CHAPTER - IX CENTRAL AREA Issed before the cause of the growth of the metroy lis is the proliferation of the specialized services in the dustrial revolution era -- services called for the diversified, specialized and ever-increasing industrial ducts owing to the use of continuously advancing science and technology. Services concer first, the products or goods to be traded far and wide and secondly, the people to trade ince they are concerned with the goods, the marketing for the same grows at a central location admist the everal industrial areas producing them. And because they are concerned with the people, the market for trade of joods grows at the heart of the resident population, Market grows at the centre of population, several other{contact functions/serving the people also grow and ate inthe central location. Included among these contact functions are the institutional and personal servic >-government and administration, the symbolic and representative activities, managemer ‘ation, records, communication, education arid health services and a host of cultural and 5 the city expands the marketing activities are again diversified into retail trade, wholesale trade, storages, ercial, financial and professional offices, transport agencies, etc. Serre cece entralized location for trading is essential the transport cost of the goods and produces fram the iction centres to the market. The market there levelops ata location where the centrality or accessibility atanymomentis the highest. Centrality induces further centrality by inviting further service activities, andthe central ing them becomes h a ach activity competes with each other activity 'emand of land increases, and so soars up the land price. Roads are crowded and central area epitomizes the essence of the metropolis : mutual accessibility. attracts particularly those tions that serve the metropolis as a whole and those that require a considerable amount of close interpersonal ‘Contact. The most conspicuous occupant of the center is diversified retail business : large department stores and Specially shops. It is surpassed in importance, however, vy the closely interrelated complex of business services lat occupy the giant office buildings characteristic of the central area of a metropolis : the headquarters of ofporation, financial institutions, and public administration and the professionals, who serve them, such as , accountants, and organization engaged in promotion and public relations. Aiso groupedinthe centralarea withthese two categories of services are various supporting establishments, including eating and drinking places, s, job printers and many others., risingly, surveys show that, in spite of the recent proliferation of new office skyscrapers in the center of cities, ize of the working population in the central areas of the largest American metropolies has not actually increased 1e past 30 years. Toronto, asmaller and newer metropolis, shows the same constancy inthe! inbeteeie Kers duting the past 13 years. The explanation lies simply in the fierce competition for and the ising cost has caused an outward movement of those functior af can conveniently telocaie, nef out. Housing in the main moved out long ago : manufacturing and warehousing have tended to follow Su 67 Scanned with CamScannerand some of the routine business services that gs vf t retail trade, :so.has a conta their cents have also moved to Le iat eee! way tem te ane _ tinuous contact Wi fe this spatial separ . ona ear ‘of communication riper has provided bases of support there forlarge shopping oenton “ purchasing power in the perip : department stores. be part of th it ‘hange in the direction of ¢ undergoing a qualitative cl a, Cente oe maintaining stabilty in quantitative terms. The forces othe, Tet snot much bass forthe widespread fear thatthe mayne th ie “All ofthis indicates that the higher order functions and atthe same i act to control overcrowding of the center. choke itself to death by uncontrolled growth CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT lation andthe industry ofthe metropolitan areaitsel as elasthoyy, hserve the popt a is ara func sae toall “The central location is thus essential for two groups of establishments fn i ible from all sides, including financial i re unique in the area and must be accessil lg ae en ary culttal establishments; and second, allthose which are linked othe first group, suenax a and printers. But ofthe fist group, a selected few activities form the Central Business District. It essentially concems thy ‘commercial and business establishments, and is therefore a part of the central area. Normally the commercial establishment can compete the non-commercial ones in their bidding cap of higher rent for accommodation in their chosen locations and hence they tend to occupy the core