Key Issue 1: Why Do Services Cluster Downtown? How would you define a ‘service’?

Services: Any activity that fulfills a human want or need and returns money to those who provide it Services are located in settlements (Permanent collection of buildings where people reside, work, and obtain services) Location of services is important for profitability Affluent regions tend to offer more services (and different types)- Can you think of examples?

How far would you travel for…

How far would you travel for…

Range & Threshold: Threshold: Minimum market (# of people) needed to bring a firm or city selling goods and services into existence and to keep it in business Factors affecting a fall in the threshold population are A decrease in population Change in tastes Introduction of substitutes Range: The average maximum distance people are willing to travel to purchase goods and services

Key Issue 1: Why Do Services Cluster Downtown? CBD land uses: Retail services in the CBD: Retailers with a high threshold Retailers with a high range Retailers serving downtown workers Business services in the CBD

Wroclaw, Poland:

Competition for land in the CBD: High land costs: Some of the most expensive real estate in the world (e.g. -Tokyo) - little available Intensive land use Underground networks below cities (multistory parking garages, loading docks, utility lines for phones, water, etc, and subways. Skyscrapers “Vertical geography”, more economically feasible. Each city has unique downtown skyline. First built in Chicago in 1880’s

“Vertical Geography” The nature of an activity influences which floor it occupies in a skyscraper: Retailers (street level) Professional offices (middle levels) Apartments (lower noise, panoramic views)

Activities excluded from the CBD: Lack of industry in the CBD Modern factories require large, one-story parcels of land - suitable land typically in suburbs Lack of residents in the CBD Push and pull factors involved - pulled to suburbs by larger homes with private yards/schools, pushed from CBD’s by high rents and negatives of city life (crime, poverty, congestion) CBDs outside North America Less dominated by commercial considerations - churches royal palaces, and parks More people live downtown