# Your job: draw a line around "downtown"



## edsg25 (Jul 30, 2004)

No city has a clearly defined "dowtown area/CBD". It often shifts and its exterior is most open to conjecture. So I guess you get to call it the way you see it:

Give us your city and what _you preceive_ to be the current borders of its downtown area. And why.


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## Rene Nunez (Mar 14, 2005)

In Manhattan (other boroughs have their own) it is 14th Street and below as the actual "Downtown". The reason is, our actual Business District is so large it is divided into Midtown and Downtown. ANd many more subdivisions if you want to get technical..


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## Boris550 (Sep 21, 2004)

Calgary's "Centre City Plan" pretty much says it all. Downtown would include the Beltline (south of the CPR tracks), the CBD (center area), Downtown West End, Eau Claire, the Rivers District (East Village), Chinatown, Prince's Island Park, and the Stampede grounds. 

The Centre City plan is a combination of development plans and many people would consider the beltline to be part of downtown, even though it is physically seperated from the CBD be the railway.


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## DnH (Aug 3, 2003)

Swedish/European Citys are sometimes very different from american ones.
This is the official downtown/Innercity area of stockholm.


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## mad_nick (May 13, 2004)

Rene Nunez said:


> In Manhattan (other boroughs have their own) it is 14th Street and below as the actual "Downtown". The reason is, our actual Business District is so large it is divided into Midtown and Downtown. ANd many more subdivisions if you want to get technical..


I'd say the Downtown CBD is limited to south of Canal or perhaps south of Chambers. North of that it's mostly residential or a mix of residential and commercial. IMHO, the Midtown CBD is delimited by 8th Ave, 3rd Ave, 34th Street and 59th Street. (though there is a significant amount of commercial below 34th as well)


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## HowardL (Jan 16, 2004)

I take a conservative approach for Chicago. For me, Downtown = Loop. The Loop flows seamlessly into surrounding high density neighborhoods, but I don't think of North Michigan Avenue or Streetville or River North as "downtown." They are, however, right next to it.

Honestly, I don't even use the term downtown too much. I call it the Loop and think of it in terms of anything bounded by Congress, Michigan, main and south branch of the Chicago River. Basically what lies within a block or so of the elevated.


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## hudkina (Oct 28, 2003)

Detroit's "downtown" is easily defined, as it is bounded by freeways on three sides and the river to the south. However, Detroit's downtown is basically just the "skyscraper" CBD and doesn't include areas that would normally be considered parts of a downtown. The most liberal definition of "downtown" Detroit would be Grand Blvd. which was basically built as a "beltway" loop around the old city in a time before highways. In any case, Detroit's real downtown boundaries lie somewhere between the CBD and Grand Blvd.


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## wickedestcity (Jul 23, 2004)

i disagree with you HowardL, our city is center is growing with leaps and bounds , i an most anyone else would most def. include those and many more areas into the greater "downtown" Chicago area.the area bound to the east by the lake the north by 
Division the south by the 55 and the west by Ashland encludes neiborhoods such as: Old Town,Gold Coast Cabrini Green,Near North,Steeterville and Northwestern,River North,Fulton River District,Cityfrount Center ,The Loop,The west Loop,south loop,Lakeshore East,Near West Side/Greektown,,Printers Row and Dearborn Park1,Near South and Chinatown,McCormick Place,Pilsen,central Station and Dearborn Park2,and even kinzei station,university village,uic and little italy,or greektown etc. can bee considered by some to be all part of the central area.


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## nomarandlee (Sep 24, 2005)

wickedestcity said:


> i disagree with you HowardL, our city is center is growing with leaps and bounds , i an most anyone else would most def. include those and many more areas into the greater "downtown" Chicago area.the area bound to the east by the lake the north by
> Division the south by the 55 and the west by Ashland encludes neiborhoods such as: Old Town,Gold Coast Cabrini Green,Near North,Steeterville and Northwestern,River North,Fulton River District,Cityfrount Center ,The Loop,The west Loop,south loop,Lakeshore East,Near West Side/Greektown,,Printers Row and Dearborn Park1,Near South and Chinatown,McCormick Place,Pilsen,central Station and Dearborn Park2,and even kinzei station,university village,uic and little italy,or greektown etc. can bee considered by some to be all part of the central area.



I would agree with your idea of downtown more wickedestcity. Though with one big bone of contention in that I don't consider ANYTHING west of 90/94 to be part of downtown. To me that is a clear marker between downtown and the start of the near west side.