of the cent area, that is location of highest accessibility. The non-commercial central functions tend to grow around te business area. Butitis not always true thatthe central business district will necessarily be atthe heart ofthe central area, Whee the non-commercial activities grow more to one side of the commercial ones due to topographic, land avalabily, access or similar reasons, the C..D. may be quite eccentric to the central area, though still a part of it, ’ How far does the CBD extend ? Commercial and business activities extend ‘over the entire central area, Butts | extension is not always uniform as mentioned earlier. From the centre of gravity of the central commercia establishments as one extends outwards, the intensity of commercial use reduces continuously untl a dsare tnereatte the share of commercial use toallthe central uses become 60% or less. This may be considered ‘| thelimit of extension ordetiniation ofthe C-B.D, though jcommerce may stil extend farther. Here residential activites ~and open spaces are not taken into consideration, The unit of space for consideration ic here e plot. Inthi i n the sane ah eercerae is calcuatedonthebasis ‘ofthe floor area developed torthe centralestablshme" Consideration is here also apt bat exc et Supporting areas and related parking, The unit of spa Plot; but sometimes a block may also be considered as the unit. ? Scanned with CamScannerie PLANNING ELEMENTS OF CENTRAL AREA ‘The Major Land Uses ‘The major land uses to plan wit several attributes lke intensity of ofthe establishment, hour of operatio i lure, accident. proneness, ingress and egressof user fuk loading andunloading requirements, mover perunitinvestment of running capital andrent-paying capacity etc, Each of these attributes: isnot fully independent of each other and there are chances of multiple-counting which has to be avoided or eliminated, e broad land uses in the central area of a metropolitan area merge as : er unit area etal Trade Group : is includes those activities in which actual purchase by individuals in_small amounts and seling by the establishment are conducted or allkinds of goods, from food articles to apparels, and cosmetics toelectranie goods inthe shops and markets. Departmental stores are included, and so are the specialty shops. Amusement Group : Thisincludes those establishments which are primarily for audio-visual amusements -- commercial ike cinema and ‘T¥.,cuttural ike theatres, social Ike fairs and exhibition, and the others lke bars, restaurants, eating houses, etc Commercial Residence Group : ‘Tis goup incorporates all residential activities that run on commercial ines, mainly the hotels of different grades ‘ndtacilties etc, that may include indoor spaces for large congregation, meeting, seminar and conference facilities, on rental basis, and the institutional residences like a circuit house, rest house, guest house, etc, Commercial Offices Group : Gracamises the merchantle ofc including share broker, rading centres, stock exchange, auction agencies, lambers of Cor ‘commercial exhibition, show rooms, commercial institutions on market research, brogramming, book Kees unt 9. ping recording, speculation and real-estate transaction, etc. Road a book keeping, accountin 3. specula ‘Yansportagencies, shipping agencies, prvatefinancialinstiutions, eneralinsuranceetc,theprofessionaofies, 69 Scanned with CamScannerNY ver roost agencies er Te hea apg vx ets Oreo Uren “xy ctsymboke vate to Parlament House tg, do High Court and other ecu eh stations, telephone exchango ata” a ings dealin with nance lke customs, exis, government buikdings dealing he maya be induded the Museum, Art Gallary, Infomation cen Lb beon oa Metopoanereancue tailing and de, ad lactis baceryandpactogasengel Wholesale Trade Group: Wile some ofthe wholesale busines transaction may be conducted inthe marchantie or commerciale \helesaetrade group comprises thebusness transaction ofcespace ofthe remaining ones andthel stp warehouse faites for the goods of rade, ‘Genera ocatedn the periphery lth centralcaethe wholesale storage and wharehousing wilincude soap {opin machines puns, generators, tol and equipments, hardware and building mater ptr ser yaan tensincudingmedcne,medcal andengineeringinstruments, ee. electcal oats se Hourehot equipments and goods, statonaries, papers, ote metropolitan areasmayhappentohavesto and whole sel rains, fits andvegeat oh amet mat ee ane 820s andnhoe selingoloodgans, ts central areas as a continuation since baunnal = | bake lrg erly Wit include the storages and warehousing under diferent names, it rer rea erm i ls neta meng and tuck ein at [ ‘Ses, restaurants, etc. * oo 70 Scanned with CamScannerquand use Relationships _uoaslanduseeationship dependes primaly on (athe needs of good jes movement from one landuse to the other, ‘goods flow