Integrated environmental zoning - An innovative Dutch approach to measuring and managing environmental spillovers in urban regions

The Dutch development of Integrated Environmental Zoning is an advanced effort to account cumulatively for several environmental spillovers from manufacturing, and to manage their impacts on surrounding residential areas. This national policy initiative involves mapping the spatial patterns of pollution within urban areas, information that informs the development of abatement programs and of land-use regulations to locate manufacturing activities and housing in a sustainable manner. In eleven pilot projects testing this system, it has met with enthusiasm but also aroused public concern over identified cases of acute pollution, and political controversy over the required mitigation measures.