The city centre has undergone a number of redevelopment projects, including St. David's 2,[1] which extended the shopping district southwards, creating 100 new stores and a flagship John Lewis, the only branch in Wales and the largest outside London.

[needs update][2] Cardiff is the sixth most successful shopping destination in the United Kingdom – behind London, Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool.

The Buchanan Plan of 1964 envisaged a highly ambitious extended city centre, crossed with urban motorways.

The council scrapped the proposed motorway network and focused on the small commercial core of the city; its proposed redevelopment scheme, in partnership with a private developer, would have seen almost all of the city centre (except St Mary Street and Working Street) demolished, replaced by modernist office towers of up to 21 storeys and pedestrianised decks linking multi‑storey car parks to covered shopping malls.

[5] Development in the 1970s and 80s was more piecemeal than envisaged in Centreplan, with the building of the St. David's Centre and St David's Hall, new multi‑storey car parks, and the grant‑supported construction of the 14‑storey Holiday Inn (now the Marriott) and World Trade Centre (now the Cardiff International Arena), which gave a fillip to the city's conference and exhibition business.

[5] In the 1990s the Mill Lane cafe quarter was developed in partnership with the Welsh Development Agency, a pedestrian forecourt was created for the refurbished Central railway station, a new walkway was constructed alongside the Taff and the Millennium Stadium was built on the site of the National Stadium and Empire Pool.

[6] Castle Street follows on from Cowbridge Road East from Canton and begins after Cardiff Bridge, over the River Taff.

The former street is named after the 11th century church of St. Mary, the largest in Cardiff until it was destroyed by the Bristol Channel floods of 1607.

Today the stretch of road is the home of a number of bars, night clubs and restaurants, as well as branches of many major banks.

[7] The Prince Of Wales is a prominent J D Wetherspoon establishment at the junction with Wood Street, which leads to Central Station.

It meets Dumfries Place/Newport Road at its eastern end, Duke Street/Castle Street at its western, and Park Place approximately halfway along.

[10] To the north running parallel is Greyfriars Road, referring to the site of an old monastery, a traditional office location that has recently seen conversion to bars, apartments and hotels as offices move to the new business parks on the edge of the city, or to the better connected southern end of the city centre.

Bute Park also dominates the northwest of the area, running behind Cardiff Castle along the River Taff southward to Westgate Street and northward to Gabalfa.

[12] Boulevard de Nantes and Stuttgarter Strasse, named after Cardiff's twin cities, run through the southern end and act as a northern bypass of parallel Queen Street for the A4161.

Occupancy of the remaining commercial property has increased, reflecting a shortage of office space in the city and there is now little scope for further conversion.

[14] [15] Cardiff Masonic Hall occupies a major site on the corner of Guildford Street, adjacent to Churchill Way.

Since its closure in 2005, the Grade I‑listed David Morgan Buildings have been subdivided into several retail units, and the upper floors converted into 56 luxury apartments.

The exterior of the building received a comprehensive refurbishment, with the street clock being reinstated and the façade being restored to its original design, following many alterations since its construction in the late 1800s.

Prior to this it was home to Oxford Arcade, a post war construction that dated quickly and was underused given its central location.

The southern end features the John Lewis department store and the new Cardiff Central Library, which opened in March 2009.

The previous Central Library closed in 2006 to make way for the construction of the St. David's 2 shopping centre and was located a few hundred yards north-east on Bridge Street.

A new public square was created at its southern end with a large, interactive public artwork as its centrepiece called Alliance, a 25 metres (82 ft) high sculpture consisting of a large stainless steel and enamelled metal ring and an arrow column, which was initially meant to feature lights that would rise and fall with the tide.

[citation needed] These two roads have traditionally formed the southern and southeastern boundaries of the central business district of Cardiff, and in the 2000s have seen a great deal of new development.

Recent developments such as the 23‑storey Altolusso apartment complex, and the Big Sleep Hotel were set to be joined by (from west to east), a new 11‑storey office building (on the site of the 120-year-old Central Hotel – destroyed by fire in early 2003;[19] the Meridian Gate development (consisting of an 11‑storey apartment block and a 21‑storey Radisson SAS Hotel); a new John Lewis department store as part of the St. David's 2 shopping expansion; Harlech Court (consisting of apartments and a rooftop restaurant); the University of South Wales's ATRiuM campus (which opened in 2007) along with the 21‑storey Tŷ Pont Haearn student halls; and 3 further residential towers (of up to 13 storeys) with lower floor retail and commercial use.

From the south, Lloyd George Avenue (A470), Bute Street and the Central Link (A4234) originate from Cardiff Bay and meet the city centre at Callaghan Square.