A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains of one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, the term "civic center" has been used in reference to an entire

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

of a community or a major

shopping center A shopping center in American English, shopping centre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, spelling differences), shopping complex, shopping arcade, ...

in the middle of a community. In this type of civic center, special attention is paid to the way public structures are grouped and landscaped. In some American cities, a multi-purpose arena is named "Civic Center", for example Columbus Civic Center. Such "civic centers" combine venues for sporting events, theaters, concerts and similar events. In Australia, a civic centre can refer to a civic precinct, a show or meeting venue, or can also be used as a brand of

Shopping Centre A shopping center in American English, shopping centre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, spelling differences), shopping complex, shopping arcade, ...

Notable civic centers

India

* Delhi Civic Centre

North America

* Berkeley Historic Civic Center District * Cleveland Civic Center * Civic Center, Houston *

Seattle Center The Seattle Center is an entertainment, education, tourism and performing arts center located in the Lower Queen Anne, Seattle, Lower Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. Constructed for the Century 21 Exposition, 1962 W ...

* Forest Park, St. Louis * Columbus Civic Center * Miami Health District * Tallahassee Civic Center * Mid-Hudson Civic Center * San Francisco Civic Center * Honolulu Capitol District *

National Mall The National Mall is a Landscape architecture, landscaped park near the Downtown, Washington, D.C., downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institu ...

* Denver Civic Center * Lee County Civic Center, FL * Florence Civic Center *

Ottawa Civic Centre TD Place Arena, originally the Ottawa Civic Centre, is an indoor arena located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Opened in December 1967, it is used primarily for sports, including curling, figure skating, ice hockey, and lacrosse. The arena has hos ...

Hartford Civic Center Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 census. Hartford is the most populous city in the Capitol Planning Region and the core city of ...

Providence Civic Center The Amica Mutual Pavilion (originally Providence Civic Center and formerly Dunkin' Donuts Center ("The Dunk")) is an indoor arena located in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. It was built in 1972, as a home court for the Providence College Fr ...

Springfield Civic Center The MassMutual Center (formerly Springfield Civic Center) is a multi-purpose arena and convention center complex located in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts, United States, in the city's Metro Center. The arena opened in 1972 and the conventio ...

Peoria Civic Center Peoria Civic Center is an entertainment complex located in downtown Peoria, Illinois. Designed by Pritzker Prize winning architect Philip Johnson and John Burgee, it has an arena, theater, exhibit hall and meeting rooms. It opened in 1982 and c ...

* Richard J. Daley Center, formerly Chicago Civic Center *

Millennium Park Millennium Park is a public park located in the Chicago Loop, Loop Community areas of Chicago, community area of Chicago, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The park, opened in July 2004, is a prominent civic center near t ...

Cumberland County Civic Center Cross Insurance Arena (formerly Cumberland County Civic Center) is a multi-purpose arena located in Portland, Maine. Built in 1977, at a cost of US$8 million, it is the home arena for the Maine Mariners (ECHL), Maine Mariners of the ECHL. There a ...

Los Angeles Civic Center The Civic Center district of Downtown Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, is the administrative core of the City of Los Angeles, County of Los Angeles, and a complex of city, county, state, and federal government offices, buildings, and court ...

* Saint Paul Civic Center * Evansville Civic Center Complex * New York City Civic Center * Marin County Civic Center After the

amalgamation of Toronto The amalgamation of Toronto was the creation of the city limits of Toronto, Ontario, Canada after amalgamation (politics), amalgamating, annexation, annexing, and merger (politics), merging with surrounding municipalities since the 18th century ...

in 1998, five of the six municipalities in the former

Metro Toronto The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was an Regional municipality, upper-tier level of municipal government in Ontario, Canada, from 1953 to 1998. It was made up of the Old Toronto, old city of Toronto and numerous townships, towns and vill ...

used the Civic Centre name in referring to their respective city halls before its abolition. * East York Civic Centre * Etobicoke Civic Centre * North York Civic Centre * Scarborough Civic Centre * York Civic Centre

United Kingdom

In most cases civic centres in the UK are a focus for local government offices and public service buildings. The Cardiff Civic Centre is probably the oldest and best preserved civic centre in the UK. With the reforms of local government in London in 1965 and across England in anticipation of the implementation of the

Redcliffe-Maud Report The Redcliffe-Maud Report (Cmnd.4040) was a 1969 command paper report from the Royal Commission on Local Government in England, under the chairmanship of Lord Redcliffe-Maud. The commission was formed in 1966 to examine the structure of local go ...

in 1974, a number of local authorities commissioned new civic centres sometimes funded by disposing of their 19th Century Town Hall buildings. Sir

Basil Spence Sir Basil Urwin Spence, (13 August 1907 – 19 November 1976) was a Scottish architect, most notably associated with Coventry Cathedral in England and the Beehive in New Zealand, but also responsible for numerous other buildings in the Moderni ...

was responsible for designing three of these civic centres: *''Hampstead Civic Centre'', which was only partially completed; and of which only the Swiss Cottage Library (1964) still exists. *'' Sunderland Civic Centre'' (1970). *''Kensington and Chelsea Civic Centre'' (1977). Other noteworthy civic centres include: *''Barking and Dagenham Civic Centre'' at

Becontree Heath Becontree Heath (also spelt Beacontree Heath) is an open space in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. The name has also been applied to the local area, in particular to the RM postcode area, RM8 postal district. History Becontree Heath f ...

(1937). *

Southampton Civic Centre The Civic Centre is a Seat of local government, municipal building located in the Cultural Quarter area within the city of Southampton, England. It comprises offices occupied by Southampton City Council, the SeaCity Museum, the Southampton Guil ...

(1932). * Newport Civic Centre (main building 1940, clock tower completed 1964). * Plymouth Civic Centre (1950–1962), Devon, Architect Hector J W Stirling. *

Newcastle Civic Centre Newcastle Civic Centre is a civic center, municipal building in the Newcastle Haymarket, Haymarket area of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Designed by George Kenyon, the centre was built for Newcastle City Council in 1967 and formally opened by K ...

(1967). * Civic Centre, Swansea (opened in 1982 as the County Hall)

China

* Shenzhen Civic Center * *

Pakistan

* Karachi Civic Center

Romania

* Bucharest Civic Centre

References

{{Developments Urban studies and planning terminology Town squares Local government Neighbourhoods