[Air-l] city / centre

[noci]

dear aoir,

i am an architecture student from berlin, germany.
i've been on aoir for a few years now and would like to post a request 
on literature/papers about "the city and its centre".

i have also posted this slightly modified message on the SPACESYNTAX 
list and plan on merging the responses later on.

if anyone could point me to theses/articles etc. concerned with, but no 
limited to, the questions about

a) what makes a city centre the city centre?
b) how do sociological aspects fit into the general picture, i.e. usage 
of the centre and provision of cultural/commercial services
c) exemplary historical development models of city centres, also 
considerung polycentric developments
d) mapping of flows, movements and services in cities, especially taking 
into account structural differences between centre and non-centre

i'd be most grateful! i'll post a summary- hopefully bolstered up with 
responses from SPACESYNTAX-  to the list later.

i am aware of the work being done at CASA, London, and the GaWC network; 
though the focus there seems to be primarily on Geography/ GIS and 
GLobal Cities, respectively.

thanks a lot!

regards,


max doelling
TU Berlin