CENTRAL PLACE THEORY

A. Site & Situation site: refers to the physical characteristics of a location situation: refers to the relative location in terms of spatial interconnection & interdependence

B. Types of Settlement Patterns Nucleated settlements: clustered around a central nodal point (defense, close to water, transportation routes) Linear settlements: geographically restricted by mountains, hills, valleys or rivers…or along roads Dispersed settlements: lot of land is required, such as farming regions

Settlement types: A? B? C?

C. Functional Structure of Cities: Three basic types of cities: Central places: functioning primarily as service centers for local hinterlands. Transportation centers: performing break-of-bulk functions for larger regions Specialized-function cities: dominated by one activity such as mining, manufacturing, or recreation

Economic Base Theory Basic Sector: local businesses that are dependent upon sales outside the city Non-basic Sector: businesses dependent upon local business conditions (grocery store, barber, drycleaners, restaurants) multiplier effect: increase in basic jobs increases non-basic jobs…

D. WORLD CITIES & MEGACITIES World cities: play a key role in the global economy (London, New York, Tokyo) – most have extremely large populations – some do not: Milan (center of fashion) & Geneva (UN agencies) Megacities: over 10 million – over ½ of 20 largest cities today are in developing world Problems of megacities: migration from the countryside, slums (barrios or favelas), informal economies, poverty, crime, child labor, orphans, water supply

HOW URBANIZED IS THE WORLD TODAY? % pop urban Africa 38 Asia 38 L America 75 N America 77 Europe 75 Oceania 70 1. The developing world of Africa & Asia are more rural 2. Regions that industrialized first have more medium-sized towns (Europe) 3. MOST URBANIZED region: W. Europe – Belgium, Netherlands, U.K. are >90% urbanized

1950 1975 2003 2015 Urban Area Popu-lation 1 New York, 12.3 Tokyo, Japan 26.6 35.0 36.2 2 11.3 New York, USA 15.9 Mexico City, Mexico 18.7 Mumbai, India 22.6 3 Shanghai, China 11.4 18.3 Delhi, India 20.9 4 Mexico City 10.7 Sao Paulo, Brazil 17.9 20.6 5 17.4 20.0 6 14.1 19.7 7 Calcutta, India 13.8 Dhaka, Bangladesh 8 Buenos Aires 13.0 Jakarta, Indonesia 17.5 9 12.8 Lagos, Nigeria 17.0 10 16.8 11 Los Angeles, USAb 12.0 Karachi, Pakistan 16.2 12 11.6 Buenos Aires, Argentina 14.6 13 Osaka-Kobe, Japan 11.2 Cairo, Egypt 13.1 14 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 12.9

E. Walter Christaller’s Central Place Theory nested hexagons show a hierarchal ranking of market areas hinterland: rural area outside urban areas

Why Hexagons for Market Areas? Hexagons don’t leave gaps between market areas & its edges aren’t equidistant from the center

2. range of services: maximum distance consumers are willing to travel to obtain a product or service * luxury items: longer range 3. threshold: minimum number of consumers needed to support a business

provides some basic services Hamlets provides some basic services

Towns Larger than a village and has a higher level of specialization

Cities Cities have more specialization and a larger hinterland than a town… A city has suburbs while a town has outskirts

Market-Area Analysis Retailers and other service providers make use of market-area studies to determine whether locating in the market would be profitable

Supermarket and Convenience Store Market Areas Market area, range, and threshold for Kroger supermarkets (left) and UDF convenience stores in Dayton, Ohio. Supermarkets have much larger areas and ranges than convenience stores.

F. Central Place Assumptions: orderly hierarchy of central places places of the same size equally spaced apart larger cities spaced farther apart

Rank-Size Rule inverse relationship between size of a city & its urban rank Under the rank-size rule: - town 1/2 the size city - village 1/3 size - hamlet ¼ size