Many studies have been done on land use patterns in the CBD. In such studies the dominant use in each building is used to represent all the spatial use of the structure. However, the CBD is characterized by high-rise buildings where the spatial use may differ from one floor to another. The purpose of the present paper is to clarify spatial use in the core of Osaka's CBD called Senba. For this purpose, the author undertook field surveys on the floor use of almost all the buildings in Senba. Seventeen spatial-use maps were drawn by floor (B4F-13F) (see Figures 8 through 11).
Senba was a townsmen's residential district developed originally in the Toyotomi era (about 1590). Streets running from east to west were called tori or dori, and those from north to south, suji. Most shops kept their fronts on the tori, for the tori was the major street. Then Sakai-suji and Mido-suji were widened in the Taisho era (1912) and the Showa era (1937) respectively, forming the most important streets in Osaka City. Senba has developed as the economic center of Osaka, the second largest city in Japan, with the concentration of big companies along the three main streets (Mido-suji, Sakai-suji, and Tosabori-dori).
The results of this study are summarized as follows:
1. Many high-rise buildings are concentrated along the main streets, especially Mido-suji. However, off the main streets low and small Japanese-style wooden houses predom-inate even within the core in Osaka's CBD. This phenomenon is found along the narrow streets of suji and in the Yokobori district at the western edge of the study area (Figure 5). On the other hand, the buildings along the tori are generally larger than those along the suji. Such differences are mainly due to the original block shapes formed in the Toyotomi era.
2. In the Doshomachi district, parking lots have been provided in the buildings with the construction of higher and larger structures. Open-air parking lots also make use of many sites after low-story buildings are torn down (Figure 6). These open-air parking lots, however, are only temporary, for they are to be converted into new high-rise buildings in the near future. Therefore, the spatial use pattern in the CBD is taking a different form with the increase of parking space. The residential space is now decreasing, while the office and warehouse space are greatly increasing together with the parking space. This phenomenon signifies the transformation of the center of a large city from residential space to office, parking, and warehouse space, creating a population vacuum.
3. Some characteristics of the spatial use can be seen at the core in Osaka's CBD. There is a great difference in spatial use patterns between the area facing the main streets (Mido-suji, Sakai-suji, and Tosabori-dori) and the area surrounded by such streets. On the main street, financial offices such as banks, stock companies, and insurance companies are concentrated in high-rise buildings. Such buildings are occupied almost entirely by financial offices excep the underground areas which are used as warehouse or parking space. Off the main streets, the mixed spatial use pattern is typical with restaurants, retail stores, small parking lots, and houses (Figure 9). Such areas surrounded by the main streets have spatial uses of lower order functions complementing those along the main streets. This distinctive difference is a reflection of the land values (Figure 4). Around the subway stations, the first floor and underground floors are mainly occupied by restaurants and shops. These commercial uses make the most of high accessibility to the subway terminals.
