Sydney central business district

The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or city centre is often referred to simply as "Town" or "the City".

The Sydney CBD is Australia's main financial and economic centre,^[2] as well as a leading hub of economic activity for the Asia Pacific region.^[3] 40.7% of businesses in the CBD fall within the ‘Finance and Financial Services’ or ‘Professional and Business services’ category.^[4] It is ranked overall #16^[5] in the 2024 Oxford's Global Cities Index and amongst the top 10 cities in the Human Capital category.^[6] Approximately 15% of Sydney's total workforce is employed within the CBD.^[7] In 2012, the number of workers operating in the city was 226,972.^[8] Based on industry mix and relative occupational wage levels it is estimated that economic activity (GDP) generated in the city in 2023/24 was approximately $142 billion.^[9]

Culturally, the city centre is Sydney's focal point for nightlife and entertainment, and is also home to some of the city's most culturally significant buildings and structures.^[10]

Sydney's history begins in prehistoric times with the occupation of the district by Australian Aboriginals, whose ancestors came to Sydney in the Upper Paleolithic period.^[11]Radiocarbon dating suggests that they lived in and around Sydney for at least 30,000 years.^[12] Sydney Cove from Port Jackson to Petersham was inhabited by the Cadigal clan. The principal language groups were Darug, Guringai, and Dharawal.^[13] The modern history of the city began with the arrival of a First Fleet of British ships in 1788 and the foundation of a penal colony by Great Britain. The area surrounding Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) was home to several Aboriginal tribes. The "Eora people" are the coastal Aboriginal people of the Sydney district. The name Eora simply means "here" or "from this place", and was used by Local Aboriginal people to describe to the British where they came from.^[14]

After arriving to Botany Bay, Captain Arthur Phillip decided that the area was not suitable since it had poor soil, no secure anchorage and no reliable water source.^[15] Thus, the fleet moved to the more suitable Port Jackson where a settlement was established at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788.^[16] This date later became Australia's national day, Australia Day. The colony was formally proclaimed by Governor Phillip on 7 February 1788 at Sydney. Sydney Cove offered a fresh water supply and Port Jackson a safe harbour, which Phillip described as: "being without exception the finest Harbour in the World".^[17] With the expansion of European settlement large amounts of land was cleared for farming, which resulted in the destruction of Aboriginal food sources. This, combined with the introduction of new diseases such as smallpox, caused resentment within the Aboriginal clans against the British and resulted in violent confrontations.^[18]

The oldest legislative body in Australia, the New South Wales Legislative Council, was created in Sydney in 1825 as an appointed body to advise the Governor of New South Wales. The northern wing of Macquarie Street's's Rum Hospital was requisitioned and converted to accommodate the first Parliament House in 1829, as it was the largest building available in Sydney at the time.^[19] In 1840 the Sydney City Council was established. Australia's first parliamentary elections were conducted for the New South Wales Legislative Council in 1843.^[20]

Macquarie set aside a large portion of land for an Anglican Cathedral and laid the foundation stone for the first St Mary's Catholic Cathedral in 1821. St Andrew's Anglican Cathedral, though more modest in size than Macquarie's original vision, later began construction and, after fire and setbacks, the present St Mary's Catholic Cathedral foundation stone was laid in 1868, from which rose a towering gothic-revival landmark.^[21] Religious groups were also responsible for many of the philanthropic activities in Sydney. One of these was the Sydney Female Refuge Society set up to care for prostitutes in 1848.^[22] An academy of art formed in 1870 and the present Art Gallery of New South Wales building began construction in 1896.^[23] Inspired by the works of French impressionism, artists camps formed around the foreshores of Sydney Harbour in the 1880s.^[24] The Romanesque landmark Queen Victoria Building (QVB), designed by George McRae, was completed in 1898 on the site of the old Sydney markets.^[25]

