Blackwell Reference Online

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The central business district (CBD) is the downtown of the American city, which in the early twentieth century possessed two sorts of centrality: first, it was usually at or near the city's geographical center and, second, it hosted its most important economic functions. The term emerged as business districts were developing in outlying areas, but downtowns, with their skyscrapers, mammoth department stores, and movie palaces, remained dominant. However, after downtowns peaked in importance in the 1920s, policy debates and sociological discussions increasingly focused on (1) problems related to their decline and (2) organized attempts to bolster or reestablish their centrality. Like the term downtown, the idea of a CBD was uniquely American, reflecting a sharp separation between place of work and place of residence that distinguished US cities from those in Europe. In the 1920s CBDs were dense concentrations of businesses that were largely depopulated, but visited on a daily basis by a majority of the city's residents who came to work, shop, or seek amusement. It was commonly thought that their standing was confirmed, rather than challenged, by the decentralization of population and business. This notion was theoretically affirmed by Ernest Burgess, one of the founders of the Chicago School of Sociology, who proposed that as the city grew it expanded radially from the CBD in a series ... log in or subscribe to read full text