ABSTRACT
A central business district (CBD, particularly called “downtown” in North American cities) is the commercial and often geographical heart of a city. Originally, a CBD refers to the central place within a city where all key business activities, such as transportation, trading, and retailing are concentrated (Burgess 1925). Although the most important business functions of a city are located in the CBD, manufacturing and residential areas tend to be located in the peripheries surrounding the CBD. This spatial structure is determined by the mechanism of the land use market in which activities that could afford higher land prices are located in a more central locality of a city. Hence, a specific spatial structure of concentric circles will evolve and form over time (Hoyt 1939). As the city matures, the more obvious the concentric circle structure becomes.