I would also maybe say that downtown ends south at Roosevelt instead of 55 but it is arguable. I would say to the north it would be Division street though I could go with Chicago ave as well.


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## edsg25 (Jul 30, 2004)

wicked, i think i'm pretty much on the same page with you on chicago. my boundaries are the lake to the east, North Ave. to the north, Cermak to the south, and sometwhere between Halsted and Ashland on the west. Oh, hell, make it Austin. The CTA's proposed Circle Line pretty well defines the new downtown and is fairly in line with my definition.


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## edsg25 (Jul 30, 2004)

interesting, hudkina; I didn't realize that downtown Detroit spread out that far.


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## illmatic774 (Jul 20, 2005)

yea, the freeways sorta cut things off, skewing the perception.


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## tpe (Aug 10, 2005)

The Chicago Sun Times has a good schematic of what is considered to be the "official" Chicago downtown boundaries. This was the "downtown" that is usually placed second in size to Midtown Manhattan.

Note that sizeable parts of the Gold Coast and the South Loop are excluded. Another widely accepted demarcation puts the southern boundary at McCormick Place and the northern boundary at North Avenue. With all the redevelopments in the South Loop, the south boundary may very well be pushed further down in the near future.

http://www.suntimes.com/special_sections/new_downtown/images/day1/downtown.html


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## gruber (Jun 11, 2004)

edsg25 said:


> No city has a clearly defined "dowtown area/CBD". It often shifts and its exterior is most open to conjecture. So I guess you get to call it the way you see it:
> 
> Give us your city and what _you preceive_ to be the current borders of its downtown area. And why.



*No city has a clearly defined "dowtown area/CBD*

who's the brilliant mind that wrote that?

in Europe, Russia, MO, North Africa, Eastern Europe, the city centre/downtown is exactley know!

are you never went out of your Country?


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## edsg25 (Jul 30, 2004)

gruber said:


> *No city has a clearly defined "dowtown area/CBD*
> 
> who's the brilliant mind that wrote that?
> 
> ...


I'm the "idiotic" mind in question. however, i must admit I tend to attack arguments rather than the poeple who post them (silly me), so perhaps, just perhaps, I may be more showing more brilliance in the social skills area than other people (I won't mention names; that would be a tactless and grubby thing to do.)


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## Azn_chi_boi (Mar 11, 2005)

How about Everything west and south of the Chicago River, north of Roosevelt, and then Lake Michigan, so it is a little peninusla...?

Or Why not make everything, east of I-294 Downtown?


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## ProgHouseHead (Oct 24, 2005)

As mad nick pointed out, Down Town for NYC is actually below Chambers St. The area below 14th st. which includes down town, is referred to as Lower Manhattan.


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## hudkina (Oct 28, 2003)

edsg25 said:


> interesting, hudkina; I didn't realize that downtown Detroit spread out that far.


It doesn't, actually. In fact that area within Grand Blvd. includes many areas that are mostly single-family residential neighborhoods (or in Poletown's case, what is left of such neighborhoods.) However, most of the old city of Detroit is bounded by Grand Blvd, while the post auto-boom neighborhoods are on outside of this area. In essence everything within Grand Blvd. is "old" Detroit while everything outside of Grand Blvd. is "new" Detroit.

The true "downtown" boundaries lie somewhere within Grand Blvd. and really isn't defined.


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## dave8721 (Aug 5, 2004)

Pretty easy in Miami. I would say its the area covered by the Metromover. It forms a loop from around SE 16th Street and Brickell (by the Four Seasons), west to near I-95 and North to about NE 16th Street by the new Performing Arts Center.


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## mhays (Sep 12, 2002)

gruber said:


> *No city has a clearly defined "dowtown area/CBD*
> 
> who's the brilliant mind that wrote that?
> 
> ...


edsg25 is pretty much correct. You're thinking of a different concept. 

A "downtown" in US terminology isn't defined by political boundaries. It's basically the densely-built district in the middle of town. It's up to the individual or separate interest group to define where the boundaries are. 

I've traveled quite a bit and never seen a place where the definition is certain, including Europe. Try drawing a line around "downtown" London! There are a million possible ways.


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## ProgHouseHead (Oct 24, 2005)

mhays said:


> edsg25 is pretty much correct. You're thinking of a different concept.
> 
> A "downtown" in US terminology isn't defined by political boundaries. It's basically the densely-built district in the middle of town. It's up to the individual or separate interest group to define where the boundaries are.
> 
> I've traveled quite a bit and never seen a place where the definition is certain, including Europe. Try drawing a line around "downtown" London! There are a million possible ways.


