diff --git a/.env b/.env
index 297913e4..1cb202c2 100644
--- a/.env
+++ b/.env
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 TILESET_FILE=openmaptiles.yaml
 
 # Use 3-part patch version to ignore patch updates, e.g. 5.0.0
-TOOLS_VERSION=5.2
+TOOLS_VERSION=5.3
 
 # Make sure these values are in sync with the ones in .env-postgres file
 PGDATABASE=openmaptiles
@@ -13,8 +13,9 @@ PGPASSWORD=openmaptiles
 PGHOST=postgres
 PGPORT=5432
 
-# By default, tile generation is done for the full extent of the given area.
-# Modify BBOX below to overwrite it.
+# BBOX may get overwritten by the computed bbox of the specific area:
+#   make generate-bbox-file
+# By default, the Makefile will use the content of data/$(area).bbox file if it exists.
 BBOX=-180.0,-85.0511,180.0,85.0511
 
 # Which zooms to generate in   make generate-tiles
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 4b33a4a3..3220021a 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -153,9 +153,32 @@ ifeq ($(strip $(DIFF_MODE)),true)
   export IMPOSM_CONFIG_FILE = data/$(area).repl.json
 endif
 
-# download-osm generates this file with metadata about the file
-AREA_DC_CONFIG_FILE ?= data/$(area).dc-config.yml
+# Load area-specific bbox file that gets generated by the download-osm --bbox
+AREA_BBOX_FILE ?= data/$(area).bbox
+ifneq (,$(wildcard $(AREA_BBOX_FILE)))
+  cat := $(if $(filter $(OS),Windows_NT),type,cat)
+  BBOX := $(shell $(cat) ${AREA_BBOX_FILE})
+  export BBOX
+endif
 
+ifeq ($(strip $(area)),)
+  define assert_area_is_given
+	@echo ""
+	@echo "ERROR: $(AREA_ERROR)"
+	@echo ""
+	@echo "  make $@ area=<area-id>"
+	@echo ""
+	@echo "To download an area, use   make download <area-id>"
+	@echo "To list downloadable areas, use   make list-geofabrik   and/or   make list-bbbike"
+	@exit 1
+  endef
+else
+  ifneq ($(strip $(AREA_INFO)),)
+    define assert_area_is_given
+	@echo "$(AREA_INFO)"
+    endef
+  endif
+endif
 
 #
 #  TARGETS
@@ -185,7 +208,7 @@ help:
 	@echo "  make download-geofabrik area=albania # download OSM data from geofabrik.de     and create config file"
 	@echo "  make download-osmfr area=asia/qatar  # download OSM data from openstreetmap.fr and create config file"
 	@echo "  make download-bbbike area=Amsterdam  # download OSM data from bbbike.org       and create config file"
-	@echo "  make generate-dc-config              # scan data file and generate tile generation config file with bbox"
+	@echo "  make generate-bbox-file              # compute bounding box of a data file and store it in a file"
 	@echo "  make psql                            # start PostgreSQL console"
 	@echo "  make psql-list-tables                # list all PostgreSQL tables"
 	@echo "  make vacuum-db                       # PostgreSQL: VACUUM ANALYZE"
@@ -295,10 +318,12 @@ ifeq (,$(wildcard $(PBF_FILE)))
 	@echo "Downloading $(DOWNLOAD_AREA) with replication support into $(PBF_FILE) and $(IMPOSM_CONFIG_FILE) from $(if $(OSM_SERVER),$(OSM_SERVER),any source)"
 	@$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) run $(DC_OPTS) openmaptiles-tools download-osm $(OSM_SERVER) "$(DOWNLOAD_AREA)" \
 				--imposm-cfg "$(IMPOSM_CONFIG_FILE)" \
+				--bbox "$(AREA_BBOX_FILE)" \
 				--output "$(PBF_FILE)"
  else
 	@echo "Downloading $(DOWNLOAD_AREA) into $(PBF_FILE) from $(if $(OSM_SERVER),$(OSM_SERVER),any source)"
 	@$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) run $(DC_OPTS) openmaptiles-tools download-osm $(OSM_SERVER) "$(DOWNLOAD_AREA)" \
+				--bbox "$(AREA_BBOX_FILE)" \
 				--output "$(PBF_FILE)"
  endif
 	@echo ""
@@ -320,16 +345,13 @@ else
  endif
 endif
 
