AP Human Geography

Central Place Theory

Central Place Theory

Based on the work of Walter Christaller, a German geographer

In 1933, Christaller wrote his doctoral dissertation in geography entitled, The Central Places of Southern Germany.

In it, he proposed CPT

Central Place Theory: Some Basic ideas

Central places are nodes for the distribution of economic goods and services to surrounding nonurban populations

Central places compete against each other; this competition creates the regular pattern of settlements

Each settlement has a market area, the region from which customers are drawn.

Hexagons rather than circles are used to indicate market areas.

Central Place Theory Cont’d

Smaller settlements occur more frequently and are closer together, while larger settlements occur less frequently and are farther apart.

Small settlements provide goods and services that have small thresholds and ranges; large settlements provide goods and services that have large thresholds & ranges.

The good or service provided in a central place has an order (high or low) based on how specialized it is.

Market Area

The area surrounding a service from which customers are attracted is the market area or hinterland.

It is a good example of a nodal or functional region- a region with a core, where the characteristic is most intense.

Size of Market Area

Range- the maximum distance people are willing to drive to use a service

Threshold- the minimum number of people needed to support the service (customer base)

Assumptions

No topographic barriers No difference in soil fertility Population & purchasing power evenly

distributed People with similar lifestyles and incomes Uniform transportation network Purchase of goods & services at the

nearest center

What are the advantages of central place theory?

Does a reasonably good job of describing the spatial pattern of urbanization. No economic theory explains why there is a hierarchy of urban centers.

Provides a description of the relationship b/ween a central place-higher order place and its tributary areas-lower order places.

Does a good job of describing the location of trade and service activity.

The Real World

Physical barriers, resource distributions, etc. create modifications of the spatial pattern.

Some areas tend to confirm the model Christaller stimulated urban and economic

geography in general and location theory in particular.

Conclusions

Christaller’s conclusions:

1. Towns of the same size are evenly spaced because they are in the center of liked-sized market areas. Larger towns will be farther apart than smaller towns b/cause their market areas are larger.

2. Distribution of cities, towns, & villages in a region is related to trade areas, popn size, and distance

Rank Size Rule

Holds that in a model urban hierarchy, the pop of a city or town will be inversely proportional to its rank in the hierarchy

For example, if the largest city has 12 million people, the 2nd largest = 6 million (1/2); 3rd largest = 4 million (1/3);

Rank size rule does not apply to all countries, esp. countries w/one dominant city, e.g., France, England, Japan, Mexico, etc.

Primate City Rule

According to primate city rule, the largest settlement has more than twice as many people as the second-ranking settlement.

Examples: Paris, France; London, United Kingdom; Mexico City, Mexico, etc.