The site of a civic centre can be effectively located at the population centre, geographic centre, or the business centre of the locality. Of necessity, some municipal functions such as police, fire, and welfare agencies must be placed in each neighbourhood of the city or town. The headquarters for these services, however, are often located in the civic centre.

The size of the city served determines the range and number of the municipal services required, which, in turn, determine the size of the site. The program for a small civic centre includes a city hall, headquarters for police, fire, and welfare departments, courtrooms, post office, and possibly the central library. A large city will require public utility offices, public health facilities, and office space for county, state, and national government functions as well. It is also desirable to include parkland or at least open space in the plan. Toronto has an architecturally and spatially well-planned civic centre. One unfortunate aspect of this kind of inner urban planning is that the cities that have the means to build a civic centre frequently lack the necessary space, and cities that have enough space often lack the proper funds.