Problems with the Central Business District
A problem in the world’s most CBDs is that the volume of traffic caused air pollution and was a danger to health and safety of shoppers and other pedestrians. Fortunately this problem does not apply to Vienna anymore. In the past it used to be a problem in Vienna too but the government acted fast and used certain precautions to end this problem. What they did was that they placed many different types of public transport like buses, trams and trains. These encouraged people to not bring their cars out to the first district and so pollution was reduced.
The government also came up with another solution and that was to increase the prices of parking in the first district. This discouraged people to use their cars in the CBD because they would have to pay a lot of money for parking. All these ideas helped and now there is almost no pollution in the CBD of Vienna. In most CBDs increasingly taller buildings were built to try and offset the high rates and rents that resulted from the high land values. This is a big problem in a city like Chicago or New York, where all the buildings are very high and have many small apartments.
This is not a big problem in Vienna though because the government does not allow people to build houses which are taller than the roof of stephansdom, and so there are no tall buildings in Vienna’s CBD. Although there aren’t many very tall buildings, the land prices are very high and that results in not many people living in the first district. A major problem in most CBDs is that larger shops moved out and re-located on less congested sites in either old inner city area or on the rural urban fringe.
This problem leads to not having many large shops in the city and also many shops will be forced to move. This is also a problem in Vienna’s CBD since many large shops and department stores like furniture and carpet shops were forced to move out of the CBD and go to other locations outside the city to the old inner city part and many shops like electrical shops were forced to move to rural urban fringe parts of the city. Another problem which is similar is that smaller shops like butchers and groceries were also forced to close down because of the city becoming increasingly expensive.
This made many people change jobs or go bankrupt. This is still a problem in the first district of Vienna as more and more small shops close down and large shops move out and the government can’t do anything to stop this. Another major problem in some CBDs is that the city centers were not planned modernly and carefully and so they do not consider peoples economical, social and environmental needs. This is not at all a problem in the CBD of Vienna since there are many parks, shops, offices and other entertainment facilities like restaurants, bars, cinemas and clubs.
This could be a big problem in the CBD of LEDCs since the cities were not so carefully planned like the CBD of Tehran which has this major problem. In Vienna the CBD has many parks like the burggarten and other small parks to help the people’s environmental needs. There are also many different shops and offices in the first district which are the economic parts of the CBD and of cores there are many social facilities like cinemas, bars and clubs where people can meet. The CBD of Vienna can fulfill all economical, social and partly environmental needs of any citizen.
In many city centers, there is a large need for change. There should be typical changes occurring like reducing traffic congestion and pollution. This can be done in various ways. One is to make better public transport like buses and trains to the CBD and another way to do it is to place pedestrian zones in the CBD in the most crowded part of the city. This will make the visitor a much pleasant environment and will encourage more people to come to the CBD. Pedestrian zones are also a solution for segregating shoppers and traffic. Pedestrian zones solve two problems by just doing making one change.
It’s like the old saying “hitting two birds with one stone”. If these pedestrian zones are placed well and have some nice decorations to it, then it makes the CBD a more pleasant and safer place too, but placing a couple police stations around would also do well. These will all attract more people and the economy will have a good boost. Improved technology has encouraged home shopping and reduced the need for offices to be centrally located. This would decrease traffic a lot and would bring the prices in the CBDs down since there will be more buildings for homes.
It would also make a lot easier for some people like old people who do not have the power to come out and do their shopping. It would also bring the shop prices down because the demand of shops will decrease. This change is good for people but not so good for shop owners and land developers. Doing so will also open up a lot of areas in which leisure amenities. These leisure amenities could be restraints arcade centers and for night amenities, they could become bars, clubs and cinemas. This will make the CBD more interesting and will make it busy through the night as well as through the day.
These changes will make the city more fun and amusing for the younger generation and would make life easier for the older. In many countries, the city centers have had to undergo several changes in an attempt to reduce the loss of shops, hotels, and offices to out of town locations. The first and most important change which occurred was the creation of pedestrian zones. Pedestrian zones are mostly either traffic free or they allow limited access to delivery vehicles and public transport. A case of these pedestrian zones in Vienna is the Karntner Stra?e and the Graben.
Both of these places are pedestrian zones but in Karntner Stra?e only delivery trucks are allowed and that’s only in the morning before 10oclock but in graben some public transport buses are allowed to trespass. In the past cars have been allowed to go through both these places but now to reduce and accidents and to increase safety , the government has transformed these streets to pedestrian zones. Another development in worlds most CBDs which was , was the invention of shopping malls. Now in most CBDs there are many shopping malls but in Vienna’s CBD there are not many shopping malls.
In Vienna most shops are by the streets and are not in one building, although there are a few exceptions where more than one shop is in one building like the steffel building which has many different brands on sale. Vienna’s CBD is unlike most CBD and has small shops rather than large shopping malls. This style of shops is what makes the CBD of Vienna very unique and unlike any other city. In the past years the demand for a relaxing atmosphere in the CBDs has increased and governments have tried to provide sitting areas, planting flowerbeds and shrubs and adding small areas of grass.
Other methods are providing cafes with outside tables and employing more staff to make sure the place is clean and undamaged. The city of Vienna has almost done all of these things. They have certainly provided many cafes, bars and restraints with outside tables like in the Karntner Stra?e and they have planted many trees and flowers in the streets like around the Ring strasse. They have also tried to make some areas of green and flowers. The CBD of Vienna has been through many changes in the past and is still changing.
There have been many good changes and a few bad changes. The making of a long pedestrian zone where most the CBDs famous shops are, was a very good change and reduced a lot of traffic and pollution and made the CBD very pleasant and relaxing. Making a good public transport go through the city also decreased a lot of traffic and made it easier for people to go around the CBD and do their job. There are still many problems too in the CBD ad those will have to change soon, like the modernization of the buildings in the first district and the widening of some main streets.
The CBD of Vienna is very interesting and has many amenities like cafes and parks for during the day and cinemas, restraints, bars and clubs for the nights. The CBD of Vienna has become very unique and is good for every age. It includes many large sidewalks and many pedestrian zones. The government of Vienna has made the CBD of Vienna very easy to get around and has also made it very relaxing and that’s why in my opinion it has become one of the world’s best Central Business Districts.
