from urban areas to try to reduce the environmental and social impact of the industrial uses.
  • To provide for localized environmental controls that are specific to the needs of an industrial area.

Criticism

Different industrial parks fulfill these criteria to differing degrees. Many small communities have established industrial parks with only access to a nearby highway, and with only the basic utilities and roadways. Public transportation options may be limited or non-existent. There may be few or no special environmental safeguards.

Variations

An industrial park specializing in biotechnology is called a biotechnology industrial park. It may also be known as a bio-industrial park or eco-industrial cluster.

Flatted factories exist in cities like Singapore and Hong Kong, where land is scarce. These are typically similar to flats, but house individual industries instead. Flatted factories have cargo lifts and roads that serve each level, providing access to each factory lot.

UNIDO Viet Nam (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) has compiled a list of Industrial Parks in the ASEAN Economic Community in a report titled "Economic Zones in the ASEAN" written by Arnault Morisson.

References

  1. ↑ Industrial park scheme 2008 "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-12-03. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
  2. ↑ Industrial Park land and infrastructure http://www.ground57.com/land-and-infrastructure/
  3. ↑ Industrial Park Benefits "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-11-23. Retrieved 2009-06-04.
  4. ↑ List of Approvals & Withdrawals under the Industrial Park Schemes, 1999 & 2002 "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2009-06-11.

See also

Media related to Industrial parks at Wikimedia Commons

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