Mechanisms and Challenges of Land Planning Application in Location of Industries in the Iranian Environmental Law

Misallocation of industries can cause environmental degradation and land misuse, and therefore, to control the deleterious impacts of which on the environment, it is required to use land planning besides the environmental rules on the allocation of industrial units in accordance with the environmental characteristics of land. This article, addressing the interplay between land planning and environmental law, discusses the mechanisms of land planning application in reasonable location of industries and the challenges that hinder this process. The article exercises the land planning regulation in Iran’s environmental law and concludes that land planning can pave the way for the environmentally sound location of the industries through three mechanisms: industrial development strategy designation, zoning for the industries, and their wastes. However, due to some legal ambiguities in land planning, the Iranian environmental law does not apply this instrument in the environmentally sound location of the industries appropriately. The article suggests effective enforcement of land planning in the environmentally sound location of the industries through the legal and institutional improvement of land planning rules in Iran’s environmental law.