Evolution of the CBD in America

CBD  Central Business District Decline Economic restructuring Exodus from the CBD  Residential  Industry (space & JIT access concerns)  Retailing (strip, strip mall, mall) Existing CBD conditions are not a function of density but conversely of decentralization!

Centrality  Break-in-bulk points  Shores, resource collection points along railways  Trade & industry  Special function cities (e.g. mining)  “Central place” (relation to hinterlands)

Monocentric city  CBD served many needs Production Shipping & wholesale trade Retail outlet Cultural center Political/administrative center

Economies of agglomeration  Competitive linkages Similar businesses congregate to serve a pool of consumers (e.g. HEB across street from Kroger)  Complementary linkages Dissimilar businesses cluster to serve a pool of consumers (e.g. HEB & Blockbuster adjacent)  Forward linkages (companion) One business supports many businesses that use its outputs (e.g. advertising co. serves dozens of cos.)  Backward linkages (ancillary) One business supports many businesses that provide its inputs (e.g. auto co. consumes raw materials, parts, and services from wide range of cos.)

Relation of agglomeration to CBD decline  Originally centrality guaranteed maximal agglomeration economies  Now centrality may conflict with agglomeration economies (traffic congestion, overhead, etc.)  Agglomeration now occurs away from the CBD  “Edge city” development  Neo-traditional planning: vertical mixed use (VMU)  Falling cost of shipping has combined with industrialization in the developing world to encourage overseas production through subsidiaries or subcontractors  Dependency on computer and data processing leads to a need for “back offices” accessible to married women (i.e. in the suburbs)

Deindustrialization  One firm is downsized or closed  Cost of doing business goes up for those firms it supported through forward linkages (farther shipment) Firms it supported through backward linkages may lose their main customer Its workers get laid off and are no longer able to buy as much, leading to the failure of businesses engaged in competitive linkages, creation of local monopolies, and rising costs to consumers Entire retail districts (complementary linkages) may go into prolonged decline

Transformation in the CBD  Shift from production to consumption  Gentrification  Expansion (zone of assimilation, or wave of discard followed by zone of assimilation)  Land-use conversion Residential into commercial, services, certain kinds of offices (lawyers & art galleries in old mansions) Industrial into retail & residential (lofts) Old retail (e.g. Walgreens) into hi-rise offices Entertainment (e.g. movie theaters) into retail & services (bars, gift shops, copy shops, printers)

Contemporary CBD activities  Dense rental residential spaces (declined until recently, then experienced an upswing)  Spaces of consumption Festival marketplaces (often with pedestrian elements) Convention centers (often public/private partnerships) Sports complexes Restaurant & night club districts Oriented toward tourists and visitors  Office high-rises remain (though most new office space is in edge city developments) Accounting & auditing firms Advertising & public relations firms Finance & investment firms  UNCERTAIN FUTURE OF THE CBD: real renaissance or momentary fad?