By zoning classification is understood the assignment of uses and intensity levels and the formal and volumetric characteristics of the building, for each land. This assignment is made by means of the delimitation of the land areas that belong to each use and the definition of this using the planning instrument appropriate for it. That is to say, it refers to the use of the land and its building possibilities for each type of land (urban, developable and non-developable), and to each of them are attributed certain destinations and specific uses. Furthermore, it is important to know that zoning classification intervenes decisively in the valuation of a property.
The definition of which instrument is the appropriate one for the qualification of the land, in Spain is subject to the competence of the Autonomous Communities, according to the Spanish Constitution of 1978 in its Article 148.3.
Finally, this concept of zoning classification must be differentiated from that of land classification, which refers to the urban planning regime into which a land is divided, that is to say, the class of land that it is which as we know are three: urban, developable and non-developable.