But by the 1980s, global competition had put the brakes on the city's economy: more than 100,000 workers lost their jobs and thriving factory districts withered to moribund hinterland.
Stockholm, the Swedish capital, even has a thriving new shopping district, which is named, much to the embarrassment of the locals, SoFo, as in "south of Folkungagatan".
Business districts thrive when they have environments that welcome people and encourage connections among them.
The Quartier Latin is the beating heart of bohemian Montréal – a resurgent university district full of thriving restaurants, clubs and record shops.
Unlike many other old-town business districts, Union City's is thriving, even though it is less than three miles from the Newport Mall in Jersey City to the east and the Mill Creek Mall in neighboring Secaucus.
But critics say that in the newly thriving central city, some business improvement districts have become bloated bureaucracies whose job can be done cheaper and better by others.
According to Mehta, the district thrived in the 1980s and 1990s when foreign shopkeepers placed huge orders for sterling-silver jewelry and cheap watches.
However uncertain the economy may be, the restaurant business in the financial district appears to be thriving.
In Uganda, where refugees have the right to work, the majority in Kampala are self-employed and in the Kisenyi district many Somalis run thriving businesses that even employ nationals.
As the country's main port, with a superb natural harbour, an oil refinery, Caribbean beaches and an attractive colonial district, it ought to be thriving.
