99-547: Belfast City Centre is the central business district of Belfast , Northern Ireland . The city centre was originally centred on the Donegall Street area. Donegall Street is now mainly a business area, but with expanding residential and entertainment development as part of the Cathedral Quarter scheme - St. Anne's, Belfast's Anglican cathedral is located here. The Roman Catholic cathedral St. Peter's
198-455: A financial district . Geographically, it often coincides with the " city centre " or " downtown ". However, these concepts are not necessarily synonymous: many cities have a central business district located away from its traditional city center, and there may be multiple CBDs within a single urban area. The CBD will often be highly accessible and have a large variety and concentration of specialised goods and services compared to other parts of
297-424: A great deal of money, while others would stand to gain. One way in which downtown changed from the late 19th century to the early part of the 20th century was that industrial concerns began to leave downtown and move to the periphery of the city, which meant that downtown's businesses were chiefly part of the burgeoning service sector . Brand new firms followed the older ones, and never came to downtown, settling at
396-637: A model law, the Standard State Zoning Enabling Act of 1922 was drawn up for the guidance of cities wishing to enact zoning regulations, which are now part of virtually every American city. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the downtown area was the business district of the American city, but beginning around the 1920s and 1930s, as cities continued to grow in size and population, rival business districts began to appear outside of downtown in outlying districts. This
495-738: A newer Rio de Janeiro suburb located in city's west region. The largest CBD in Colombia is Bogotá 's Centro Internacional , where some of the tallest buildings in South America have been repurposed as national headquarters for Scotiabank Colpatria , Davivienda , and Bancolombia , among others. Over the years, Bogotá has developed minor business districts, which include Avenida Chile , Ciudad Salitre , with companies like Avianca , Rappi , Johnson & Johnson , Terpel , Hilton , Hyatt , Marriott , Sheraton , Ramada , City Express , Aloft and Novotel ; or Complejo Santa Bárbara ,
594-700: A newly built business district near the Potsdamer Platz . The city's historic center (home to the Reichstag building , as well as the Brandenburg Gate and most federal ministries) was largely abandoned when the Berlin Wall cut through the area. Only after the reunification with the redevelopment of Potsdamer Platz , and the construction of numerous shopping centers, government ministries, embassies, office buildings and entertainment venues,
693-584: A relief map, the Loop would be equivalent to the peaks of the Himalayas compared to the rest of the city. In 1926, Chicago's central business district, which took up less than 1% of the city, had 20% of the city's land value. The same relationship was true in St. Louis in the mid-20s (20%) and Los Angeles in the early 1930s (17%). So when a downtown area started to shift its location, some property owners were bound to lose
792-534: A whole. Singapore's CBD is the historic heart of the city-state, which makes it a mix of a tourist attraction and a business center. The CBD includes several multinational corporate headquarters, Singapore Management University , and historical buildings and museums. As of 2016, the Singaporean government intends to redevelop Jurong East into a second CBD in Singapore. The area has also been earmarked as
891-635: Is Government Hill , the site of the old government headquarters. As the Hong Kong SAR Government Headquarters moved to Tamar, Admiralty, the nearby area is also considered part of the CBD. In Quarry Bay , Taikoo Place and areas nearby, including Admiralty , Wan Chai and Causeway Bay , and Tsim Sha Tsui , Kwun Tong , and Kowloon Bay are regarded as major business districts of Hong Kong. India 's capital New Delhi has been known for its CBD at Connaught Place . For
990-509: Is uptown . In the common New York City phrase "We're going to take the subway downtown", downtown refers to traveling in the geographic direction of south. A person standing on 121st Street and walking ten blocks south could also be said to have walked ten blocks downtown. The term uptown is used to refer to the cardinal direction north. Such concepts derive from Manhattan's elongated shape, running roughly north–south and nowhere more than 2 mi (3.2 km) wide. As such, transportation on
1089-623: Is a term primarily used in North America to refer to a city's sometimes commercial , cultural and often the historical, political , and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district (CBD). It may also be a center for shopping and entertainment. Downtowns typically contain a small percentage of a city's employment but are concentrated in services, including high-end services (office or white-collar jobs). Sometimes, smaller downtowns include lower population densities and nearby lower incomes than suburbs . It
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#17327911755401188-540: Is also one of the most important business districts of Pakistan. Gulberg, Lahore has a large number of important office buildings as well as many high-rises and shopping malls. Pakistan established its first central business district, Lahore Central Business District, also known as Central Business District Punjab (CBD Punjab) by an ACT of Parliament (LCBDDA Act, 2021) in February 2021. Jinnah Avenue in Islamabad
