Dear Tom,

I understand how you feel because these terms are often used for mixed
meanings.  Hopefully as an American planner I can offer some helpful
suggestions.  

The terms up-town, mid-town, and down-town relate more to the geography
of a specific city (such as Manhattan) than to technical planning terms.
"Downtown" refers to low numbered streets, often in the historic centre
of town, while "uptown" refers to high numbered streets (like 4th Street
versus 152nd Street).  But they often carry socio-economic implications
as well and can be suggestive of the types of land-uses in each area.

In general, "downtown" refers to the central business district (CBD) and
is roughly akin to the City here in London.  Skyscrapers, financial
institutions, and often government offices in the case of many US
cities.  Most American cities don't really have a "midtown", but this
could be thought of as the medium density, lower rent offices, light
industrial, entertainment / service oriented parts of town, often with
some housing.  Finally, "uptown" tends to be where all the posh folks
live in expensive old flats.  It is near the city centre, has high end
retail, etc.  Kind of like Kensington, except that most US cities don't
have neighbourhoods that posh!

All of these are different from suburbs, which tend to be dominated by
single family, free standing residential ranch houses.

Hope this helps!

Noah



-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Dine [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: 02 November 2004 10:28
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: down town guy


Dear All

It might seem a silly question, but can anyone help me with the terms
up-town, mid-town and down-town, which I find in a lot of American
literature.

I know that down-town is used for the commercial centre of the city,
which seems paradoxical for the most expensive property.

But what about the other terms?  Do they have any spatial significance
(like suburb / centre)?  do they refer to land-use (housing, industrial
etc)? or do they refer to social class / economic status?

thanks   Tom

 Thomas Dine
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