The CBD is located on a point on the northern bank of the Brisbane River, historically known as Meanjin, Mianjin or Meeanjin in the local Yuggera dialect.

The Brisbane central business district was built on a spur of the Taylor Range with the highest spot in the suburb being Wickham Terrace.

[6] North Quay is an area in the CBD that was a landing point during the first European exploration of the Brisbane River.

[8] The site was named after Andrew Petrie and has been the base for water police and in earlier times wharves.

[9] The location of Customs House and the preference for wharves was due to the site being directly downstream from the central business district.

It was the first Baptist church to be built in Queensland, the Brisbane congregation having previously met in a range of public buildings since forming in 1855.

[22] In the 2016 census, Brisbane City had a population of 9,460 people.The most common countries of birth other than Australia were China 16.0%, South Korea 8.3%, England 3.7%, Taiwan 3.2% and Brazil 2.8%.

[25] It hosts an art gallery and operates Old Government House as a museum; both of these and other facilities are open to the public.

[32] Some of the first skyscrapers built in the CBD include the SGIO building (now Suncorp Plaza) in 1970 and AMP Place in 1977.

[34] The City contains many tall office buildings occupied by organisations, businesses and all three levels of government that have emerged into a number of precincts.

An urban renewal project based around the Queen's Wharf megaproject is under construction along the southern end of William Street, which includes a pedestrian bridge crossing the Riverside Expressway.

[35] Like most other Australian capital cities, Brisbane has experienced dramatic rises in rental prices for residential and office space before the Great Recession.

At the beginning of 2008, the Brisbane central business district contained 1.7 million square metres of office space.

[36] High demand in the office market had pushed vacancy rates in the Brisbane CBD to 0.7% by January 2008, the lowest in Australia.

In mid 2013 the market for office space had declined to its worst position in two decades with a vacancy rate of just under 13%.

The Story Bridge connects Fortitude Valley with Kangaroo Point and provides access to the city from the southern bank.

The Brisbane Riverwalk, a pedestrian and cyclist pathway adjoins the central business district along the river bank.