Information Technology and Downtown Restructuring

The Case of New York City's Financial District

Bibliographic Data

ID11669751
AuthorsTravis Longcore (0000-0002-1039-2613, University of California, Los Angeles, corresponding author), Travis R Longcore, Peter W Rees (University of Delaware)
Year1996
Volume17
Issue4
Pages354-372
Publication date1996-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueUrban Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0272-3638 • E-ISSN: 1938-2847
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.2747/0272-3638.17.4.354
OpenAlexW2038955800
LanguageEN
Citations received20
References cited24

Among central-city land-use districts, the financial district traditionally has been the most locationally stable. Advances in building and business technology, such as steel frame contruction, the passenger elevator, and the telephone, have been accommodated through refitting existing sites. The changes in building technology required by modern, global financial companies, particularly the large horizontal footplates that exceed the size of traditional sites, have finally loosened the concentrated business district location. In downtown Manhattan, the result has been a doughnut shape, as large financial institutions have moved to the periphery, leaving Wall Street with back-office functions. The obsolescence of traditional locations imposed by a building technology that favors horizontal over vertical spaces may be offset by the perceived need for face-to-face contact. The degree to which financial institutions in world cities maintain a dispersed but identifiable district in the future may be an accurate measure of the value of urban propinquity

Business · Central business district · Downtown · Geography · Obsolescence · Restructuring · Transport engineering · Engineering · Global Urban Networks and Dynamics · Housing Market and Economics · Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis · Finance · Marketing