A commercial district or commercial zone is any part of a city or town in which the primary land use is commercial activities (shops, offices, and so on), as opposed to a residential neighbourhood, an industrial zone, or other types of neighbourhoods. In some cities, authorities use planning or zoning laws to define the boundaries of commercial districts.
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Terminology
English
In the United Kingdom, commercial districts that are primarily for shopping are called high streets. In North America, in smaller towns and cities there is often only one main commercial district, which is located on the main street. In larger cities and towns there may be multiple commercial districts, often with more specialized functions. If a city has one large central area of offices and professional buildings, this is called the Central Business District or CBD (term used especially, but not exclusively, in Australian and New Zealand English), or downtown (North American English). "CBD" and "downtown" usually refer to centrally located areas of a city and are of predominate importance within their city, which differentiates them from other commercial districts. If a city is home to a stock exchange or several bank headquarters, it will often have a specific financial district, sometimes within the larger CBD or downtown, sometimes separately. Likewise, city centre, is sometimes used as a synonym for CBD or downtown, but often the geographical centre of a city not a commercial district. Often the centre of a city in older cities is full of historic, institutional, or cultural areas.
Other languages
Most languages do not have a direct cognate for commercial district, but will have a related term such as the French quartier d'affaires ("business quarter"), or the Japanese shōtengai (literally, "commerce shop street").
See also
Related terms
- high street, main street
- Central Business District, downtown, city centre
- financial district
- shōtengai
Specific usage of "commercial district" as a name
- Boneyfiddle Commercial District, Portsmouth, Ohio, USA
- Broadway Theater and Commercial District, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Clematis Street Historic Commercial District, West Palm Beach, Florida, USA
- Ocala Historic Commercial District, Ocala, Florida, USA
- Titusville Commercial District, Titusville, Florida, USA
Other
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