2.1.9 Expanding the Central Area

admin — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:31:06 +0000

To raise the city’s profile, several things need to happen. The plan must offer chances for high-quality offices and shops in the central area to expand and for the city to carry on holding important international events in modern, high-quality venues. It must also allow for culture to develop, including the idea of using the city itself as a gallery; for the city’s academic and research profile to be raised; and for businesses and specialist activites to be set up and developed. It must also do something that is not so easy to plan for, which is aim to create or increase the things that make the city interesting, exciting and varied. So the central area will spread out, and there will be an area around it that will have a mixture of city centre and more local activities, shown on Figure 5.2. The questions later on in this report ask you what you think we can do in the city centre to let us achieve these goals:

one of the most important cities in the world for business and high value commercial operations
important in arts and culture
a leader in making and using digital technology
a source of research, development and new enterprise from our universities
a profitable and growing environment for new high technology and green industries
famous for its entertainment and leisure facilities
shopping and town centre services and surroundings that are suitable for one of the most important cities in the world
the right conditions to develop creative and fringe activities
very good open spaces and public places (such as parks and squares)
nice city centre surroundings where a variety of people live, especially families
a city that is easy to get to and around with good transport and stations and that is good for telecommunications (such as phones, internet and cable services)

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2.1.9 Expanding the Central Area