In the midst of World War I, on Valentine's Day, riots racked the CBD, in what has come to be known as the Central Station Riots of 1916.^[26] A substantial segment of the violence was concentrated in the Central area. These riots involved five thousand military recruits who refused to comply with extraneous parade orders. During the riots, they caused significant damage to buildings. People with "foreign" names were especially targeted. The recruits clashed with soldiers, resulting in the death of Private Ernest William Keefe. Eight people sustained injuries. Because this incident occurred in the middle of the Great War the state discouraged media coverage. Only a fifth of the rioters were court-marshalled. These riots spurred the introduction of lockout laws for pubs after 6 pm. This law was only lifted in 1955.^[27]

The Sydney CBD is an area of very densely concentrated skyscrapers and other buildings, interspersed by several parks such as Hyde Park, The Domain, Royal Botanic Garden and Wynyard Park.

Geographically, its north–south axis runs from Circular Quay in the north to Central railway station in the south. Its east–west axis runs from a chain of parkland that includes Hyde Park, The Domain, Royal Botanic Garden and Farm Cove on Sydney Harbour in the east; to Darling Harbour and the Western Distributor in the west.

The CBD runs along two ridge lines below Macquarie Street and York Streets. Between these ridges is Pitt Street, running close to the course of the original Tank Stream (now tunneled). George Street is the Sydney CBD's main north–south thoroughfare. Bridge Street took its name from the bridge running east–west that once crossed this stream. Martin Place is the banking and commercial heart of Sydney^[28] whereas Pitt Street is the retail heart of the city and includes the Pitt Street Mall as well as the Sydney Tower. Macquarie Street is a historic precinct that houses such buildings as the State Parliament House and the Supreme Court of New South Wales.^[29]

Boundaries

The Geographical Names Board defines the area covering the central business district as the suburb named "Sydney".^[30] The formal boundaries of the suburb "Sydney" covers most of the peninsula formed by Cockle Bay in the west and Woolloomooloo Bay in the east. It extends north to Circular Quay, Bennelong Point and Mrs Macquarie's Chair, east to Woolloomooloo Bay and the eastern boundary of the Domain and Hyde Park, south to Goulburn Street just north of Sydney's Chinatown (Haymarket), and west to cover the Darling Harbour area on the western shore of Cockle Bay. However, it does not include the northwestern portion of the peninsula which includes the Barangaroo, The Rocks, Millers Point, Dawes Point and Walsh Bay area, which are formally separate suburbs grouped by the City of Sydney into the "small area" called "The Rocks - Miller's Point - Dawe's Point".^[31][32]

The City of Sydney defines the CBD as comprising two of its ten "villages" –CBD and Harbour Village & Chinatown and CBD South Village.^[33]

• CBD and Harbour Village is bounded by the shoreline of Port Jackson in the north, Lincoln Crescent, Sir John Young Crescent, The Domain and College Street in the east, Liverpool Street, Elizabeth Street, Bathurst Street and the Western Distributor in the south, and Darling Harbour in the west.
• Chinatown and CBD South Village is bounded by the Pyrmont Bay Wharf, Darling Harbour, the Western Distributor and Bathurst Street in the north, Elizabeth Street, Liverpool Street, Wentworth Avenue, Elizabeth Street and Chalmers Street in the east, Devonshire Street Tunnel, Lee Street and Railway Square in the south, and the railway line, Pyrmont Street, Murray Street and Pirrama Road in the west.

The postcode zone 2000 is also roughly correlative with the city centre.

