It's not like in US cities where you have a downtown, inner core, city centre or whatever you call it. But how would you mark the boundary that separates your city's centre and its suburbs. Which areas in your city would you consider the city centre or inner core or which areas would you consider suburb?

http://www.weltrekordreise.ch/flags-maps/hk_map.jpg

NOTE: This is an old map but this is the only one I can find with a good sample :)

In HK for example, I consider the yellow area in the map to be the city centre. Areas outsides the yellow area are considered suburbs or "new towns".

How about your city?

I need a clear deffinition for what you consider "city center" before I can do Copenhagen..

Actual city continues for many kms in many districts outside of what is called "city center" here..


In the meanwhile heres a pic of where I think the "city" ends and the suburban style residential housing begins...

http://i24.tinypic.com/jrtus9.jpg

I need a clear deffinition for what you consider "city center" before I can do Copenhagen..

Actual city continues for many kms in many districts outside of what is called "city center" here..

This one is pretty complex. Usually the place I consider city centre is the traditional or historic core (including the CBD). Other than that, it can also consider the place where business, civic, economic and cultural activity are centred. The areas within the city centre are usually the most vibrant areas.

The areas I consider suburban are usually "new developments" especially those that have sprouted in the recent decade. These "development" can be residential, commercial or industrial.

Hmm... that still makes the districts of Copenhagen hover in mid air... they are normally 200-100 years old and has both commercial, industial and residential uses - they are densely populated and do also pack clubs and pubs - a downtown they are not.. but I guess the suburbanites would consider it "city center" or atleast something close enough for the deffirnition :)

I guess my first map fits the bill close enough..

Inside red line is the city centre,between red and blue line are the outskirts of the city,outside of blue is...outside.
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/9556/ghjyr3.jpg
This one is pretty complex. Usually the place I consider city centre is the traditional or historic core (including the CBD). Other than that, it can also consider the place where business, civic, economic and cultural activity are centred. The areas within the city centre are usually the most vibrant areas.

The areas I consider suburban are usually "new developments" especially those that have sprouted in the recent decade. These "development" can be residential, commercial or industrial.
We have no CBD,suburbs are outside city limits(blue line).

Edmonton (yes, North American), the city centre is determined by the old boundaries of Edmonton before it started amalgamating: 111th Avenue from 124th Street to River and 124th Street to the river.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g215/lordmandeep/sdfdsf-1.jpg

It's not that easy for many european cities, because the transition from city centre to suburbs is fluent. Here is what I tried with Hamburg.
http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/4355/hamburgzonespi2.jpg

white line: municipal border (in Hamburg's case also the state border)
Red circle: city centre
yellow circle: central (inner) suburbs. They are often vibrant, have good public transport and high density.
blue circle: port and adjacent industry area
green, dotted circles: rural area, farmland
everything else within the municipal area: suburbs

the mayor decided that the city ends by the motorways. It makes some sense, since that is a barrier built in the plain. the border was supposed to make the city denser especially undeveloped areas and protect the villages and countryside, but there's significant construction in the villages.:ohno:

my town
http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/2056/povoaorgjc6.jpg

For travel purposes, London is divided into zones. The city centre is Zone 1 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travelcard_Zone_1). Everything outside is generally considered suburbs.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/London_Underground_Zone_1.png

For travel purposes, London is divided into zones. The city centre is Zone 1 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travelcard_Zone_1). Everything outside is generally considered suburbs.

That means, Canary Wharf is not within the city centre?

That means, Canary Wharf is not within the city centre?

Correct. It's in Zone 2.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/London_Underground_Zone_2.png

When I see, as some of the major cities expand, so are their city centres. Los Angeles is an example as the city's centre is extended beyond downtown.

Canary Wharf is in zone 2, so it is not in Central London. London's centre can be considered to be the City of London, which was the original settlement. Perhaps add the City of Westminster to it these days.

For Hong Kong, the yellow areas are not the only city centre areas. The posh residential areas on the south side of Hong Kong Island are definitely not suburban. Suburban is more geared towards the New Territories, which is partially due to historic and urban planning reasons. The New Territories were additional land leased by the British and used by the colonial government to decentralize the population through the new town policy, which is effectively a suburbanization trend.

It's not exactly clear-cut in North American cities either. There is a lot of overlap.

Check out my small burg for example.

Everything in the black is downtown core, and urban neighborhoods are inside the blue. Everything outside the lines is either suburban or primarily industrial. I live near the boundary of being outside the urban area.

This does not correlate with city limits. There are a lot of "suburban" areas inside it, primarily on the Northwest and Southwest sides. On the other side, I added some places inside the urban core that are actually part of the suburbs, because of the fact that they aren't even suburban, like East Hartford center...which looks like any normal major area in the city.

