Industrial location and urban areas

Conclusions In order to end the unstructured development of industrial building and working class housing, many countries promoted a multiplication of industrial zones and estates in the outskirts of urban centers. At the same time the difficulties faced by industries implanted in the urban network resulted in the management of many companies leaving the towns and setting up their plants on these new sites.There exists a widespread tendency to de-urbanize industry which is causing big changes in the heart of built-up areas — not always on the positive side. Consequently, a new policy is gradually being developed to aim at a better integration of industrial activities with urban areas.Undoubtedly, industrial areas should be restricted to the outskirts for heavy industry with its harmful effects of space requirement. The present migration of many industrial concerns should be halted if a true re-organization of existing urban areas is desired.In order to achieve this, town planning policies should be reviewed and certain formulas elaborated to enable a true integration of industrial functions with other functions.The location of industrial activities, therefore, seems to have reached a new turning-point in its history. Careful consideration in all urban areas, whether they be new towns or other areas, is absolutely necessary to achieve a better organization of space, which is the ultimate aim of Applied Geography.