The World's Largest Industrial Areas

Industrial areas, also known as industrial parks or industrial estates, are areas outlined and planned for industrial development. Industrial areas are typically located outside or on the edges of the central residential area of the city and are characterized by the access to transportation which includes road and rail. Therefore, industrial areas can be found at proximity where more than one mode of transport synchronizes with ports, highways, airports, and railroads.

There are some very large industrial areas that exist in the world and serve important functions. Industrial parks solely concentrate on developing industrial facilities in a particular area which helps in the advancement of business activity and the modernization of industries in general. Industrial areas also play a significant part in the growth and development of infrastructure, predominately within transportation.

Jubail – the World's Largest Industrial City 

Jubail is an industrial city located in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia. Jubail is home to the largest city in the Middle East and hosts the fourth largest petrochemical company in the world and the largest in the Middle East. Jubail has the largest Independent Water and Power Project (IWPP) in the world which produces 800,000,000 liters of water and 2743.6 megawatts of electricity per day.

Jubail was designated as a site for a new industrial city by the Saudi Arabian government in 1975. Currently, Jubail Industrial City is the world's largest civil engineering project. Jubail is made up of the old town of Al Jubail also known as the Jubail Balad, which dates back to the 18th and 19th centuries and had started as a small fishing village until 1975 when the new industrial area was established. Jubail Industrial area is connected to others cities by two main highways of Abu Hadriyah and Dhahran-Jubail highways, and there is an ongoing project of Jubail-Qassim Expressway.

Alberta's Industrial Heartland – the Biggest Industrial Park in Canada 

Alberta's Industrial Heartland, also known as the Heartland or Upgrader Alley, is located outside of Edmonton, Canada. The Heartland is not only the largest industrial area in Western Canada but also a cooperative land use planning and development initiative that is formed between five municipalities found in the capital region of Edmonton. The primary purpose of this cooperation is to draw investment in the oil, chemical, gas and petrochemical industries to the region. The Headland is the largest petrochemical processing regions in Canada covering over 40 petrochemical companies. The Heartland had $13 billion invested in new industrial projects by July 2015, and the projects have provided employment for approximately 25,000 people.

Tahoe-Renoe Industrial Center - the Largest Industrial Park in the US 

Tahoe-Renoe Industrial Center is a major industrial park found in the Nevada desert. It is best known for being the home of distribution centers for many prominent American retail companies. It is privately owned and has been in existence since the mid-1990s. 

Rotterdam Harbour – Largest Industrial Area in Europe

Rotterdam Harbour, also known as the Port of Rotterdam, is Europe's largest port and is located in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Rotterdam Harbour was the busiest port in the world between the years of 1962 to 2004 when it was overtaken by Singapore and later Shanghai. Rotterdam was the 11th largest container port in the world in 2011 regarding 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) handled, in 2009 it was the tenth, in 2008 it was the ninth, and 2006 it was the sixth. In 2012, the port was the sixth-largest port in the world regarding annual cargo tonnage. The Harbour covers an area of 41 square miles and stretches over a distance of 25miles. It consists of five separate port areas and three distribution parks that attend to the needs of 40,000,000 customers. Cargo transshipment handling and petrochemical industries are the most significant activities at the port of Rotterdam. The port serves as an important point for the transit of goods between continental Europe and the rest of the world. Once goods dock in Rotterdam they are transported by train, road, and ship or river barge.