A civic center or civic centre (see "American and British English spelling differences") 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 most cases Civic Centres in the UK are a focus for local government offices and public service buildings. With reforms of local government in London in 1965 and across England in anticipation of the implementation of the Redcliffe-Maud Report in 1974, a number of local authorities commissioned new civic centres sometimes funded by disposing of their 19th Century Town Hall buildings. Sir Basil Spence was responsible for designing three of these civic centres:
Hampstead Civic Centre, which was only partially completed; and of which only the Swiss Cottage Library (1964) still exists.[1]
