Topic 5

The central place theory deals with the number, size and location of human settlements in an urban system. After having analyzed the spatial distribution of agricultural activities (Von Thunen model) and industries (Weber), central place theory focuses on cities as market places and therefore better respond to the logic of the service sector.

The Central Place Theory started with a German geographer, Walter Christaller (1933), who analyzed the spatial distribution of centres in Southern Germany, trying to understand the evolution of urban settlements and their spacing in relation to each other. In particular he looked for some ‘rules’ determining size, number and distribution of towns. His ideal model foreseen the spacing of cities and their market areas in regular patterns, showing hexagonal structures and different levels.  Of course we do not spot hexagons drawn on the ground nor the market areas appear regular ones.  However Christaller’s theory was interesting as he combined different elements together.

Christaller:

-  considered some extremely simplified hypotheses concerning space as already seen in other location theories (i.e., homogeneous space, even distribution of resources and population, etc.).

- Introduced the concept of hierarchy in (urban) centres. That means that some centres can be higher in a hierarchical rank by providing goods and services rarer than those offered by other centres. Using a simplifying example, every municipality holds a primary school that therefore serves a limited space (a neighborhood) while few municipalities host universities, that consequently attract people from a wider distance

- consider economic elements into a geographical framework.  In particular, as many elements are (theoretically) constant in his basic assumptions, the geographical distance (or the cost for covering the geographical distance) can be expressed as a price of the good that a consumers search for. In that sense the ‘traditional’ micro-economical demand curve can be rotated and ‘spatialised’ and therefore represented in the geographical space.

Christaller’s Theory was quite static and did not allow to combine different urban functions. However the theory was modified by other authors to include more realistic situations.

Loesch.

Loesch in particular modified the central place theory in order to allow multiple functions to be present in one place. That lead to specifying the conditions for developing the idea of a metropolitan area, concentrating different functions and activities and acting as an element of attraction for the surrounding area.  Loesch’s Theory was focused on the ‘city effect’ or the fact that cities are something different than just ‘settlements’ and that by concentrating functions will make them more important than surrounding centres.

Isard.

Isard introduced further modifications to the Central Place Theory, ‘distorting’ the regularity of hexagonal patterns with the introduction of a uneven distribution of population and therefore differentiated population densities (obviously in urban areas) and a different ‘spiderweb’ network drawn by major transport infrastructures connecting cities.

References

Christaller, Walter. Die zentralen Orte in Suddeutschland. Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1933. (Translated (in part), by Charlisle W. Baskin, as Central Places in Southern Germany. Prentice Hall, 1966.

Christaller, Walter, How I discovered the Theory of Central Places: A Report about the Origin of Central Places. in: English, P. W. and R. C. Mayfield, eds., Man Space and Environment. Oxford Univ. Press, 1972, pp.601–610.

Berry, Brian J. L. and Chauncy D. Harris, Walter Christaller: An Appreciation, Geographical Review LX (1), 1970, pp.116–9.

Heilbrun, James. Urban Economics and Public Policy, 3rd Edition. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987

Von Boventer, Edwin. Walter Christaller's Central Places and Peripheral Areas: The Central Place Theory in Retrospect, Journal of Regional Science. Vol.9, 1969, 117–24.

Preston, R. E., The Dynamic Component of Christaller's Central Place Theory and the Theme of Change in his Research, The Canadian Geographer, vol.27, 1983, pp.4–16.

Losch, August, The Nature of Economic Regions, Southern Economic Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1, July 1938, pp. 71–78.