1287-523: Is estimated that 1,000 people will help build the development and 2,000 will be employed there. Northern Ireland Railways provide access on the Belfast Suburban Rail network with stations in proximity to the city centre. Central business district A central business district ( CBD ) is the commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as
1386-536: Is located a little to the west of the city centre. Two of Belfast's three main newspapers - The Belfast Telegraph and The Irish News are also located nearby. The News Letter , which claims to be the oldest continually published English language daily newspaper still in existence, was originally located in the area at 55 Donegall Street, site of a massive Provisional IRA carbomb in March 1972, in which seven people died and 148 were injured. The city centre
1485-407: Is located. Most major North American cities are located on major bodies of water, like oceans, lakes, and rivers. As cities expanded, people built further away from the water and their historical cores, often uphill. Thus the central business district of a North American city, or the historical core of the city, is often located "down", in altitude, relative to the remainder of the city. Many cities use
1584-549: Is located. The region comprising Avenidas Berrini, Doutor Chucri Zaidan, and Nações Unidas, the city's newest commercial district, has offices of multinational companies and also commercial services. In Rio de Janeiro , Brazil's second-largest city, the main business district still is in downtown, where Petrobrás and Vale headquarters are located, but there is a concentration of business in Botafogo harbor and in Barra da Tijuca ,
1683-728: Is now almost complete and the City Council are currently preparing a master plan in preparation for the commencement of Phase II development. Victoria Square is a commercial, residential and leisure development in Belfast developed and constructed by Multi Development UK in over 6 years. At approximately 800,000 ft (75,000m) and costing £400m it is the biggest and one of the most expensive property developments ever undertaken in Northern Ireland. It opened on 6 March 2008. Its anchor tenant at nearly 200,000 ft (18,581m)
1782-480: Is now centred on Donegall Square (location of the City Hall ), Donegall Place, Royal Avenue , Castle Junction, High Street and surrounding streets and alleys. Over the past decade the city Centre has seen expansive redevelopment. The Laganside Development includes the landmark Waterfront Hall , BT Tower, Hilton Hotel , Odyssey Complex and various riverside apartment complexes. The Gasworks Business Park
1881-475: Is often distinguished as a hub of public transit and culture. The Oxford English Dictionary ' s first citation for "down town" or "downtown" dates to 1770, in reference to the center of Boston . Some have posited that the term "downtown" was coined in New York City , where it was in use by the 1830s to refer to the original settlement, or town , at the southern tip of the island of Manhattan . As
1980-666: Is owned by Belfast City Council and managed by the Councils Estates Management Unit. The site contains commercial offices, call centres , small business units, housing, cafés & restaurants, the Radisson Hotel and an award-winning public landscaped park. The Gasworks has been internationally recognised as a key example of brownfield regeneration in Europe and has won numerous awards in relation to all aspects of its development. The initial phase
2079-680: Is the first of its kind in Indonesia, and one of the largest commercial center developments in the city. Jakarta started developing its business district in the early 1960s before hosting the Asian Games in 1962 . Surabaya in East Java built its first central business district in the Darmo region. The construction was expected to be completed by 2018 with 150 SOHO units and 500 residences. In Italy , business districts do not coincide with
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#17327911755402178-448: Is the largest House of Fraser that the retailer has opened in the UK (as opposed to taken over). In March 2006, the government gave the go-ahead for a £300m regeneration of a run-down part of Belfast city centre, in the Cathedral Quarter , which could create up to 2,000 jobs. Plans include a new shopping centre, anchored by a department store. The project will not be completed until 2011. It
2277-470: Is the main business district of the city. Blue Area is the central business district of Islamabad . D Ground is the central business district of Faisalabad and Saddar is the main central business district of Rawalpindi . In Peru , the central business district is San Isidro , in Lima , which hosts the majority of Peru's financial industry headquarters. Although still a largely residential district,
2376-446: Is widely used officially and colloquially, in the sense of city centre. The two biggest cities, Melbourne and Sydney , have large CBDs. Sydney features growing micro central business districts, which serve as the hub for their respective areas outside the CBD. An example is Parramatta , which is considered the financial hub of Western Sydney . São Paulo is a multipolar city, with several business districts. Avenida Faria Lima and
2475-669: The COEX mall, are major thoroughfares in Seoul. The tallest buildings in Gangnam include Tower Palace One , a residential complex, Trade Tower , Gangnam Finance Center, and Parnas Tower. Seoul's third business district is Yeouido , an island located in central Seoul in the Yeongdeungpo District . Yeouido was developed in the 1970s; since the 1990s, however, it has become Seoul's financial center. Smaller in geographic size that
