What is "civic center"

1. n. a center where the members of a community can gather for social or cultural activities [syn: community center]

2. the center of a city [syn: municipal center, down town]

A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains 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 of a community or a major shopping center 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, Civic Centre is used as a brand of Shopping Centre.

Civic Center is a light rail station operated by Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. The station is located in San Jose, California, on 1st Street just north of Mission Street. Civic Center is served by both the Alum Rock–Santa Teresa and Mountain View–Winchester light rail lines.

A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center.

Specific places include the following:

The Civic Center is a mostly governmental district in downtown Cleveland, Ohio that is home to the 1916 erected Cleveland City Hall Building. The 1925 Cleveland Public Library main branch, the 1976 massive Cuyahoga County Justice Center, the 419 foot Anthony J. Celebrezze Federal Building (named after the 1953-1962 popular Cleveland Mayor), the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland (one of only twelve in the US), the historic Cuyahoga County Courthouse, the Cleveland Public Hall, the Howard M. Metzenbaum U.S. Courthouse which butts Public Square, and the city owned greenspace Willard Park which is home to the Free Stamp.

The district is also the site of the headquarters of the Cleveland Division of Police, the historic Standard Building is located across St. Clair Avenue from the CPD HQ, the highest hotel in the state of Ohio, the 374 foot Hilton Cleveland Downtown Hotel, the new Cleveland Global Center for Health Innovation which is the home to the largest medical mart in the country, the ultra-modern Cleveland Convention Center which is connected to the renovated Public Hall, and the Cleveland Metropolitan School District old Board of Education Main Building all the area in common.

The Civic Center is bound to the east by the Nine-Twelve District, to the north by North Coast Harbor, to the south by Public Square, and to the west by the Warehouse District. Running through the center of the district is the Cleveland greenway The Mall. In this regard the district is pretty much landlocked. The mall also hosts the impressive Cleveland War Memorial.

Civic Center (Chinese:市民中心) is a government building Shenzhen, China. It is located within the Futian Central Business District and was constructed at a cost of CNY 2.172 billion. It contains, among others, a museum, a historical archive, a conferences room with a capacity of 2500 and government offices. It is 84.7 meters tall. A feature is the roof of the building, which spans 486 meters and has a width of 154 meters. The roof is meant to represent the wings of a mythical bird similar to a roc named Dapeng , which is also the name of the Dapeng Peninsula and a district in Shenzhen. The architect is Li Mingyi and it was built by the Shenzhen QiXin Construction Group Co., Ltd. Constrution started in late 1998 and was completed in May 2004.