The city centre is no longer the most obvious place within the urban hierarchy of business districts. A bad accessibility, a lack of parking possibilities, high rents and a lack of capacity are the most important causes. Other locations on the edge of the city or just outside of it, are in a lot of cases a better alternative. These relatively new developments are a threat for the city centre. This may even cause a process of downgrading of the city centre. By matching the features of the function (retailing, offices, culture and leisure) and the location, the right function should be located at the right place. In this case, complementarity or even consolidation should be the ultimate aim. In such a situation, one should always take advantage of the strengths of the city centre, because of the fact that this part of town determines the identity of the whole city region. Variety, multi-functionality and atmosphere are in this case good examples. (A)
Samenvatting