An entertainment district is a type of arts district with a high concentration of

movie theater A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

s or other entertainment venues. Such areas may be officially designated by local governments with functional zoning regulations, as well as public and private investment in distinctive

urban design Urban design is an approach to the design of buildings and the spaces between them that focuses on specific design processes and outcomes. In addition to designing and shaping the physical features of towns, cities, and regional spaces, urban de ...

Partial list of entertainment districts

Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of ...

, Las Vegas, Nevada *

Broadway (Nashville, Tennessee) Broadway is a major thoroughfare in the downtown area in Nashville, Tennessee. It includes Lower Broadway, an entertainment district renowned for honky tonks and live country music. The street is also home to retail shops, restaurants, dessert ...

, Nashville, Tennessee *

San Antonio River Walk The San Antonio River Walk is a city park and special-case pedestrian street in San Antonio, Texas, one level down from the automobile street. The River Walk winds and loops under bridges as two parallel sidewalks lined with restaurants and shop ...

, San Antonio, Texas * 17 Avenue SW, Calgary, Canada * Quartier des Spectacles, Montreal, Canada * Calgary Entertainment District, Canada *

South Edmonton Common South Edmonton Common is one of Canada's largest retail power centres, and when it will be completely developed, it will spread over and contain some of retail space, making it one of the largest open-air retail development in North America. T ...

, Canada *

Ice District Ice District is a $2.5 billion mixed-use sports and entertainment district being developed on of land in Downtown Edmonton and a portion of the neighbourhood of Central McDougall. Its main attraction is Rogers Place, the home arena of the Edmonto ...

, Edmonton, Alberta *

Old Strathcona Old Strathcona is a historic district in south-central Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Once the commercial core of the separate city of Strathcona, the area is now home to many of Edmonton's arts and entertainment facilities, as well as a local s ...

, Edmonton, Alberta *

Granville Entertainment District The Granville Entertainment District is a neighbourhood in Downtown Vancouver known for its vast assortment of bars, danceclubs, restaurants, nightlife, and urban adult oriented shops and entertainment. The entertainment district centred on a s ...

, Vancouver * Hohenzollernring, Cologne *

St. Pauli St. Pauli (Sankt Pauli; ) is a quarter of the city of Hamburg belonging to the centrally located Hamburg-Mitte borough. Situated on the right bank of the Elbe river, the nearby Landungsbrücken is a northern part of the port of Hamburg. St. ...

with

Reeperbahn The Reeperbahn () is a street and entertainment district in Hamburg's St. Pauli district, one of the two centres of Hamburg's nightlife (the other being Sternschanze) and also the city's major red-light district. In German, it is also nickn ...

, Hamburg, Germany *

Bermudadreieck ''Bermudadreieck'' or ''Bermuda3Eck'' (Bermuda Triangle) is the designation for an area in the center of Bochum, Germany, with a high density of bars and restaurants, bounded by (clockwise from top) the streets Südring, Brüderstraße, Kortumstra ...

, Bochum, Germany *

Toronto Entertainment District The Toronto Entertainment District is an area in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is concentrated around King Street West between University Avenue and Spadina Avenue. It is home to theatres and performing arts centres, the Toronto Blue Jays ...

, Canada * Te Aro Entertainment District, Wellington, New Zealand *

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develop ...

, London, England *

The O2 The O2 is a large entertainment district on the Greenwich peninsula in South East London, England, including an indoor arena, a music club, a Cineworld cinema, an exhibition space, piazzas, bars, and restaurants. It was built largely within ...

, London, England *

Bukit Bintang Bukit Bintang (; stylised as Bintang Walk or Starhill, the latter being a translation of the Malay language, Malay name) is the shopping and entertainment district of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It encompasses Jalan Bukit Bintang (''Bukit Bintang ...

, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia *

Blok M Blok M is a business and shopping quarter located in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, Indonesia. It runs east from Iskandarsyah street to Bulungan street in the west. North from Falatehan street to Melawai street in the south. The development is sim ...

, Jakarta, Indonesia * Kings Cross, Sydney, Australia *

Kabukichō Kabukichō ( ja, 歌舞伎町, , ) is an entertainment district in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. Kabuki-chō is the location of many host and hostess clubs, love hotels, shops, restaurants, and nightclubs, and is often called the "Sleepless Town" (, , ...

, Tokyo, Japan *

Shibuya Shibuya ( 渋谷区 ''Shibuya-ku'') is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. As a major commercial and finance center, it houses two of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shinjuku Station (southern half) and Shibuya Station. As of April 1 ...

, Tokyo, Japan *

Ikebukuro is a commercial and entertainment district in Toshima, Tokyo, Japan. Toshima ward offices, Ikebukuro station, and several shops, restaurants, and enormous department stores are located within city limits. It is considered the second largest ...

, Tokyo, Japan *

Shinjuku Ni-chōme Shinjuku Ni-chōme (新宿二丁目), referred to colloquially as Ni-chōme or simply Nichō, is Area 2 in the Shinjuku District of the Shinjuku Special Ward of Tokyo, Japan. With Tokyo home to 13 million people, and Shinjuku known as the nois ...

, Tokyo, Japan *

Shinsaibashi is a district in the Chūō-ku ward of Osaka, Japan and the city's main shopping area. At its center is , a covered shopping street, that is north of Dōtonbori and Sōemonchō, and parallel and east of Mido-suji street. Associated with Shins ...

, Osaka, Japan *

Sōemonchō is an entertainment district in Chūō-ku, one of the wards of Osaka, Japan. The district borders on two other entertainment districts, Shinsaibashi to the north and Dōtonbori to the south. Sōemonchō has a high concentration of bars, resta ...

, Osaka, Japan *

Amerikamura Amerikamura (also America mura; アメリカ村, ''American Village'') is a sizable retail and entertainment area near Shinsaibashi in the Chūō-ku district of Osaka, Japan. It is usually referred to by locals as "Ame-mura". Amerikamura is a ...

, Osaka, Japan *

Umeda is a major commercial, business, shopping and entertainment district in Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan, and the city's main northern railway terminus (Ōsaka Station, Umeda Station). The district's name means "plum field". History Umeda was historical ...

, Osaka, Japan * Dōyama-chō, Osaka, Japan *

Susukino is a red-light district in Chūō-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan. It is one of the major red-light districts in Japan along with Kabukichō, Tokyo, and Nakasu, Fukuoka. Currently, the district is congested with many restaurants, bars, hotels, and ...

, Sapporo, Japan *

Lan Kwai Fong Lan Kwai Fong (often abbreviated as LKF) is a small square of streets in Central, Hong Kong. The area was dedicated to hawkers before the Second World War, but underwent a renaissance in the mid-1980s. It is now a popular expatriate haunt in ...

, Hong Kong

Cause and effects of entertainment districts

Entertainment districts have economically helped downtowns and cities thrive through development of various businesses that attract tourism and commerce. As entertainment districts tend to create crowds, facilitation and management by police is required to promote safety and regulation. The main source that requires police interaction in the entertainment districts are the nightclubs and bars that may promote intoxication and lead to miscreant behavior. Police and security deal with behavior consisting of bar fights, overcrowding, and public urination. The requirement of regulation and maintenance of these areas are important for the safety of the individuals utilizing and benefiting from the entertainment districts.

References

Neighbourhoods by type {{Planning-stub

Partial list of entertainment districts

Cause and effects of entertainment districts

See also

References