Abstract:
The District Centres are envisaged to serve as a climax of multi-nodal activities of the community, providing the city with a hub of mixed use activities, including commercial, retail and community facilities. It is a place, which brings all the necessities of daily life to the neighbourhood. They also effect the decentralization of the city centre into a number of smaller business centres to avoid congestion in the heart Of the city and also to provide mixed zoning of the sub- districts of a city.
District centres constitute a variety of buildings types, from corporate offices to mixed-use office buildings with retail shops, hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, entertainment retail, community facilities, and public service. They also serve as places for the community together, and serve as a public space.
They support the commerce of a city and offer significant contributions towards its economy. They create a variety of jobs concentrated at one place and attract a large number of people for different purposes, such as business, shopping, entertainment and community gathering. They also form the infrastructure of a city by providing utilities such as petrol pumps, police station, fire station, clinics, post office and other government offices all at one place.
Thus, the district centres can be seen as a very integral part of a growing city, providing it with all the necessary facilities at one place and sustaining the neighbourhood. Proper planning of a district is a matter of prime concern for the planners of the city as they form a centre of commerce, shopping and entertainment at the same time. Proper attention is needed towards issues such as parking, pedestrian movement and segregation of traffic to create a meaningful public space which can be used by the whole community.