-.PHONY: generate-dc-config
-generate-dc-config:
+.PHONY: generate-bbox-file
+generate-bbox-file:
 	@$(assert_area_is_given)
-ifeq (,$(wildcard $(AREA_DC_CONFIG_FILE)))
-	@$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) run $(DC_OPTS) openmaptiles-tools bash -c ' \
-		download-osm make-dc "$(PBF_FILE)" \
-			--make-dc "$(AREA_DC_CONFIG_FILE)" \
-			--id "$(area)"'
+ifeq (,$(wildcard $(AREA_BBOX_FILE)))
+	@$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) run $(DC_OPTS) openmaptiles-tools download-osm bbox "$(PBF_FILE)" "$(AREA_BBOX_FILE)"
 else
-	@echo "Configuration file $(AREA_DC_CONFIG_FILE) already exists, no need to regenerate."
+	@echo "Configuration file $(AREA_BBOX_FILE) already exists, no need to regenerate."
 endif
 
 .PHONY: psql
@@ -375,17 +397,14 @@ import-sql: all start-db-nowait
 	$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) run $(DC_OPTS) openmaptiles-tools sh -c 'pgwait && import-sql' | \
 	  awk -v s=": WARNING:" '1{print; fflush()} $$0~s{print "\n*** WARNING detected, aborting"; exit(1)}'
 
-ifneq ($(wildcard $(AREA_DC_CONFIG_FILE)),)
-  DC_CONFIG_TILES := -f docker-compose.yml -f $(AREA_DC_CONFIG_FILE)
-endif
 .PHONY: generate-tiles
 generate-tiles: all start-db
 	@$(assert_area_is_given)
 	@echo "Generating tiles into $(MBTILES_LOCAL_FILE) (will delete if already exists)..."
 	@rm -rf "$(MBTILES_LOCAL_FILE)"
-	$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) $(DC_CONFIG_TILES) run $(DC_OPTS) generate-vectortiles
+	$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) run $(DC_OPTS) generate-vectortiles
 	@echo "Updating generated tile metadata ..."
-	$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) $(DC_CONFIG_TILES) run $(DC_OPTS) openmaptiles-tools \
+	$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) run $(DC_OPTS) openmaptiles-tools \
 			mbtiles-tools meta-generate "$(MBTILES_LOCAL_FILE)" $(TILESET_FILE) --auto-minmax --show-ranges
 
 .PHONY: start-tileserver
@@ -534,3 +553,12 @@ test-perf-null: init-dirs
 .PHONY: build-test-pbf
 build-test-pbf: init-dirs
 	docker-compose run $(DC_OPTS) openmaptiles-tools /tileset/.github/workflows/build-test-data.sh
+
+.PHONY: debug
+debug:  ## Use this target when developing Makefile itself to verify loaded environment variables
+	@$(assert_area_is_given)
+	@echo file_exists = $(wildcard $(AREA_BBOX_FILE))
+	@echo AREA_BBOX_FILE = $(AREA_BBOX_FILE) , $$AREA_ENV_FILE
+	@echo BBOX = $(BBOX) , $$BBOX
+	@echo MIN_ZOOM = $(MIN_ZOOM) , $$MIN_ZOOM
+	@echo MAX_ZOOM = $(MAX_ZOOM) , $$MAX_ZOOM
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 176e6752..2945bd8e 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ services:
       DIFF_MODE: ${DIFF_MODE}
       MIN_ZOOM: ${MIN_ZOOM}
       MAX_ZOOM: ${MAX_ZOOM}
+      #Provide BBOX from *.bbox file if exists, else from .env
+      BBOX: ${BBOX}
       # Imposm configuration file describes how to load updates when enabled
       IMPOSM_CONFIG_FILE: ${IMPOSM_CONFIG_FILE}
       # Which files to use during import-borders processing
diff --git a/quickstart.sh b/quickstart.sh
index 9e931a8e..a6ff906a 100755
--- a/quickstart.sh
+++ b/quickstart.sh
@@ -263,13 +263,15 @@ make test-perf-null
 
 echo " "
 echo "-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"
+
 if [[ "$(source .env ; echo "$BBOX")" = "-180.0,-85.0511,180.0,85.0511" ]]; then
   if [[ "$area" != "planet" ]]; then
     echo "====> : Compute bounding box for tile generation"
-    make generate-dc-config ${MIN_ZOOM:+MIN_ZOOM="${MIN_ZOOM}"} ${MAX_ZOOM:+MAX_ZOOM="${MAX_ZOOM}"}
+    make generate-bbox-file ${MIN_ZOOM:+MIN_ZOOM="${MIN_ZOOM}"} ${MAX_ZOOM:+MAX_ZOOM="${MAX_ZOOM}"}
   else
     echo "====> : Skipping bbox calculation when generating the entire planet"
   fi
+
 else
   echo "====> : Bounding box is set in .env file"
 fi