ABSTRACT
The spatial pattern of commercial activity inside the city continues to be dominated by a concentration of the largest and most important business establishments in the main centre, or central area, or central business district (CBD). Throughout the rest of the urban area there seems to be a rather haphazard arrangement of mainly retail activities grouped together in different kinds of business configurations. These configurations appear to be particularly numerous and irregular in form in the inner city, when they are much more isolated and physically compact in the suburban fringe (Figure 5.1). The differences that might be perceived in terms of their size, age, shape and functional character are mainly an expression of underlying differences in locational processes at work. They have also been affected by special historical circumstances, including the degree of planning control involved, and variations in the influences of individual companies and the clientele which they serve.
