An industrial zone (sometimes euphemistically termed an industrial “park”) is where the “heavyweight” manufacturing and shipping takes place in modern civilization. Long before the Industrial Revolution, it was common to locate the most noisy, odoriferous, and dangerous workshops – the tanners, smelters, slaughterhouses, etc. – outside the city walls. No one wanted to live near those. Inevitably, heavy transport evolved to carry raw materials in and finished products out of these districts; today industrial zones are nexus for highways, railroads, airports, and seaports. The infrastructure grew with the zones: warehouses, power plants, water towers, pipelines, and communications networks. And the industrial zones kept growing as industry grew; Upgrader Alley outside Edmonton, for instance, covers 318 square kilometers (some 123 square miles).
An industrial zone (sometimes euphemistically termed an industrial “park”) is where the “heavyweight” manufacturing and shipping takes place in modern civilization. Long before the Industrial Revolution, it was common to locate the most noisy, odoriferous, and dangerous workshops – the tanners, smelters, slaughterhouses, etc. – outside the city walls. No one wanted to live near those. Inevitably, heavy transport evolved to carry raw materials in and finished products out of these districts; today industrial zones are nexus for highways, railroads, airports, and seaports. The infrastructure grew with the zones: warehouses, power plants, water towers, pipelines, and communications networks. And the industrial zones kept growing as industry grew; Upgrader Alley outside Edmonton, for instance, covers 318 square kilometers (some 123 square miles).