Downtown Yangon
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Downtown Yangon ရန်ကုန်မြို့လယ် Yangon Central Business District |
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| Neighborhood of the City of Yangon | |
Downtown skyline during sunset, April 2010.
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| Nickname(s): Downtown Yangon | |
| Coordinates: 16°46′38″N 96°09′40″E / 16.777098°N 96.161113°ECoordinates: 16°46′38″N 96°09′40″E / 16.777098°N 96.161113°E | |
| Country | Myanmar |
| Division | Yangon |
| City | City of Yangon |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Hla Myint |
| Area | |
| • Total | 5.305 sq mi (8.538 km2) |
| Population (2008) | |
| • Total | >6,000,000 |
| Website | [1] |
Downtown Yangon (also known as the Yangon Central Business District or Yangon CBD; formerly the Cantonment) is the central business district of Yangon, Myanmar, located close to the geographic centre of the metropolitan area. The area features many of the city's major arts institutions and sports facilities.
The east-west grid of downtown Yangon was laid out by British military engineers Alexander Fraser and Montgomerie after the Second Anglo-Burmese War in 1852. The city was later developed by the Public Works Department and Bengal Corps of Engineers.
The majority of sites on the Yangon City Heritage List are located in Yangon's CBD.
Yangon's CBD is known for its leafy avenues and fin-de-siècle architecture. The former British colonial capital has the highest number of colonial period buildings in Southeast Asia. The CBD is still mainly made up of decaying colonial buildings. The former High Court, the former Secretariat buildings, the former St. Paul's English High School and the Strand Hotel are excellent examples of the bygone era. Most buildings in the CBD from this era are four-story mix-use (residential and commercial) buildings with 14-foot (4.3 m) ceilings, allowing for the construction of mezzanines. Despite their less-than-perfect conditions, the buildings remain highly sought after and most expensive in the city's property market.
In 1996, the Yangon City Development Committee created a Yangon City Heritage List of old buildings and structures in the city that cannot be modified or torn down without approval. In 2012, the city of Yangon imposed a 50-year moratorium on demolition of buildings older than 50 years. The Yangon Heritage Trust, an NGO started by Thant Myint-U, aims to create heritage areas in Downtown, and attract investors to renovate buildings for commercial use.
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Wikipedia