from one land use to the other, sr of operation of the land use att, () caer veces Steg dlink, (e) money Now (cd) varies wth the size and bulk oft moving at atime that determines the ype cfochele snainar atone inal needs. The pattern of movement of the people determines their number and dietarce cove en erent movedby public transport, pedestrain routes, as wellasprivateveicis tke care eel cctonehertnns vivee wheeleers, and their parking needs ike cars, and automatedtwo pater Hi bee people and goods whi th central area from one patto another assumesincreasing portance for @ lue to the sheer extent of the space i i pratt extend over mere than 2193, tls Buti gue erway mersocet ete mle mary metropoltan areas. For smaller urban areas, itis normally he rterialroadsthat connectthe different parts ofthe city centre with the regional routes, and the pattern of developments largely influenced by the pattern and ative importance of the arterial roads, But for a gaint urban complex lke a metropolitan area, the central area sfbeing so large, the secondary roads serving the different land uses between the aiterials or inter-connecting assume far greater importance. In several cases it may be advisable to have separate movement system thecentral area, allother intra-regional or metro-pertiphery to core movementbeing estrictedatthe periphery the central areaitself, This has also been attempted in few Western metroplises with varying degrees of success, The land use pattern that develops in the central area can be schmatically presented as follows (Fig, p-201). tis noted that none of the above landuses tend tobe confined within one unified areain the metropolian core. They fe distributed. The most extensive distribution is normally the retain trade, followed by the commercial offices and musement activities. But since commercial offices normally correspond}othe largest contactfunctions, they have jenerally the highest rent-paying capacity and they occupy the costliest land, The density is highest here for lercial offices many of which tend to develop as a large concentration at the costliest land at the Metro-core vel and at the points of higher accessibilty at other levels. reasons for the activities to concentrate in the central area is mutual accessibilty, as mentioned eariier. This mined principally by the peoples frequency of movement from one land use to another both for the cients eneral public as well as the functionaries. A higher frequency of this movement may lead to mix of land uses en within the same premises, both vertically as well as horizontally. This inte-actvity movement appears to be ment, retail and public buildings, between amusement and hotels, between these land uses that certain mix is found to be more rient if within a limit than complete isolation or separation and/or random mix of the land uses. Factor mining this desirable mix are nat fully known. Butthe general circulation patter ofthe pedestrian, private cars, transport and trucks movement, andiothe extent conficts among pedestrians trucks and other vehicles can inated by separate rights of way or by time-zoning, dohave profound influence in determining the mixot land Within the same premise in the central area. maximum work trip is generally concentrated to the commercial offices and government offices (public 9s) during short peak periods in the morning and evening, bu the non-work trp is more concentrated in the asusement, hotels and other public buildings over aprolonged period betweenthe peak periods, or thereafter eis negligible movement between light industry and heavy ‘commercial, and almost all movements to and from olesale trade, in particular the storages and warehouses, tend to be limited to ruck movements Scanned with CamScanner eo ——Population 10000 20000 50000 100000 250000 s00000 1 2 5 10 milla milln—milln mili iw 23 33 43 79 147 «623341484507 12 26 47-76 181-342 66412501800 Not known n Space in Central Area re appears to be no pattern of the provision of open space in the central area in particular, as the urban area fs one milion population. A large number of metropolitan areas in the world are devoid of any open space ircore areas, while others do have. New York, Tokyo, Washington, San Fransisco, Moscow, London, Peking, De Genero and in india, Calcutta, Bangalore and New Delhi belong to the group to metropolis having a central spate, while Toronto, Stalingrad, Leningrad, Gorki, Hmburg, Budapest, Detriot, Chicago, Lahore, Karachi, in India. Kanpur, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, etc. do not have any central open space worth the name. ral cases the occurance of a sizeable water body near the core of the metropolis has reduced the need of fsionof open spacestherein, e.g., Mitvaukee, Boston, Vanconver, Istanbul Alexancria, Victoria, and Bombay, in india, Planning