Approaches to Analysis.

The conceptual approach to center-city problems is at least as important as are the methods employed in their study. CBD analysis is nothing if not purposeful, whether it is intended to support a public policy for conservation of tax revenues or to help business firms determine their locations, either within or near the center or at a distance from it. Whatever our intentions respecting the CBD, we must recognize that it is a vital component of the total urban structure, obeying certain “laws” of development and change, whether we understand these laivs or not. The CBD is not only the most intense concentration of activities in each metropolitan area, it is the heart and brain and prime mover as well, inseparable from the metropolis as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]