Background The Industrial Zone of Udine (Z.I.U), to the south of the town of Udine, which was originally developed in the early 1970s, is a 480-hectare industrial area that spans the municipalities of Udine, Pavia di Udine and Pozzuolo del Friuli and is host to 70 companies from a variety of sectors employing over 1,500 workers. Serious environmental issues have arisen over the last few decades, caused by presence of a steel mill, abandoned industrial sites and several waste dumps. This in turn has exacerbated the environmental conflict between companies and the citizens living nearby the zone. Objectives The project proposed to develop an environmental management system that identified pollution, particularly where it was harming neighbouring urban areas and, in doing so, to solve the conflicts that had arisen between industry and the citizenry. One innovative aspect of the project was to be the strategic participation of a wide range of stakeholders, including not only the companies concerned but also the bordering municipalities and above all the local citizens affected by the pollution. With this in mind, the project aimed to set up ongoing co-ordination body of the officials in charge of the control, management and promotion of the territory, who would deal with pollution-related issues, and to establish an ongoing monitoring system that would take into account various environmental, economic and social indicators. The project also aimed to develop an environmentally sound budget for the local government. Specifically, the project aimed to win environmental certification of the area’s industrial consortium and of 25% of the consortium’s firms. Results The project was not successful in winning environmental certification of the industrial consortium or of 25% of the consortium’s firms. However, it should be underscored that the regulation of the consortium, implemented thanks to the project, remains a tool that will support a more environmentally friendly development of the industrial area: environmental criteria have been internalised in the rules for development so that the environmental impact of new activities or modification of existing activities must be assessed before their implementation. Moreover, the Environmental Management System of the consortium registration is operative, even if certification process was never reached. The project did also establish an environmental monitoring and information system that made environmental data covering the region available to the public. Crucially, the project managed to develop and win approval for a local action plan (PAL) for an integrated development project in the area. In the end, the greatest problem encountered was the attempt to involve in the project local firms that had refused to participate in the environmental registration procedures, complaining that they were going through a economic difficulties, which, in their opinion, could not permit additional investments for environmental improvements. Meanwhile, the project developed their own GIS-based environmental database, which should prove to be an important tool for future area planning and development. The project also organised a network of the technicians working for diverse public bodies that will allow permanent, integrated technical co-ordination for dealing with environmental problems that arise in the coming years.