1. TYPES OF SERVICES AND CENTRAL PLACE THEORY

2.  Which sector of the economy?  Generate more than 2/3 of GDP in developed countries  Consumer Services  Provide services to individuals who desire them and can afford to pay for them  Examples?  Business Services  Facilitate the activities of other businesses  Professional, Financial and Transportation and Information Services  Examples?  Public Services  Provide security and protection for citizens and businesses  Most public service jobs are with the government  Examples? TYPES OF SERVICES

3.  Selecting the right location for a new shop is probably the single most important factor in the profitability of a consumer service  How far would you travel if you wanted…  Groceries?  Good Italian food?  A college/university?  A new car?  Professional sports team?  An amusement park?  An art museum?  An airport?  Would you travel farther to buy a new car or a week’s groceries?  Would you travel farther to see your family physician or a heart specialist?  Would you travel farther to go to elementary school or to go to high school? CENTRAL PLACE THEORY

4.  Explains relationships between cities and surrounding communities and how the most profitable location of a service can be identified  Based on demands for goods and services  Economic hubs = large cities  Central place – market center for the exchange of goods and services by people attracted from the surrounding area  Market Area/Hinterland – the area surrounding a service from which customers are attracted  Range – maximum distance people are willing to travel to use a service  Threshold – minimum number of people needed to support the service CENTRAL PLACE THEORY: WALTER CHRISTALLER

5. USING HEXAGONS

6.  Market areas are arranged in a regular pattern  Fewer large settlements that are farther apart from each other than small settlements  Neighborhoods within large settlements provide services that have small thresholds and ranges  Market areas across a developed country would be a series of hexagons of various sizes CENTRAL PLACE THEORY

7.  In developed countries, geographers observe that ranking settlements from largest to smallest in population produces a regular pattern  Rank-size rule – the country’s n th largest settlement is 1/n the population of the largest settlement  Countries that do not follow the rank-size rule may follow the primate city rule  The largest settlement has more than twice as many people as the second- ranking settlement  Largest city - primate city  Mexico City – primate city  Guadalajara - 2 nd largest country, 5 times smaller than Mexico City  Rank-size rule indicates that society is sufficiently wealthy to justify the provision of goods and services to consumers throughout the country  Absence of rule indicates a hardship for people who must travel long distances to reach an urban settlement with shops and services RANK-SIZE RULE

8.  Draw the market areas around each of the McDonald’s  Discuss and answer the following questions with your group:  Are the market areas the same size?  Are there concentrations of populations in some areas? Are the thresholds the same? Would concentrations of college students/apartment complexes influence the locations? Would the locations of businesses with large work forces influence the range?  If the community had a large elderly population would that change the threshold therefore influencing the range for each restaurant?  Are there “gaps”? Where would people go if they were not in one of the market areas?  Where would the next McDonald’s be built?  Do the transportation routes influence where people would stop?  What other factors might influence where people would stop? CENTRAL PLACE THEORY ACTIVITY