The Central Business District

Paper Summary:

The Central Business District(CBD) of any city represents the functional heart of the city. It looks at how, as the focus of intra-urban connectivity, this zone has been deserted, undergone extensive makeovers and been seriously challenged by young up-starts in the form of Out-of-Town Shopping Centres and Hypermarkets at the rural-urban fringe. This paper attempts to examine the hopes, prospects and possible re-birth of the city's most recognized zone. Examples from Singapore, the U.K., the U.S.A. and Japan help put together the pieces of this complicated jig-saw together producing a picture of the fascinating reveal of the new CBD.

From the Paper:

"The biggest competitor to the CBD in the 1980s onwards was the Out-of-Town Shopping Centre. Now, ironically, the situation seems to be reversed based on the problems of these peripheral centres and the advances made within the central area. Out-of-Town Centres are not ideal for shoppers interests as the drive to them can be quite time
consuming and interestingly small access roads may be jammed with traffic! In addition, older age groups, the young and poor may not use these centres due to their inability to drive or to purchase in bulk. For these groups the CBD may be a better option. Out-of-Town developments will initially eliminate the local competition in the form of small neighbourhood shops selling low order goods."

More papers on The Central Business District:

• Essay # 43559 : "Central Business District"
• Term Paper # 139876 : "Revitalizing Central Business Districts"
• Essay # 17176 : "Factors in the Growth of a City"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: