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 sometimes colloquially.

City centre is an alternative term, the usual phrase used in Britain 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, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, Canada and New Zealand, the term is often just shortened to the single word "city" in general conversation among residents of a city, giving rise to the phrase "going to the city". 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. Some cities in the United States have a mixed use district known as uptown near the downtown area. In Minneapolis, for example, Uptown is a district nearly adjacent to downtown, centered around the Uptown Theater on the intersection of Lagoon St. and Hennepin Ave. 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 CBD's in their resepective cities (both have 4).

New York City's Midtown is an example of an urban downtown district typically found in North America

The CBD or downtown is the central district of a city, usually typified by a concentration of retail and commercial buildings. 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 Tokyo, San Diego, Jakarta, Manila, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, 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.
It contains the major retail outlets (though this may be less often the case, especially in the United States and Canada).
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.
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.
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).

List of some notable CBDs and downtowns

Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai

Africa

Abidjan, Central Business District/Le Plateau
Cairo, Wust El Balad
Cape Town, Central Business District
Durban, Central Business District and Umhlanga New Town Center
Johannesburg, Central Business District & Sandton
Lagos, Victoria Island
Nairobi, Central Business District
Pretoria, Central Business District

Central, Hong Kong

The old city core of Shanghai, Huangpu District, viewed across the river from the new city core, Lujiazui.

The Central Area of Singapore.

Asia

Bangkok: For full list, see List of central business district in Bangkok.
Beijing, Beijing Central Business District
Delhi, Connaught Place
Dubai, Dubai Creek, Sheikh Zayed Road
Haifa, Hadar HaCarmel Business District, Haifa Downtown District and Merkaz HaCarmel District
Hong Kong, Central, Wan Chai and Tsim Sha Tsui
Jakarta, Jendral Sudirman Road, Kuningan (HR Rasuna Said Road), and MH Thamrin Road
Jerusalem, Ben-Yehuda Street
Karachi, Saddar and I.I. Chundrigar Road
Kuala Lumpur, Daerah Sentral Johor Bahru (Central District of Johor Bahru), Golden Triangle of Kuala Lumpur.Kuala Lumpur City Centre
Manila, Makati, Ortigas Center, Taguig
Mumbai, Nariman Point
Seoul, Gangnam-gu
Shanghai, several centers: Lujiazui (in Pudong District), Huangpu District, Xujiahui (in Xuhui District), and Luwan District
Singapore, The Central Area, Raffles Place, Orchard Road, Shenton Way and Marina Centre
Taipei, Xinyi District
Tel Aviv, Central Business District Tel Aviv and the Ramat Gan Diamond Exchange District
Tokyo, Marunouchi and Otemachi districts (in Chiyoda, Tokyo), Nishi-shinjuku district (Shinjuku, Tokyo), Roppongi district in (Minato, Tokyo), Nihonbashi district in (Chūō, Tokyo).

The eastern side of the City of London viewed from St Paul's Cathedral. Canary Wharf (in the neighbouring borough of Tower Hamlets) is on the horizon.

Presnya in Moscow.

Quartier de La Défense in Paris, the largest CBD in Europe

Europe

Amsterdam around the central rings of canals.
Antwerp, between the river Scheldt and main station.
Athens Syntagma Square (Constitution Square) to Omonoia Square.
Barcelona The Northern section of the Barri Gotic, Ramblas and surrounding Eixample area.
Belfast's city centre.
Berlin With two downtowns, one between Zoolog.Gtn Station to Kurfürstendamm (Traditionally West Berlin), and the other from Potsdamer Platz to Unter den Linden (Traditionally East Berlin)
Birmingham, Surrounding the Bullring complex and business center.
Brussels, in particular, the city of Brussels
Budapest, central core and surrounding areas.
Copenhagen, central core
Dublin, Ireland, Dublin City Centre - central area of Greater Dublin Area, including docklands and city core.
Düsseldorf, central core.
Edinburgh, areas between the Old and New Towns.
Frankfurt, The Bankenviertel (Banking District) or Innenstadt
Geneva, near the mouth of the Rhône River
Glasgow, in particular the city of Glasgow area.
Gothenburg/Göteborg, center core including Kungsportsavenyn
Hamburg, between the Elbe River to Binnenalster
Helsinki, central core.
Istanbul, The Levent District.
Lisbon, central core.
London, The City of London, City of Westminster, West End, Canary Wharf.
Lyon, Quartier de la Part-Dieu.
Madrid, AZCA / Nuevos Ministerios
Manchester, Manchester City Centre
Milan within central ring.
Moscow, Areas within the Garden Ring; especially Kitai-gorod, Tverskoy District and Presnya (Moscow-City).
Munich, The central core of the city.
Naples central core and Centro Direzionale
Oslo, central core
Paris, Quartier de La Defense, Quartier de l'Opéra, Quartier du Val de Seine.
Porto, central core.
Prague, central core and surrounding areas.
Rome, within central area. and the E.U.R. Esposizione Universale Roma
Rotterdam, central city core.
Sheffield, Sheffield City Centre
St Petersburg, Central Business District and Municipal district 7.
Stockholm, central core near entrance of lake Mälaren. The core CBD includes the area between Kungsgatan in north, Stureplan in northeast, Birger Jarlsgatan in east, lake Mälaren in south, Vasagatan in west. World Trade Center is situated just north of the central station.
Valencia The area surrounding its historical core.
Vienna, centrao core and UNO-City
Warsaw, Śródmieście
Zagreb, from the Savska-Vukovarska to Heinzlova-Vukovarska intersections
Zurich, between the rivers Sihl and Limmat