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. A more "lightweight" version is the business park or office park, which has offices and light industry, rather than heavy industry.

Benefits

Industrial parks are usually located outside the main residential area of a city and normally provided with good transportation access, including road and rail. Industrial parks are usually located close to transport facilities, especially where more than one transport modes coincide: 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 power), high-end communications cables, large-volume water supplies, and high-volume gas lines.
• To be able to attract new business by providing an integrated infrastructure in one location.
• Eligibility of Industrial Parks for benefits
• 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.