Central business district

"City center" redirects here. For the performing arts venue, see New York City Center.

A Central business district (CBD) or downtown is a commercial heart of a city. Downtown is the usual term in North America. In the United Kingdom, Australia, Hong Kong, Ireland, parts of South Africa and New Zealand, the term "central business district" is used by geographers, and is often colloquially abbreviated to "CBD".

City centre is an alternative term, the usual phrase used in Britain and Ireland and also in some urban areas of British influenced countries (e.g. the Commonwealth) and China (Chinese: 市中心, can also be translated as "city core"). In the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, Canada and New Zealand, the term is often just shortened to "city", as in "going to the city". (This term is also used in the New York City area in the same manner, using the term "the city" to mean Manhattan.) One exception is in London where "the City" specifically refers to the City of London financial district rather than to any other part of central London. In the UK and Ireland it is often referred to as "town" ("going into town or going up town").

In the United States central business districts are often referred as downtown (even if there is no uptown). In most cities the downtown area will be home to the financial district. Historic sections of a central business district may be referred to as oldtown while decaying parts of the center city are commonly referred to as the inner city. The term inner city carries a negative connotation and refers to areas blighted during the mass exodus of middle class residents to the suburbs. Some cities in the United States, such as Minneapolis, have a mixed use district known as uptown near the downtown area. On the other hand, in some cities, like Charlotte, North Carolina, uptown is simply the historic name for the business center. Many cities, such as New York or Toronto, will have several CBDs in their respective cities (both have four).

In Germany the terms Innenstadt or Stadtmitte may be used to describe the central business district. Both terms can be literally translated to mean inner-city and city-center. While most German cities only have one central business district, Berlin has three. Due to Berlin's history of division during the cold war, the city as a central business district in both West (Kuhrfürsten Damm) and East Berlin (Alexander Platz) as well as a newly built business center near the Potsdamer Platz. The city's historic center, location of the Reichstag building as well as the Brandenburg gate and most federal ministries was largely abandoned as the Berlin Wall cut through it. Only after the re-unification with the construction of numerous shopping centers, government ministries, embassies, office buildings and entertainment venues, was the area revived.

The CBD or downtown is the central district of a city, usually typified by a concentration of retail and commercial buildings^[1]. Although applicable to any city, both terms usually refer to larger cities.

The term city centre (or center city) is similar to CBD or downtown in that both serve the same purpose for the city, and both are seen by a higher-than-usual urban density as well as the often having the tallest buildings in a city. City centre differs from downtown in that downtown can be geographically located anywhere in a city, while city centre is located near the geographic heart of the city. Examples of a city centre can be found in Paris, Saint Petersburg, Tokyo, Melbourne, Sydney, San Francisco, San Diego, Jakarta, Manila, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Miami, Montreal, London, and other cities. London effectively has three city centres rolled into one, namely the City of London, the mediaeval City of Westminster, and the newly built Canary Wharf.

List of typical CBD characteristics

A CBD is likely to have many of the following characteristics:

• It has a distinct land use pattern that can be delimited from the rest of the settlement.
• It is the geographical centre of the settlement.
• It contains the settlement's main public buildings. ^[2]
• It contains the major retail outlets (though this may be less often the case, especially in the United States and Canada). ^[3]
• Similar activities within it are concentrated in certain areas (functional zoning).
• It features vertical zoning.
• It has the greatest concentration and number of pedestrians and traffic in general.
• It is a focal point for transport, with the highest use of public transportation. ^[4]
• It contains the greatest proportion of the settlement's offices.
• It has the tallest buildings in the region to maximize land use.
• It has the highest land values of the region.^[5]
• It attracts people from outside its sphere of influence to work and spend money inside.
• It is advancing into new areas (assimilation) and/or losing old commercial functions (discard).

Notes

1. ^ [[1]]
2. ^ [[2]]
3. ^ [[3]]
4. ^ [[4]]
5. ^ [[5]]

fr:Central business district is:Miðborg hu:Belváros ja:街 pl:CBD pt:Centro financeiro sv:Centrumområde zh:中心商务区

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