Abstract
The central business district (CBD) has become the economic powerhouse of contemporary cities. China’s economic transition from world factory to a knowledge-based economy underpinned the development of hundreds of CBDs over the course of less than two decades. The plans promoted land use diversity and the incorporation of service facilities in the support of business function, but a rather different service environment emerged. Taking the Futian CBD of Shenzhen as the prototypical case, we examined the distribution, vitality, uses, and users of these facilities, which are largely built up by the private sector and without governmental support. A questionnaire sent to users and data derived from social media reveal that the vast majority of visitors of these service facilities do not work in the CBD and travel via the reformed mass transport system to this location. The high-quality public spaces and street environment, as well as the numerous service facilities, many of which are at a low economic order, attract people from all over the vast city, which homes over ten million, highlighting a new role for the CBD as a civic center. In contrast with the globalized business sought after by government and business leaders of the CBD, a new populist nexus is emerging and without significant support.
Highlights
Cities have always had centers, the purpose, design, and activities taking place there have changed over the course of urban history
The Central Business District (CBD) has become the economic powerhouse of contemporary cities
Taking the Futian CBD of Shenzhen as the prototypical case, we examined the distribution, vitality, uses, and users of these facilities, which were largely built up by the private sector and without governmental support
Summary
Cities have always had centers, the purpose, design, and activities taking place there have changed over the course of urban history. The representational function of a central place as a symbol of the city was typically associated with decision-making at the level of the city, as agora in Hellenic culture, forum in Roman civilization, square and palace in Renaissance Europe, and most recently the Central Business District (CBD) of North American cities [1,2,3]. The question arises whether the purpose and functions of these new and highly symbolic centers for the city are fulfilled in the patterns of daily life. Does the civic function of the center as a place for public gathering, cultural representation, communication, and leisure arise in the CBD or elsewhere in the Chinese city when it was never intended to do so? Are the non-business facilities of the CBD serving the core business elite, or are they acquiring a widely shared public role in the city, more akin to the traditional roles of the city center, as mentioned above? If the latter, how can we conceive the further transformation of the CBD in the contemporary city in China?
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