The development of industrial parks | A history of planning

Industrial park, an economic evolution?

Industrial parks have long been the economic engine of industrial and post-industrial cities. Today, as a result of the relocation of manufacturing and the transformation of the economy towards the tertiary and quaternary sectors, industrial parks are called upon to evolve and even reinvent themselves.

Whether established multinationals or start-up SMEs, companies no longer choose their location solely on the basis of market, resources, land, energy and transportation costs. They now consider the pool of skilled labor, the quality of the host environment, the attributes of the host city, mobility networks and, increasingly, their projected carbon and eco-energy footprint.

In short, social and environmental dimensions are being added to the strictly economic dimensions long favored by industrial park managers, leading them to take a holistic view of their development.

Against this backdrop, how can we plan the development of industrial parks, and how can we decompartmentalize the industrial model towards a plurality of solutions better adapted to the economic and urban context?

The notion of industrial districts or industrial parks was born of a desire by municipal authorities to keep nuisances away from residential areas. Segregated zoning was born in the wake of the modernist movement. From then on, we witnessed the emergence of large industrial sectors on the outskirts of urban areas, all structured around shipping lanes, railways and motorways. The pattern of monofunctional spatial organization, with large-scale buildings on vast asphalt surfaces along wide streets, is similar, if not uniform, from one park to the next. Over the years, a number of concepts have been developed to distinguish and enhance the attractiveness of these zones: technopole, Éco-Parc, Innoparc, etc. Today, in the face of growing competitiveness, it seems essential to develop development strategies and judiciously plan the evolution of industrial parks.

Planning trends

Industrial parks have undergone a number of planning trends that have influenced their forms and components since their inception. Here are two recent approaches that serve as inspiration for many Quebec parks.

• The Éco-Parc is essentially a cluster of industries benefiting from the circular economy. It is also an industrial park with a positive ecological and energy balance.
• The Innoparc: this type of industrial park relies on a functional mix within the site to create synergy between companies and a research center. These are often research and development companies.

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Image: Éco-Campus Hubert-Reeves