and Design Considerations Concept : There! schools fthough inthe planning design ofthe centralareaof ametropols thane oncallsnunng tos sean larea bein sharp contasttothe surrounding areas, thatis, the edges OE a oa inated and defined; wih the defied areas urban design concepts and elements ike nodes, landmarks, districts and the pathways can be clearly articulated so as.to_render, @j_ visual effects and throbbing of aciviies and liveliness, ‘The other school of thought focusses attention to the edges ofthe central area gradualy rising due to 75 Scanned with CamScanner0 oA dynamic ¢ sate the unforeseeable changes, readily allow for mixed land uses, adg Hvabi cz, Oe uaisaion oe uttes and senees and provisions This school consid! egg) according to some pre-conceived inflexible mould as is assist Heegeey aivof the central area both horizontally and vertically; this ral activities {concent i ineffcent, impractical and dsasttous. The inflexible mould eat et thee ity than due on the public sector for investment, much large land Oversee Sovslepment controls that shy away the private sector. The dynamically changing centr hese insurmountable problems and accommodate all possible changes j ral area oe avercome th Wal aaa ot economic levels and cultural patterns. luding tag! technology in weaity, however, both the approaches may be found applicable with diferent degrees of th, large'y found inthe great many cases of metropolitan areas allover the world. For metropottan tia > also capital cites, the capital activities may be developed into a district or complex which neh nantconcept Moscow, Washington Peking Paris and New Delhiete. follow asomer) ot pattern. Though they are not strictly edge dominant, but the government activites curve yg nist od spaces within ther central area where new additions of buildings and government acts ore easily made to comply with the pre-conceived design. But the area of throbbing busy-negy commerce, trade, entertainemnt, communication and contact, etc., are definitely much more dyna,” fast-changing. They make the large share of metropolitan functions and they cannot be fully pre-coneas {and prescribed well ahead of ime. tis here where the dynamically changing concept s appicatie edge-don Systems - a Technique approach The Central area is considered viable so long as it fulfils the requirements of several systems to ope simultaneously. It is necessary to consider the efficient transportation system for passanger on foot: wheels, as well as those of goods both within the central area and between central area and non-certs locations, With this transportation system technique, the open-space technique will examine atleast tet notto build during the planning period. .The capital networkstechnique will be focussing atthe areasofptic action and capital improvement needs programmes that should be necessarily kept low. The pubic technique can be arrived at by suitable zoning still complying with the real estate economic forces 7 earmarking the type and amount of anticipated future activities at a specific location while mainlaés functional inter-relationships. Only thereafter physical design technique may start in which indivti# building techniques may be applicable to identify individual structures that can set place in the develope of surroundings, make room for contrast to relieve the monotony, determine the texture and solids andvoS | and spell out vertical zoning of mixed land use areas. The entire process may have to be repeatedsr | times tll each ofthe systems and theirtechniques are complied with oran optimised solution arivedatet | them. The physical design technique will be required to consider the process of urban growth and nr and also the compliance with the scale -- both human and technological. The speed of ™ | People, both on vehicle and on foot will have to be considered in both the physical design techni | individual building technique in their micro-level and macro-level scales. ‘The final design and plan will be required to be clearly expressed in terms of zoning that ae statement of purpose and intensions, the selt of permissible complementary land US@S, iy Gevelopment outlines in terms of F.A.R., set back, building hights, the vertical zoning Of 84° st of mixed uses, the circulation end parking needs and landscaping, and similar other requit rary oe k al | f wince | areas of public action that together siiould offer adequate flexibilities within which great Scanned with CamScannershould be possible to cope up with the dynamics of change of the central area of an advancing modern metropolis. The key note of the imageabilty of the central area of a metropolis is not in the impression of a ‘atic physical space, but in the spontaneous clarity in the perception ofits dynamic changes with time and physical extents. Scanned with CamScanner