The CBD acts as the main perhaps the most important part of a city, where the centre of a city's business is found together withits commercial activities, forming the core.

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The CBD acts as the main perhaps the most important part of a city, where the centre of a city's business is found together with

its commercial activities, forming the core. Large cities such as London may have more than one CBD and may have

experienced a decentralisation of offices and relocation of retailing. However many large cities do suffer many problems

particularly on the trade front even in the pollution point of view. It has the greatest concentration of traffic which in itself acts as

a major problem. However there are other issues acting as just of importance, especially to people most affected. We can see

quite clearly, that there is nowhere near as much trade as there used to be in certain towns mainly due to the 'outer town

shopping centres'; for example in Canterbury- much of its trade is taken away by stores such as PC World or Curry's, even the

supermarkets which are becoming a regular occurrence in almost all cities. However the larger cities are not affected as much,

but still trade is not like it used to be. However we still see the packed London or Manchester. The shopping centres, for

example Lakeside, draw people in from the nearby towns, the trade now concentrated there not in the CBD where it should

be. Offices also are built on the urban fringes, which once again act as a problem in terms of trade as well as a loss in economic

wellbeing. However many people prefer the city centre to the nearby super store, there is little they can now do about it. The

huge companies have 'stolen' their trade leaving the smaller ones little to do. The shops, or the Central Business District on the

whole, are left with relatively little money and leads to its eventual breakdown. The people's money is spent in Tesco's for

example, not in the city, so drastic changes have to be taken in some cases. Perhaps the main problem that shops face in the

CBD is the fact that there is little way to compete with the bigger shops/stores. However larger shop which are situated in the

CBD, for example Marks and Spencer in Canterbury, do bring trade in. Because of this, more of the larger shops are

encouraged to develop in particular cities in order to combat the problem of the outer town stores.

Combating the Problems

Many cities today face the problems listed above, and the news of new commercial shopping areas can only bring bad.

However Canterbury is a good example, like many other cities around Britain, in that is trying to solve the problem. As I have

said before, up until recently trade in Canterbury hasn't been too bad until the recent opening of, for example, Curry's and even

a new McDonalds in the Sturry estate. Despite this problem, the council is setting up the 'White Friars' plan which tries to help

the problem of lack of trade. Even at the moment, the plan is under action, redeveloping the areas particularly to the north of the

city (i.e. near to Ricemans). It hopes to do away with Ricemans completely, redesigning it like many other shops nearby who

suffered the post war development.

That was another problem many cities faced. After the war, when many commercial areas were destroyed, poorly built, yet

substantial buildings were erected to replace the damage which occurred. Of course this did not only happen to Canterbury- all

over Britain, post war development took place. Now when we look at the buildings, we generally get the idea that they are very
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ugly, something that a city does not want. This is one of the reasons why people shop elsewhere. Continuing, the White Friars

Development scheme will demolish nearly all those effected by the previous development, instead building shops, which on the

whole look nicer. Hopefully, by doing this, the cities should restore the trade which previously they had once lost. The plan also

hopes to leave the shopping stores on the outskirts of the city improving the actual CBD, therefore drawing people in. The old

look has once again come in fashion. The shop Gap ...

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