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n101/rotten777/clu3220.png

London:


http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/732/londondiagramwb4.png


In transport terms, the blue area would be Zone 1, yellow area Zones 2 & 3, and the pink area zones 4-6.

Zones 2 & 3 (yellow) are inner suburbs, because although they're predominantly residential areas, they're different from normal suburbs in being much more busy and lively. Anything after Zone 3 (pink) is where the line between London and the rest of England begins to blur, in my opinion.



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http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/758/baui3.jpg

A simple one, I traced out the cit boundaries of SF, SJ and Oakland, of course there are areas within city limits that feel more suburban (almost all of SJ, for example) but common usage around here refes to the city limits anyway.

London:


http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/732/londondiagramwb4.png


In transport terms, the blue area would be Zone 1, yellow area Zones 2 & 3, and the pink area zones 4-6.

Zones 2 & 3 (yellow) are inner suburbs, because although they're predominantly residential areas, they're different from normal suburbs in being much more busy and lively. Anything after Zone 3 (pink) is where the line between London and the rest of England begins to blur, in my opinion.



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That Inner-London ring is to small in South London.... it extends into Zone 4 in some parts.

Canary Wharf is in zone 2, so it is not in Central London. London's centre can be considered to be the City of London, which was the original settlement. Perhaps add the City of Westminster to it these days.


I would agree that Canary Wharf is not in central London, but London's city center is certainly more than the square mile. The best definition is zone 1. When I go to Oxford Street to shop, I don't feel like I'm in the suburbs, I'm certainly in the city center.

Where to mark the boundary between your city's centre and its suburbs
Psst, for a citylocked 'burb, you draw the boundary all around the latter's edge....

That Inner-London ring is to small in South London.... it extends into Zone 4 in some parts.

ZONE 4??!

Admittedly, I don't know South London as well as I know the rest of London, but I certainly wouldn't define areas like Eltham, Morden and Penge as "inner London" by any means. To me the boundary runs roughly along Putney, Wimbledon, Streatham, Crystal Palace, Catford and Woolwich. Once you go beyond there, things start to get a little quieter and less London-like.

In fact looking all over West, North and East London too, it's really hard to find anywhere in Zone 4 that i'd describe as being Inner London. I'll admit that I probably drew the boundary on the map a bit too small in places though, it wasn't supposed to be completely accurate, just a rough estimate.

It doesent automaticly become the suburbs. I would have to say after the houses start to become more recently constructed, alot of suburbian shopping areas and strip malls pop up, and when you need an auto to get around.

It doesent automaticly become the suburbs. I would have to say after the houses start to become more recently constructed, alot of suburbian shopping areas and strip malls pop up, and when you need an auto to get around.

Most major US cities apply to that. But with the case of LA its completely different.

LA for example has different urban centres. Not all of the city's social, cultural and economic activity is concentrated in Downtown LA. In fact, LA has the descriptions you mentioned in its city centre.

When I see it, LA's city centre or central core stretches from Downtown LA up to Santa Monica which is an independent city under LA County. Areas such as Hollywood, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Marina Del Rey, West LA, Century City, Bel Air and so on are included here.

In Paris the official limit is pretty clear, both physically and in the people's perseption. It's the "peripherique" around the administrative city of Paris

http://www.meridon.com/images/plan-general.png

It's the central ring road on this map

http://www.paris.fr/portail/viewmultimediadocument?multimediadocument-id=26275


However, if you stop taking into account social perception and only concentrate on the real urban border between the urban and the suburban, than this border is much further away, because many suburbs beyond the peripherique up to a certain distance are actualy part of the urban area's center on many account. They are dense, they are economically very develloped, sometimes more than the city of Paris itself (the obvious example here is La Défense), in many cases during the day, there are more people going in than going out.

This one is pretty complex. Usually the place I consider city centre is the traditional or historic core (including the CBD). Other than that, it can also consider the place where business, civic, economic and cultural activity are centred. The areas within the city centre are usually the most vibrant areas.

The areas I consider suburban are usually "new developments" especially those that have sprouted in the recent decade. These "development" can be residential, commercial or industrial.

Pretty hard appliable definition for a city like Vienna.
Old blocks (about 100 years old or older) spread out to the very border of dense city scape. I would guess at least half of all Viennese live within that area.

Classical suburbian style stuff you seem to have in mind, is pretty much concentrated to Transdanubia (the other side of the danube) and the very south of the city.


But principally Vienna is clearly organized. The 1st district is enclosed by the Ring where all imperial monumental buildings are located along it. The first district, the Ring and the "inner districts" are the inner city, which is clearly enclosed by the Gürtel (Belt). Dense neighborhoods continue however beyond the Gürtel.

There are however a number of dense urban development within those borders of the inner city or right next to it within dense neighborhoods. Thats new but in no way its suburbian...