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Central business district

A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city centre" or "downtown". However, these concepts are not necessarily synonymous: many cities have a central business district located away from its traditional city center, and there may be multiple CBDs within a single urban area. The CBD will often be highly accessible and have a large variety and concentration of specialised goods and services compared to other parts of the city. In Chicago, the Chicago Loop is the second-largest central business district in the United States. It is also referred to as the core of the city's downtown. Mexico City also has its own historic city center, the colonial era "Centro Histórico", along with two CBDs: the mid-late 20th century Paseo de la Reforma in Polanco, and the new Santa Fe, respectively. Russia's largest central business district is the Moscow International Business Center in Moscow. The shape and type of a central business district almost always closely reflect the city's history. Cities with strong preservation laws and maximum building height restrictions to retain the character of the historic and cultural core may have a CBD quite a distance from the city centre (and in some cases, outside the city limits itself). This distinction is quite common in European cities such as: London, Paris, Moscow, Vienna, Prague and Budapest. The New World grew quickly after the emergence of modern transport, therefore a single centre often included many of the region's tallest buildings and served as both a commercial and cultural city centre. In the 21st century, increasing urbanisation has led to the development of megacities that often have multiple CBDs scattered across the urban area. Downtown sections of cities, especially in North America, often are distinct from CBDs and city centres. No two CBDs have the same spatial shape, but there are certain common geometric patterns, which are largely a result of centralised commercial and industrial activities.

City status

City status is a symbolic and legal designation given by a monarch, national or subnational government. A municipality may receive city status because it already has the qualities of a city, or because it has some special purpose. Historically, city status was a privilege granted by royal letters of patent. Sovereigns could establish cities by decree, e.g. Helsinki, regardless of what was in the location beforehand. Also, with the establishment of federal governments, the new capital could be established from scratch, e.g. Brasília, without going through organic growth from a village to a town. Historically, British city status was often conferred on settlements with a diocesan cathedral; in more recent times towns apply to receive city status by letters patent at times of national celebration. Similarly, city status in Italy is granted by decree of the president (and before 1946 by the king of Italy) in recognition of historical, cultural or demographic merit. In the United States city can be used for much smaller settlements. The government of China in 1982–1997 upgraded many counties to cities by decree, thereby increasing their city count from 250 to more than 650 during this period. Almost 15% of the counties in China became cities. The new "cities" may include large rural areas as well as urban areas. The upgrade was considered desirable by local governments because the new status provides additional powers of taxation and administration, the right to expand the size of government, and an increase in the proportion of land which could be converted from agriculture to buildings.

City centre

A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is used mainly in British English, and closely equivalent terms that exist in other languages, such as "centre-ville" in French, Stadtzentrum in German, or shìzhōngxīn (市中心) in Chinese. In the United States, the term "downtown" is generally used, though a few cities, like Philadelphia, use the term "Center City" or "City Center".