Center formation

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Center formation or city ​​formation refers to the process of developing the functional area of ​​the inner city (also city ) in a city , which is characterized primarily by a functional change .

With the onset of industrialization , a change took place in the Central European cities. A high demand for labor combined with a demographic change in the rural population led to an increase in the urban population. This led to increased demand (due to the increased population) and increased purchasing power (due to increased employment ). This resulted in the displacement of residential use by commercial as well as further use in the tertiary sector in certain areas of the cities and thus the formation of the functional space of the inner city (city).

The formation of a center usually started where historical approaches existed. For example, the area around the Münsterplatz in Bonn has developed from a medieval monastery settlement in the area of ​​the Münster to a central square in today's inner city, where mainly department stores with high space requirements have settled. Other areas of the inner city in Bonn as well as in other German cities used to be the locations of various markets or the town center with the homes and workplaces of craftsmen and merchants .

Center regression can also be observed in some cities. In Gera, for example, the district administration with numerous offices, authorities and subordinate institutions was located in the inner city during the GDR era . After the reunification this sector broke away and the administration was concentrated in the state capital Erfurt. As a result, numerous former administration and service buildings in the center are empty. A conversion back to residential use is costly and difficult to implement in such cases. The result is vacant administrative complexes or (after their demolition) fallow areas in the city center. Similar developments can also be observed in other large cities in Eastern Germany, from which administration and services were withdrawn after 1990 and could not be compensated for by new settlements.

See also

swell

  1. ↑ Heinz Heineberg , plan general geography: urban geography . 2nd edition, 2001, p. 161.
  2. ↑ Heinz Heineberg, plan general geography: urban geography . 2nd edition, 2001, p. 48.