Chapter 13 Key Issue 1

Why do Services Cluster Downtown?

  • downtowns of North America are different than anywhere else

CBD Land Uses

central business district (CBD): the area of a city where retail and office activites are clustered (downtown)

  • CBDs are less than 1% of urban land area, but contain many services
    • services are attracted due to its accessibility
  • CBDs are
    • the easiest part of a city to reach
    • the focal point of the region’s transportation network
    • one of the oldest districts in a city
    • often along a body of water

Public Services in CBDs

  • public services include
    • city hall
    • courts
    • county and state agencies
    • libraries
  • these services historically clustered downtown, so many still remain in CBDs
    • semipublic services like places of worship also cluster there in historic structures
  • sports facilities and convention centers have been moved downtown
    • attract many people
    • facilities are placed there to stimulate nonbasic industries like downtown restaurants, bars, and hotels

Business Services in CBDs

  • offices cluster in CBDs for accessibility
    • certain jobs depend on the proximity to professional colleagues
    • ex. lawyers cluster near government offices and courts, which causes secretarial agencies and instant printers to locate there too with the lawyers
  • even with improved technology, people still like to communicate face-to-face
    • offices are centrally located to facilitate rapid communication
  • central locations help businesses to employ workers from varieties of neighborhoods due to the accessibility

Consumer Services in CBDs

  • in the past, 3 types of retail services clustered in CBDs due to accessibility
    • retailers with high thresholds
    • retailers with high ranges
    • retailers that served people who work in the CBD
  • changed shopping habits and residential pattersn reduced the importance of retail services in the CBD
Retailers with a High Threshold
  • preferred a CBD location to be accessible to many people
  • large department stores would cluster near one intersection
    • “100 percent corner”
  • rents were high there due to the high acessibility
  • now, however, large stores have closed down or moved to suburban locations
  • customers for downtown stores now only consist of downtown office workers, inner-city residents, and tourists
Retailers with a High Range
  • were specialists with customers who patronize them infrequently
    • preferred CBD locations because customers were scattered over a wide area
  • these retailers have also moved to suburban locations
Retailers Serving Downtown Workers
  • served people who worked there and shopped during lunch/working hours
    • sold office supplies, computers, clothing, shoe repair, etc.
  • are expanding because the number of downtown office workers have increased and downtown offices require more services

Activities Excluded from CBDs

  • high rents and land shortage discourage industrial and residential activities
Lack of Manufacturing in CBDs
  • factories need large land to spread operations among one-story buildings
    • this land is avaliable in suburbs
  • in the past, factories and retail relied on waterfront CBDs
    • today, large oceangoing vessels are unable to move in the tight waters of the old harbors
  • port cities transformed waterfronts from industry to commercial and recreational activities
    • piers and warehouses → new officies, shops, parks, museums
    • waterfonts have become tourist attractions
    • built large convention centers to house professional meetings and trade shows
Lack of Residents in CBDs
  • many poorer people used to live near the CBD in overcrowded houses, while richer people built mansions downtown
  • residents have abandoned downtown living
    • suburbs offered larger homes + private yards + modern schools → pull
    • high rents + dirt + crime + congestion + poverty → push
  • however, populations in US CBDs have recently increased
    • new buildings contructed
    • attractive to people whose children either left them, or people who haven’t had kids yet
    • entertainment, restaurants, museums, nightlife
    • don’t care about quality of neighborhood schools
  • however, some consumer services like grocery stores may still be lacking

Competition for Land in the CBD

  • accessibility creates competition for the limited sites
    • land values are very high → too expensive for some activities
  • intensive demand → growth vertically (skyskrapers, multi-story buildings, etc.) and downward (underground subways, etc.)
The Underground CBD
  • “underground cities” include
    • garages
    • loading docks
    • pipes
    • cables
    • subways
    • pedestrian passages + shops
    • for cold climate areas
Skyscrapers
  • houses, malls, and factories have grown upward
  • first skyscrapers were made in Chicago due to
    • elevators
    • steel girders
    • glass structures

zoning ordinance: a law that limits the permitted uses of land and maximum density of development in a country

  • retail services pay high rents for street-level space to entice customers
  • business services occupy offices on middle levels at lower rents
  • apartments are on upper floors because of lower noise levels and panoramic views
  • there are no skyscrapers in Washington, DC, because buildings cannot be taller than the Capitol dome