2574-617: The Detroit Public Library and the Detroit Institute of Art , and most of the cultural institutions in Pittsburgh . Public reaction to these moves was mixed, with some bemoaning the loss of a counterbalance to the overall materialism of downtown, while others, particularly those involved in real estate, looked positively on the availability of the land which the cultural institutions left behind. The loss of
2673-788: The Great Depression had a major effect on the country's downtown area. Downtown was just coming off a major building boom, in which significant amounts of new commercial and office space, hotels, and department stores had been built. By 1931 there were 89 buildings of 30 stories or more in Manhattan, and between 1925 and 1931, office space nearly doubled; in Chicago, it increased by almost 75%, in Philadelphia by almost two-thirds, and by more than 50% in New Orleans and Denver. In
2772-495: The Interstate Highway System , and white flight from urban cores to rapidly expanding suburbs . Due to well-intended but ineptly executed urban revitalization projects, downtowns eventually came to be dominated by high-rise office buildings in which commuters from the suburbs filled white-collar jobs, while the remaining residential populations sank further into unemployment, poverty, and homelessness. By
2871-1143: The Metropolitan Museum of Art , the New-York Historical Society , the American Museum of Natural History and the Museum of the City of New York , all in Manhattan, moved out of downtown, as did the Museum of Fine Arts , the Boston Public Library , the Boston Symphony Orchestra , and the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston, the Cleveland Museum of Art , the Baltimore Museum of Art ,
2970-402: The "Sun" that the outlying business districts revolved around. Others doubted whether decentralization had as strong an impact as it was credited with. Positions were taken that downtown was a natural part of the evolution of a city, or the unnatural result of a de facto conspiracy by merchants and property owners, so the question of what decentralization would do to downtown became bound up with
3069-405: The 1880s, and from there spread to most other American cities in the 1890s and 1900s. The apparent lack of a height limitation of this type of building set off a fervent debate over whether their height should be restricted by law, with proponents and opponents of height limits bringing out numerous arguments in favor of their position. The question of height limits also had a profound implication for
Belfast City Centre - Misplaced Pages Continue
3168-550: The 1920s, 500,000 additional hotel rooms were built in New York, and from 1927 to 1931 there were 84 large hotels built there, an increase of hotel space by two-thirds. When the boom was over, and the Depression had begun to have its effect, much of this new space became unneeded excess. Owners of smaller buildings who could not keep a sufficient number of tenants to pay their overhead, tore down their buildings, but whereas in
3267-589: The 1990s, many office-oriented businesses began to abandon the tired old downtowns for the suburbs, resulting in what are now known as " edge cities ". One textbook, in explaining why edge cities are so popular, stated: The big central city comes with dirt, crime, subways, stress, congestion, high taxes, and poor public schools. Edge cities are not immune to all of these problems (especially congestion) but for now they largely avoid most of them. Since then, between 2000 and 2010, downtown areas grew rapidly in population. In U.S. metro areas with at least five million people,
3366-672: The 555-metre tall Lotte World Tower , Guro Digital Complex, Gasan Digital Complex, the Magok Business District, the Sangam Digital Media City, the Munjeong Administrative Town, and Mapo Avenue. The area near Yongsan Station , including the proposed Yongsan International Business District , is considered an emerging major commercial district that will exist in synergy with nearby Yeouido . Downtown Downtown
3465-653: The Chicago Loop – although values in other parts of the city, including the outlying business districts, fared even worse. Department stores were hit hard; most managed to keep their doors open, but few made money. Hotels which needed to have large staffs, and required high occupancy rates to make a profit were also deeply affected; in Manhattan the hotel occupancy rate fell from 1929's 70% to around 50% in 1933. Room rates were slashed, revenue dropped, and many hotels closed or defaulted. By 1934, 80% of hotels in Manhattan were owned by their creditors. The slow recovery from
3564-485: The Manhattan model and continue to use downtown , midtown , and uptown both as informal relative geographical terms and as formal names for distinct districts. However, the city of Philadelphia uses the designation Center City , not downtown, due to the business district's central location, as well as Philadelphia's age and circumstances; "Center City" corresponds to the City of Philadelphia prior to its amalgamation with Philadelphia County in 1854 , leaving it without
3663-874: The Philippines. In Poland , the terms śródmieście or centrum are often used to describe the central business district. The largest central business district in Russia is the Moscow International Business Center (MIBC) in Moscow , a commercial development located just east of the Third Ring Road at the western edge of the Presnensky District in the Central Administrative Okrug of
3762-462: The building profitable. What shattered that restriction was the invention of first the iron- and then the steel frame building, in which the building's load was carried by an internal metal frame skeleton, from which the masonry – and later glass – simply hung, without carrying any weight. Although first used in Chicago, the steel-framed skyscraper caught on most quickly in New York City in
3861-535: The business district lower Manhattan and the newer one in midtown began to grow towards each other, or in Chicago, where downtown expanded from the Loop across the Chicago River to Michigan Avenue . In fact, the instability of downtown was a cause for concern for business and real estate interests, as the business district refused to stay where it had been, and shifted its location in response to numerous factors, although it generally stayed fairly compact – in
3960-575: The central business district. These terms can be literally translated as " inner city " and "city center". Some of the larger cities have more than one central business district. For example, Berlin alone has three. Due to Berlin's history of division during the Cold War , the city contains central business districts both in West ( Kurfürstendamm ) and in East Berlin ( Alexanderplatz ), as well as
4059-655: The cities themselves. Cities in the US grew much more slowly than during any other period in the history of the country, and some even lost population. Metropolitan regions grew faster than the cities inside them, indicating the start of the decades of urban sprawl , but they too grew at a slower pace than usual. Downtowns also had less daytime population because people now went to the outlying business districts, which were closer to their homes by car, for their shopping and entertainment, to do business, and to work. The increased use of automobiles over mass transit also damaged downtown, since
Belfast City Centre - Misplaced Pages Continue
4158-506: The city centre (and in some cases, outside the city limits itself). This distinction is quite common in European cities such as Paris , Moscow , Vienna , Prague and Budapest . The New World grew quickly after the emergence of modern transport, therefore a single centre often included many of the region's tallest buildings and served as both a commercial and cultural city centre. In the 21st century, increasing urbanisation has led to
4257-605: The city's CBD. In South Korea , the national capital of Seoul includes three central business districts. The Downtown Seoul , a historic area inside the Fortress Wall of Seoul in the Jongno and Jung districts has historically been the city's political, social and cultural heart, and still houses many corporate headquarters and political institutions in South Korea. It is also the most popular area for tourists and
4356-650: The city's main commercial district. While the district has a high density of high rise buildings, the tallest building, the SK Building, only reaches a height of 160m due to historic preservation regulations. The second main district, located in the southeast part of Seoul, is Gangnam District , an area that was developed in the 1980s and is now among the city's most affluent neighborhoods. The Gangnam District has concentration mainly in economic power of Seoul, as many of prominent company HQs are located on Teheran Avenue . Gangnam Avenue and Yeondong Avenue, which includes
4455-641: The city. Midtown Manhattan is the largest central business district in New York City and in the United States. In Chicago , the Chicago Loop is the second-largest central business district in the United States. It is also referred to as the core of the city's downtown. Mexico City also has its own historic city center , the colonial era "Centro Histórico", along with two CBDs: the mid-late 20th century Paseo de la Reforma in Polanco , and
4554-724: The city. As of 2021, it is still under development. The construction of the MIBC takes place on the Presnenskaya Embankment of the Moskva River , approximately 4 kilometers (2.5 mi) west of Red Square , overlooked by the Third Ring Road. The project occupies an area of 60 hectares. The second-largest central business district is Yekaterinburg-City in Yekaterinburg , the fourth-largest city in
4653-515: The commercial and business activity located in or in the vicinity of the area. It has a permanent population of around 63,000 inhabitants and, during weekday business hours, a floating population that exceeds 700,000 daily commuters from other districts in Lima , the national capital. San Isidro is served by three stations of El Metropolitano , Lima's bus rapid transit system: Estación Javier Prado , Estación Canaval y Moreyra (with over 16,000 daily passengers) and Estación Aramburú . In
4752-579: The companies they did business with elsewhere. As a result of this migration, manufacturing was no longer a significant part of the downtown mix of businesses. Another sector which began to move away from downtown even before the turn of the 20th century were the great cultural institutions: museums, symphony halls, main libraries and so on. Not only was the high cost of land downtown a factor, but these institutions wanted larger plots of land than were available there, so that their buildings could themselves be easily perceived as works of art. Organizations such as
4851-656: The country. It is located on the Iset River , and is under development as of 2021. The area occupies five hectares. Saudi Arabia has several business districts, including: In Singapore , the CBD is in the Downtown Core , one of the constituent planning areas of the Central Area , the country's city center . Its densest point is centered around Raffles Place , where most of Singapore's skyscrapers are located. The CBD sometimes also describes Central Area as
4950-418: The daytime population of the country's downtowns did not rebound. For instance, in Chicago between 1929 and 1949, the population of the city grew 7%, and that of the entire metropolitan area by about 14%, but the daytime population of The Loop only rose 1/3 of 1%. With a few exceptions, such as New York City, this pattern was typical across American cities, and was tied to the slowing down of the rate of growth of
5049-543: The decentralization of commerce which affected the importance and influence of downtown and the central business district. Theaters , vaudeville houses, dance halls and night clubs had been primarily located in downtown, with nickelodeons spread throughout the city. When film became the dominant medium, and exhibitors started to build movie theaters to show them in, they at first built those venues downtown as well, but, as in retail shopping, chain exhibitors such as Loews began to construct them in locations convenient to
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#17327911755405148-404: The development of megacities that often have multiple CBDs scattered across the urban area. Downtown sections of cities, especially in North America , often are distinct from CBDs and city centres. No two CBDs have the same spatial shape, but there are certain common geometric patterns, which are largely a result of centralised commercial and industrial activities. In Australia , the term CBD
5247-704: The directionality of both words was lost, so that a Bostonian might refer to going "downtown", even though it was north of where they were. Downtown lay to the south in Detroit, but to the north in Cleveland, to the east in St. Louis, and to the west in Pittsburgh. In Boston, a resident pointed out in 1880, downtown was in the center of the city. Uptown was north of downtown in Cincinnati, but south of downtown in New Orleans and San Francisco. Notably, "downtown"
5346-410: The early 1930s even the largest took up less than 2% of the city's space, and most were significantly smaller – and remained the primary business district of the city. Real estate interests were particularly concerned about the tendency of downtown to move because the downtown area had by far the highest land values in each city. One commentator said that if Chicago's land values were shown as height on
5445-404: The early 21st century, the southeastern district of Surco experienced a significant increase in upscale corporate developments in the area comprised by avenues Manuel Holguín, El Derby, El Polo, and La Encalada due to lower restrictions to grant construction permit and proximity to residential middle and upper class districts and is set to become, after traditional San Isidro and Miraflores ,
5544-465: The early part of the 20th century, English travel writers felt it necessary to explain to their readers what "downtown" meant. Although American downtowns lacked legally-defined boundaries, and were often parts of several of the wards that most cities used as their basic functional district, locating the downtown area was not difficult, as it was the place where all the street railways and elevated railways converged, and – at least in most places – where
5643-450: The edges of the city or the urban area. Industrial districts developed in these areas, which were sometimes specifically zoned for manufacturing. There, land was considerably cheaper than downtown, property taxes were lower, transportation of supplies and finished products was much easier without the constant congestion emblematic of downtown, and with the improvement of the telephone system, the industrial firms could still keep in touch with
5742-409: The effects of the Great Depression began in the mid-1930s, decelerated at the end of the 1930s, and picked up speed with the start of World War II , so that by the early 1940s the country was for the most part out of the Depression. Excess commercial space began to be used, vacancy rates dropped, department store sales rose, hotel occupancy rates went up, and revenues increased. Despite this recovery,
5841-406: The extended area of Gomti Nagar , and Aminabad in old Lucknow. Kolkata also has central business districts, including B.B.D. Bagh , Park Circus , Esplanade , Salt Lake Sector V , and New Town . The largest CBD in Indonesia is the Golden Triangle ( Segitiga Emas in Indonesian ) in Jakarta . Sudirman Central Business District , a super block that is located within the Golden Triangle,
5940-496: The financial capital of the country, the famous CBD is The Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai . In Mumbai itself there is Nariman Point , which is another CBD including Andheri and Parel . Parry's Corner and Nungambakkam are among the main CBDs of Chennai . Bangalore has five notable business districts: UB City , Brigade Gateway, Koramangala , Indiranagar , and Electronic City . Lucknow has three business districts, including Hazratganj Market , Gomti Nagar Extension at
6039-404: The fourth in the world. La Défense hosts 19 of the world's biggest 500 companies , whilst the Paris region as a whole hosts 29 of the world's 500 largest companies, establishing itself as the first city in Europe (and the third worldwide) for the number of companies classified in Fortune Fortune Global 500 . In Germany , the terms Innenstadt and Stadtzentrum may be used to describe
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#17327911755406138-421: The geographical centers of the city because the city center is the historical center of the city, and usually not very suitable to function as a modern business district. A precursor to modern business districts is EUR in Rome , which is now home to several national and international companies and public bodies. The EUR, the Napoli business district , the Milan business district , and City Life , are among
6237-414: The growth of the chain stores, to the detriment of the big downtown department stores. Furthermore, the "taxpayers", which many people had expected to disappear once the economy improved, remained in place, and even increased in number. In the Loop in Chicago, by the early 1940s, 18% of the land was vacant or was used for parking; in Los Angeles at the same time, the figure was 25%. Demand for commercial space
6336-420: The island travels in the uptown/downtown directions. The other boroughs are wider, and "downtown" there refers to Lower Manhattan, Downtown Brooklyn , or some more local business district. Mercantile efforts to promote the South Bronx as "Downtown Bronx" have met with little success. In some North American cities, downtown is the formal name of the neighborhood in which the city's central business district
6435-403: The last of which features the only W Hotel in the city. Colombia's other notable CBDs include Parque Berrío in Medellín , Bocagrande in Cartagena (the largest touristic CBD in the country), and Paseo de Bolívar in Barranquilla . La Défense , west of Paris , is France 's largest central business district. La Défense was in 2017 ranked as the leading CBD in continental Europe, and
6534-446: The major cultural institutions left downtown as a place primarily dedicated to business, but the loss of another sector, retail shopping, defined the type of business that was done there. The great retail outlets like the department stores had always had the tendency to move closer to the residential districts, to make it easier for their customers to get to them, but after 1920 they started to congregate in secondary business districts on
6633-515: The major cultural institutions, much of the retail shopping in the city, and its loss of status as the entertainment center, the nature of downtown had changed considerably. It was still the location of banks, stocks and commodity exchanges, law and accounting firms, the headquarters of the major industrial concerns and public utilities, insurance companies, and advertising agencies, and in its confines continued to be built new and taller skyscrapers housing offices, hotels and even department stores, but it
6732-409: The mass audience they were seeking; again, it was a matter of bringing their product to where the people were. By the late 1920s, movie houses outside of downtown far outnumbered those in the central district. Not all the movie theaters in the periphery were palaces , but some were, and the net effect was that downtown was no longer the entertainment center of the city. With the loss of manufacturing,
6831-399: The master planning of Bonifacio Global City. Ortigas Center (fourth), with an area of more than 100 hectares (250 acres), is the Philippines' second most important business district after the Makati CBD and is home to Asian Development Bank. Meanwhile, the Makati Central Business District (third), also known as the Makati CBD, is the leading financial and the largest central business district in
6930-423: The most important commercial areas in Italy. Other important business and financial centers are present in Genoa and Brescia . In Pakistan, a central business district or a large, concentrated urban setting within a settlement is called a shehar . Karachi is Pakistan's largest city and the country's economic hub; the I. I. Chundrigar Road acts as Karachi's main financial district. Shahra-e-Faisal in Karachi
7029-437: The nature of downtown itself: would it continue to be a concentrated core, or as it grew, would height limits force it to spread out into a larger area. In the short run, the proponents of height limits were successful in their efforts. By the 1910s, most of the large and medium-sized cities had height limits in effect, although New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Minneapolis were notable exceptions. Ultimately, it
7128-533: The neighboring districts, Itaim Bibi and Vila Olímpia , now concentrate a large part of the financial activities in São Paulo and Brazil . Avenida Paulista and nearby streets is a well-established financial center that has several banking offices and corporate headquarters, as well as hospitals. Its Historic Center was the city's first business center; There, the São Paulo Stock Exchange
7227-414: The new Santa Fe , respectively. Russia 's largest central business district is the Moscow International Business Center in Moscow . The shape and type of a central business district almost always closely reflect the city's history. Cities with strong preservation laws and maximum building height restrictions to retain the character of the historic and cultural core may have a CBD quite a distance from
7326-479: The new financial center of Lima . The Philippines has three major central business districts, which are all located in Metro Manila. Bonifacio Global City (second) is the newest and one of the largest central business districts in the Philippines. The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), Ayala Land, Inc. and Evergreen Holdings, Inc. controls Fort Bonifacio Development Corporation, which oversees
7425-489: The original town – which was also New York's only major center of business at the time – became known as "downtown" ( Lower Manhattan ). During the late 19th century, the term was gradually adopted by cities across the United States to refer to the historical core of the city, which was most often the same as the commercial heart of the city. "Uptown" also spread, but to a much lesser extent. In both cases, though,
7524-522: The other two business districts, Yeouido has some of Seoul's tallest skyscrapers, including Parc1 Tower , International Finance Center Seoul , and the 63 Building . Yeouido is where the National Assembly of South Korea and many media companies and political institutions are based. Smaller but notable central business districts in South Korea include the Jamsil area, which is the location of
7623-410: The outer wall, making higher-up segments of the building progressively narrower than the base) to reduce a building's bulk by allowing additional height per foot of setback – the exact amount depending on what zone the building was in. The ultimate effect of setbacks is to increase the sunlight and visible sky at street level. New York City was the first to do this, with the 1916 Zoning Resolution , which
7722-503: The periphery of the city. The growth of chain stores such as J. C. Penney , F. W. Woolworth , Kresge and W. T. Grant , contributed to the increased importance of the outlying shopping districts, which began outselling those retail stores which had remained in the central business district, and provoked those stores to open branches in the secondary districts in attempt to go to where there customers were instead of having them come downtown to them. Entertainment venues also contributed to
7821-399: The population within two miles of the city hall grew twice as fast as the overall population in the metro area. The terms downtown and uptown can refer to cardinal directions , for example, in Manhattan, where downtown is also a relative geographical term. Anything south of where the speaker is currently standing, in most places, is said to be downtown . Anything north of the speaker
7920-591: The question about the area's legitimacy. Decentralization also increased the incidences of rivalry between downtown and burgeoning business districts. In Los Angeles, for instance, downtown and Wilshire Boulevard battled for dominance, and in Cincinnati the rivalry was between the old downtown centered around Fountain Square and the one on Canal Street. The diminishment of downtown by decentralization caused these battles to be between areas that were now more relatively equal. Like almost every other aspect of American life,
8019-448: The railroad terminals were. It was the location of the great department stores and hotels, as well as that of theaters, clubs, cabarets, and dance halls, and where skyscrapers were built once that technology was perfected. It was also frequently, at first, the only part of a city that was electrified. It was also the place where street congestion was the worst, a problem for which a solution was never really found. But most of all, downtown
8118-520: The recent past they would have been replaced with taller buildings, now they became one- and two-story parking garages or ground-level parking lots. These were widely known as "taxpayers", as they generated enough revenue for the owner of the lot to pay the taxes on it. Rents fell, sometimes as much as 30%, and non-payment of rent increased. Even with the "taxpayers" taking away commercial space, vacancy rates rose precipitously. Owners went into default, and downtown real estate lost considerable value: 25–30% in
8217-430: The rise of the private automobile, which allowed shoppers to go to peripheral business districts more easily; a strong increase in streetcar fares; and the continuing problem of congestion in the narrow streets of the downtown area. As much as people disagreed about what caused decentralization, they were even less in agreement about how decentralization would affect the central business district, with opinions varying all
8316-530: The site of the rail terminus for the Kuala Lumpur–Singapore High Speed Rail . South Africa 's largest cities, Cape Town , Durban , Johannesburg , Pretoria , and Port Elizabeth , have CBDs that include the corporate headquarters for many of South Africa's largest companies, its convention centers , and many of the country's tallest buildings. Cape Town has one of South Africa's most iconic skyline (which includes Table Mountain ) and
8415-422: The streetcar lines converged on downtown, while the roads went everywhere. All of these factors contributed to the lesser recovery of downtown relative to the city as a whole and the metropolitan area. Another sign that downtowns were no longer as central to city life as they once were include the decreased portion of retail trade that took place there as compared to the peripheral business areas, which profited by
8514-408: The town of New York grew into a city, the only direction it could grow on the island was toward the north , proceeding upriver from the original settlement, the "up" and "down" terminology coming from the customary map design in which up was north and down was south . Thus, anything north of the original town became known as " uptown " ( Upper Manhattan ), and was generally a residential area, while
