Searching for the Center: A New Civic Role for the Central Business District in China

The central business district (CBD) has become the economic powerhouse of contemporary cities. China’s economic transition from world factory to a knowledge-based economy underpinned the development of hundreds of CBDs over the course of less than two decades. The plans promoted land use diversity and the incorporation of service facilities in the support of business function, but a rather different service environment emerged. Taking the Futian CBD of Shenzhen as the prototypical case, we examined the distribution, vitality, uses, and users of these facilities, which are largely built up by the private sector and without governmental support. A questionnaire sent to users and data derived from social media reveal that the vast majority of visitors of these service facilities do not work in the CBD and travel via the reformed mass transport system to this location. The high-quality public spaces and street environment, as well as the numerous service facilities, many of which are at a low economic order, attract people from all over the vast city, which homes over ten million, highlighting a new role for the CBD as a civic center. In contrast with the globalized business sought after by government and business leaders of the CBD, a new populist nexus is emerging and without significant support.