The development of industrial parks began in the 1960s with the transformation of previous production systems and the technological change. Initially, the first industrial areas were developed spontaneously when positive externalities rose from the close spatial proximity of companies. Therefore, the producing plants started to build common infrastructure and a variety of special facilities within the industrial areas which resulted in the concentration of production and creating the first industrial parks. The industrial spatial structure has changed and taking the positive benefits of proximity in mind, the creation of industrial parks has become conscious.
This trend has reached the Central and Eastern European countries later, consequentially the first initiatives were realized at the beginning of the 1990s after the collapse of the soviet bloc. The post-socialist countries have tried to take over the methods and strategies used in Western European countries but due to the different economic, political, social backgrounds in these states diverse development dimensions can be observed in the case of industrial parks. In the present study, the authors will introduce a historical overview of industrial parks' development, the characterization of parks and the characteristics of certain park types. Moreover, the paper will review the main terminological information related to the parks. The parks will be examined in three Central and Eastern European countries (Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria), looking for similarities and differences between industrial parks in the listed states.