Civic center

For specific places named Civic Center or Civic Centre, see Civic Center (disambiguation)

The Denver Civic Center

A civic center or civic centre (see "American and British English spelling differences") is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, the term "civic center" has been used in reference to an entire central business district of a community or a major shopping center in the middle of a community. In this type of civic center, special attention is paid to the way public structures are grouped and landscaped.

In some American cities, a multi-purpose arena is named "Civic Center", for example Columbus Civic Center. Such "Civic Centers" combine venues for sporting events, theaters, concerts and similar events.

Notable civic centers

• Tallahassee Civic Center
• Mid-Hudson Civic Center
• San Francisco Civic Center
• Honolulu Capitol District
• National Mall
• Civic Center, Denver
• Florence Civic Center
• Ottawa Civic Centre
• Hartford Civic Center
• Providence Civic Center
• Peoria Civic Center
• Millennium Park
• Cumberland County Civic Center
• Los Angeles Civic Center
• Saint Paul Civic Center

Civic centers in the UK

In most cases civic centers in the UK are a focus for local government offices and public service buildings. With reforms of local government in London in 1965 and across England in anticipation of the implementation of the Redcliffe-Maud Report in 1974, a number of local authorities commissioned new civic centers sometimes funded by disposing of their 19th Century Town Hall buildings. Sir Basil Spence was responsible for designing three of these civic centers:

• Hampstead Civic Centre, which was only partially completed; and of which only the Swiss Cottage Library (1964) still exists.^[1]
• Sunderland Civic Centre (1970).^[2]
• Kensington and Chelsea Civic Centre (1977).^[3]

Other noteworthy civic centers include:

• Barking and Dagenham Civic Centre at Becontree Heath (1937).
• Newcastle Civic Centre (1967).
• Southampton Civic Centre (1932).
• Newport Civic Centre (main building 1940, clock tower completed 1964).
• Civic Centre, Swansea (opened in 1982 as the County Hall)

References