8613-436: The way from the belief that it would diminish downtown sufficiently that it would eventually consist of only offices and the headquarters of corporate giants, to the belief that decentralization would lead to the (perhaps deserved) death of downtown entirely as unnecessary, a victim of its untameable traffic congestion. In between were those who saw a diminishment of the area's influence, but not enough to prevent it from remaining
8712-451: Was already a sluggish market. To many in the real estate industry, the zoning law was an example of a "reasonable restriction." Once New York had passed its law, other cities followed, although proposed zoning measures did meet stiff resistance in some places, often because of the inclusion of overly restrictive height limits, and sometimes because the entire concept of zoning was seen as undemocratic and bordering on socialism . Eventually,
8811-417: Was assumed that people would climb, but with the elevator, that limit was shattered, and buildings began to be constructed up to about sixteen stories. What limited them then was the thickness of the masonry needed at the base to hold the weight of the building above it. As the buildings got taller, the thickness of the masonry and the space needed for elevators did not allow for sufficient rentable space to make
8910-410: Was done downtown, those who had their homes there were gradually pushed out, selling their property and moving to quieter residential areas uptown. The skyscraper would become the hallmark of the downtown area. Prior to the invention of the elevator – and later the high-speed elevator – buildings were limited in height to about six stories, which was a de facto limit set by the amount of stairs it
9009-424: Was no longer as dominant as it once was. The causes of decentralization, which decreased the importance of downtown in the life of American cities, have been ascribed to many factors, including each city's normal growth patterns; advances in technology like the telephone, which made it easier for business-to-business intercourse to take place over a distance, thus lessening the need for a centralized commercial core;
9108-527: Was not included in dictionaries as late as the 1880s. But by the early 1900s, "downtown" was clearly established as the proper term in American English for a city's central business district, although the word was virtually unknown in Britain and Western Europe, where expressions such as "city centre" (British English), "el centro" (Spanish), "das Zentrum" (German), etc are used. Even as late as
9207-405: Was not simple height limits that restricted skyscrapers, but they were limited by comprehensive zoning laws which set up separate requirements for different parts of a city. Zoning rules would regulate not only height, but also a building's volume, the percentage of the lot used, and the amount of light the building blocked. Zoning regulations sometimes encouraged setbacks (step-like recessions in
9306-482: Was prompted in large part by the construction of the Equitable Building in 1915. The Equitable Building was a 40-story building with straight sides and no setbacks, which raised fears of the downtown area becoming a maze of dark streets that never saw the sun. Worse yet, at least from a real estate perspective, this new building created 1.2 million square feet (111,000 m ) of office space, flooding into what
9405-461: Was so light that it did not make financial sense to construct expensive new buildings, and banks began to refuse to make loans for that purpose, redlining whole neighborhoods in the central business district. The typical American downtown has certain unique characteristics. During the postwar economic boom in the 1950s , the residential population of most downtowns crashed. This has been attributed to reasons such as slum clearance , construction of
9504-406: Was still steadily losing ground as decentralization took its toll. Its daytime population was not keeping pace with the population growth of the city around it, and property values, while continuing to rise, were not rising as fast as those in the secondary business districts. Downtown was still the central business district, and was still the most important area for doing business and commerce, but it
9603-593: Was the area revived. In Frankfurt am Main 's city center, there is a business district called the " Bankenviertel ". In Düsseldorf , there is a business district which is located around the famous high street Königsallee with banks, shops and offices. Traditionally, the Central Business District "CBD" of Hong Kong is Central , where many multinational financial services corporations have their headquarters. Consulates general and consulates of many countries are also located in this area, as
9702-420: Was the place where the city did its business. Inside its small precincts, sometimes as small as several hundred acres, the majority of the trading, selling, and purchasing – retail and wholesale – in the entire area would take place. There were hubs of business in other places around the city and its environs, but the downtown area was the chief one, truly the central business district. And as more and more business
9801-441: Was the time when the term " central business district " began to appear as more-or-less synonymous with the downtown area. The phrase acknowledged the existence of other business districts in the city, but allocated to downtown the primacy of being "central", not only geographically, in many cities, but also in importance. And in many cases, the downtown area or central business district, itself began to grow, such as in Manhattan where
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