行政的には、シドニーCBDはシドニー市の地方自治体の管轄下にある。^{[ 34 ]}ニューサウスウェールズ州政府も、特にProperty NSWを通じてCBDのいくつかの側面について権限を持っている。^{[ 35 ]}

ニューサウスウェールズ州議会では、「シドニー」選挙区は、市の中心部と内西部、南部、東部の郊外をカバーしています。無所属のアレックス・グリーンウィッチは、州議会と地方議会の二重所属を禁止する州法の導入により、シドニー市長であった前任の無所属のクローバー・ムーアが辞任したことを受けて行われた2012年の補欠選挙以来、シドニーの州議席を代表しています。^{[ 36 ]}

連邦議会では、「シドニー」選挙区は、市の中心部と、より広い範囲の内西部、南部、東部の郊外、シドニー湾の島々、ロード・ハウ島をカバーしています。オーストラリア労働党のタニア・プリバーセク議員は、 1998年のオーストラリア連邦選挙以来、シドニー選挙区の代表を務めています。^{[ 37 ]}

Sydney's CBD is serviced by interstate rail, suburban rail, urban rail, light rail, bus and ferry transportation systems.

Rail

Sydney's main commuter rail hub is Central railway station, which is located to the south of the CBD in Haymarket: it connects services for almost all of the lines in the Sydney Trains network, as well as being the terminus for NSW TrainLink country and inter-urban rail services. From Central, there is a largely-underground CBD rail loop, accessed in both directions via Central, which services five CBD stations (Town Hall, Wynyard, Circular Quay, St James and Museum). This is known as the City Circle. In addition, a separate underground line to Bondi Junction services an additional underground station, Martin Place.^[54]

The Inner West Light Rail passes immediately to the south of the CBD, connecting Central to nearby suburbs of Sydney's Inner West. The CBD and South East Light Rail runs north–south through the CBD, connecting Circular Quay with Central and the Eastern Suburbs.

シドニー中心業務地区（CBD）には、ガバナー・フィリップ・タワー、25マーティン・プレイス、ワールド・タワーなど、オーストラリアで最も高い超高層ビルが数多くあり、ワールド・タワーは主にアパートで構成されています。また、ジョージ・ストリートにあるオーストラリア・スクエア・タワー・ビルもCBDにあり、これは1976年まで市内で最も高い建物でした。2017年現在、最も高い建造物は、 1981年に完成して以来、シドニーのスカイラインを支配している高さ309メートル（1,014フィート）のシドニー・タワーです。2016年には、建物の高さ制限が235メートル（771フィート）から310メートル（1,017フィート）に引き上げられました。^{[ 56 ]}      

1970年代に緑地規制が導入され、オフィスや居住スペースの需要が高まって以来、シドニー中心部では文化遺産の保護が継続的な問題となっている。 ^{[ 57 ]}それ以来、CBDの著名な建物が数多く失われてきた。ジョージ・ストリートのアンソニー・ホーデン＆サンズ、同じくジョージ・ストリートのリージェント・シアター、マーティン・プレイスのコマーシャル・トラベラーズ・クラブとホテル・オーストラリアは、いずれもシドニー市民の怒りを買った。当時ブライ選挙区選出の国会議員だったシドニー市長クローバー・ムーアは、1988年にマーティン・プレイスで群衆に演説し、リージェント・シアターを差し迫った運命から救おうとしたが、無駄に終わった。

2021年の国勢調査では、シドニーCBDの人口は27,936人と記録されました。オーストラリア生まれの人はCBDの人口の22.3%を占めています。オーストラリア以外で最も多かった出生国は、中国12.7%、タイ12.6%、インドネシア11.1%、インド2.9%、韓国2.8%でした。アボリジニおよび/またはトレス海峡諸島民は人口の0.3%を占めています。^{[ 58 ]}留学生はシドニーCBDの居住者の32%を占めています。^{[ 59 ]}

文化的には、CBDの住民は多様な祖先を持ち、最も多いのは中国人30.8%、イギリス人13.6%、タイ人11.9%、オーストラリア人7.1%、インドネシア人7.1%です。宗教的所属も同様に多様で、最も多いのは無宗教38.0%、次いで仏教21.3%、カトリック12.9%、英国国教会3.5%です。住居の97.0%はフラットまたはアパートでした。2021年には、71.1%が賃貸で、25.1%が完全所有または住宅ローン付きでした。^{[ 58 ]}

• Media related to Central Business District, Sydney at Wikimedia Commons