No, it's easy. The "city of London", the square mile, is easily comprable to the down town of any US city.


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## spxy (Apr 9, 2003)

ProgHouseHead said:



> No, it's easy. The "city of London", the square mile, is easily comprable to the down town of any US city.


Not exactly, unless downtown is only a financial district , downtown London includes most of the west end as well, which is full of offices and shops and government buildings, the "square mile" is just the main financial district.


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## Justme (Sep 11, 2002)

mhays said:


> edsg25 is pretty much correct. You're thinking of a different concept.
> 
> A "downtown" in US terminology isn't defined by political boundaries. It's basically the densely-built district in the middle of town. It's up to the individual or separate interest group to define where the boundaries are.
> 
> I've traveled quite a bit and never seen a place where the definition is certain, including Europe. Try drawing a line around "downtown" London! There are a million possible ways.


You are 100% right. Europe is no different in this area to the U.S. or any other country for that matter. 

A downtown area is dynamic and changes as the city grows.


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## Justme (Sep 11, 2002)

ProgHouseHead said:


> No, it's easy. The "city of London", the square mile, is easily comprable to the down town of any US city.


No, not in any definition of "downtown" that I see most commonly used. The downtown area also includes the main shopping area's as well as the adjoining business area's. A great deal of businesses in central London are spread between the city and West End.


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## RafflesCity (Sep 11, 2002)




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## sharpie20 (Nov 5, 2005)

san diego


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Central District, Hong Kong


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## wanderer34 (May 1, 2005)

The downtown in Phila, as we like to call Center City, started out at the west bank of the Delaware River in 1682, when the city was founded. William Penn laid out the city in a grid pattern with five squares, but the original downtown was from 6th St to the Delaware River. The place were Phila City Hall now stands used to be a cow pasture until 1871, when they built the structure. The original defining boundaries of Center City were from the Delaware to the Schuykill, and from Vine to South. Now the current boundaries are from Washington and Girard and University City and CC have become connected to each other with the erection of the Cira Centre. In the future, there will become skyscrapers in UC on the west bank of the Schuykill.


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## FREKI (Sep 27, 2005)

Copenhagen - Denmark


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## KGB (Sep 12, 2002)

Toronto's downtown has two very obvious borders...the lake on the south and the Don Valley on the east. 

The northern border is a little less obvious, but still somewhat of a physical barrier (ravines and railway corridor), which makes it follow Bloor-Davenport-Dupont.

The western border is where it gets iffy. The city has an official downtown border for the west, which is Bathurst north of Queen St and Dufferin south of Queen St. But on the street, it's not something you can tell, as the city looks very similar heading west towards High Park. 
Someone else can show an aerial of that area with the lines drawn on it if they want.







KGB


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## DarkFenX (Jan 8, 2005)

Boston:


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## hngcm (Sep 17, 2002)

Downtown SD- San Diego bay is our south/west border, I-5 to the north, and 10th Avenue to the East.


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## philadweller (Oct 30, 2003)

Center City is the darker grey portion of the map.


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## Nick in Atlanta (Nov 5, 2003)

RafflesCity said:


>


Is downtown just the blue area or is the area that has "Central Business District" also part of downtown?

Also, where is the stock exchange located?


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## npinguy (Apr 15, 2004)

Vancouver Downtown:


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## Tina From Taihape (Sep 27, 2004)

*Auckland has a very defined city centre:*


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## Mr Bricks (May 6, 2005)

Any maps of London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid.....etc?


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## Fallout (Sep 11, 2002)

I would say this is downtown of Warsaw:


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## SE9 (Apr 26, 2005)

Ive attempted this city (I tried my best  ) :











*Red District* - This is what I've circled as the centre of the city. It basically follows the Congestion Charge limit, but I expanded it to include Hyde Park and the area immediately to the south.
*
Blue District* - South London. This is made up of SE and SW postcodes. It does not include the SW postcodes north of the Thames (like SW1), as places like Chelsea and Downing Street are not South London.

*Orange District* - East London according to postcode.

*Yellow District* - West London according to postcode.

*Green District* - North-West London according to postcode.
*
Sandy Brown District* - North London according to postcode.


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## SE9 (Apr 26, 2005)

Thats a "zoom-in" of the picture above.

When drawing, I tried to Include: Hyde Park, Liverpool Street Station and Paddington Station.

I tried to exclude: Pimlico, Aldgate East...

I drew a dotted line around Regent's Park, as it and London Zoo are usually considered central.


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