Service Central Place Theory

Caveman to Businessman In this society people moved from place to place to find food and water. Eventually they began to stop and settle in area where they learned to farm and work together in a village society. When the first settlements were established the services that existed were personal services like religion and education as well as police and government.

Early Personal Services Religion was important so settlements were formed around Churches so they would have a place to bury their dead.

Settlements People began to develop roles within their community, like clay pot makers, teachers, weapon makers etc. As people became experts at a craft they created a business. A service. These services could be traded. a tool repairer could trade their time and skill with a horse trainer or hunter.

Public Services As settlements grew there was a growing need for protection of the community. Soldiers were stationed around the settlement for defense. Walls were a common defense strategy and today the U.S Department of Defense helps to protect the U.S

Early Retail and Producer Services A marketplace where people could safely exchange or sell goods.

In the Modern Era: Regular Patterns exist.

Central Place Theory Vocab: – Central Place: a market center for people from the surrounding area to exchange goods and services. Centrally located to maximize customer accessibility. Get the most people to your store. – Central Place Theory: a concept that explains WHY there are patterns when it comes to distributions of settlements. – Market Area: Area surrounding a service that customers visit.

Key Assumptions 1.All areas are equal, there are no physical barriers that would influence people to go one direction or the other. i.e Cross a river, climb a mountain etc. 2.People are rational- people want to travel as little distance as possible. 3.Even distribution- of population and resources. 4.All consumers are treated equally 5.Transportation costs are equal in all directions.

Market Area A circle is draw around a business. The people inside of that circle will use that service or go to that business. People love convenience so they will go to the services that are closest.

Market Area: Target

Market Area Lets say the black dots are Targets (the company). The people who live inside the yellow would go to the Target in the middle. If you lived on the red line you could choose to go to that target or another and if you lived in the white you would choose another Target.

A Problem with Shape. In the theory you cannot have overlaps and/or gaps in service distribution. – Do people who live in gaps not get any type of service? Not true. So circles are out. – Squares could solve your overlap problem but the distance to the center varies along the line of the square sooo… – A hexagon is used to display market area.

Central Place Theory: Market Area

Size of Market Area Market area is determined by two variables: Range and Threshold.

Range of Service Range- the maximum distance people are willing to travel to use a service. Short: groceries, laundry, target, wal-mart etc. Long: Twins baseball, waterpark, concert Range is the radius of the circle drawn to determine a service market area.

Replicates Competing services will need to adjust range. Range can be measured in minutes rather than miles. i.e How far are you willing to travel to target? A: 10min. Ranges will vary based on time, not necessarily miles. How do we know? We ask!

Threshold of Service The minimum number of people needed to support a service. Each service will require a different set of numbers of people to support it. A grocery store in Dayton, OH (our image) needs 30,000 people. Census data determines population inside market area. Specialty stores should only count “their people”

Questions 1.What is an example of “Personal Service”? 2.What is an example of “Retail Service”? 3.What is one “assumption” necessary for Central Place Theory? 4.In your own words, what is Market Area of Service?