An Introduction to Human Geography
The Cultural Landscape, 9e
James M. Rubenstein
Chapter 12
Services
Geog 1050
Victoria Alapo, Instructor
Service Sector Employment
Over half of workers are employed in the service sector in most MDCs, while a much
smaller percentage are in the service sector in most LDCs.
Employment Change in U.S.
Growth in employment in the U.S. since 1970 has been entirely in the tertiary sector.
Origins of Services
• Origin of services
– Began with clustered settlements. E.g.
religious, education, government, police
protection, transportation and retail
Rural Settlement Patterns
Circular settlement patterns are common in Germany. Linear “long lot” patterns are often
found along rivers in France, and were transferred to Québec.
Distribution of Consumer Services
• Central Place Theory (Walter Christaller)
– A Central Place is a market center for the exchange of
goods and services. It is centrally located to maximize
accessibility from the surrounding region. Reminds one
of “functional/nodal regions” but without the overlap (pg
22, fig1-11). See next slides.
– Market area / hinterland: area surrounding a service
from which customers are attracted.
– Size of market area: determined by Range & Threshold
(see next slides).
Market Areas as Hexagons
Fig. 12-5: Hexagons are often used to delineate market areas because they
are a compromise between circles and squares. Circles have
edges equidistant from the center but leave gaps, and squares don’t
leave gaps but the edges are not equidistant from the center.
Distribution of Consumer Services
– Range is the maximum distance people are willing to travel to use
a service e.g. how far are you willing to travel for pizza? What about
a doctor’s appointment (i.e. specialist)? Or for tourism? Here, a
pizza shop has a small range, whereas a specialist doctor’s office
has a large range.
– Threshold is the minimum # of people needed to support the
service. Otherwise, the business won’t survive, even if the “five”
people available are “willing” to travel to it. E.g. the median
threshold for a Kroger (Bakers) supermarket in Dayton, Ohio, is
30,000 people. Sometimes, incomes are considered also. Read pg
407. This may even include the ages or marital status of a
population.
– That is why business people rely on census figures. This is what
is used by businesses in Market Analysis.
Central Place Theory
Fig. 12-7: Market areas are arranged into a regular pattern according to central place
theory, with larger settlements fewer and further apart. Also, services like
universities will have a larger range than a primary or secondary school.
Supermarket and Convenience
Store Market Areas
Fig. 12-8: 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. Also, Pg 408.
Business Services and Settlements
• World cities – They provide producer, public, retail
and personal services with large market areas.
– Ancient world cities e.g. in Ur in Mesopotamia (Iraq),
and cities in ancient Egypt. See next slide.
– Medieval world cities e.g. Timbuktu (Mali), Paris, etc
– Modern world cities e.g. New York, London, Tokyo,
etc. See next slides. Size of city is not always the
major determinant. There are many cities larger
than New York and London.
Ancient Ur
Fig. 12-10: Ur, in modern-day Iraq, was one of the earliest urban settlements. The
ziggurat, or stepped temple, was surrounded by a dense network of
residences. Read caption, pg 413.
Hierarchy of World Cities
Fig. 12-14: London, New York, and Tokyo are the dominant world cities in the global
economy. Other major and secondary world cities play lesser roles.
Business-Service Cities in the U.S.
Fig. 12-15: Below the world cities in the hierarchy of U.S. cities are command and control
centers, specialized producer-service centers, and dependent centers.
Clustering of Services
• Central business district (CBD)
– Already covered under Cities (Ch. 13)
– St Paul’s, in Central London pg 425
• Suburbanization of businesses
– Suburbanization of retailing. See picture
and Fig 12-19 on pg 426. This includes
many Wal-Marts, or our Village Pointe, etc.
– Suburbanization of factories and offices
also occurring.