CITY LIFE; streets, people and places, buses and cars, Sydney Central Business District

The Sydney central business district (CBD and also referred to as the City), is the main commercial centre of Sydney, Australia. It extends southwards for about 3 kilometres from Sydney Cove, the point of first European settlement. 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 Gardens and Farm Cove on Sydney Harbour in the east; to Darling...
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The Sydney central business district (CBD and also referred to as the City), is the main commercial centre of Sydney, Australia. It extends southwards for about 3 kilometres from Sydney Cove, the point of first European settlement. 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 Gardens and Farm Cove on Sydney Harbour in the east; to Darling Harbour and the Western Distributor in the west.

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 Gardens and Wynyard Park. George Street is the Sydney CBD's main north-south thoroughfare. The streets run on a slightly warped grid pattern in the southern CBD, but in the older northern CBD the streets form several intersecting grids, reflecting their placement in relation to the prevailing breeze and orientation to Circular Quay in early settlement.

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 tunnelled). Bridge Street, took its name from the bridge running east-west that once crossed this stream. Pitt Street is the retail heart of the city which includes the Pitt Street Mall and 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.
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