Urban systems and hierarchies
THE RANK-SIZE RULE
1. RANK-SIZE RULE: Relatively developed societies produce a ___________________ in
the ________ of their cities according to the following mathematical formula.
The nth largest settlement in a region is 1/n the population of the largest settlement in the
region; i.e., the 3rd largest settlement will have a population that is 1/3 as large as that of the
largest settlement.
RANK
CITY
1
New York
2
Los Angeles
3
Chicago
4
Houston
5
Philadelphia
6
Phoenix
7
San Antonio
8
San Diego
9
Dallas
10
San Jose
Population as predicted by the
rank-size rule
US Census Bureau estimated 2007
population
8.4 million
Does the US follow the Rank-Size rule? ______________________________________________
2. PRIMATE CITY: In less developed countries/regions the largest city is overly ________________.
The pattern of settlements is such that the ________________ settlement has more than
_______________ as many people as the second-largest settlement. (Also referred to as PRIMATE
DISTRIBUTION or URBAN PRIMACY.
Country
Mexico
France
United Kingdom
Thailand
Denmark
Romania
Primate City
México City
Paris
London
Bangkok
Copenhagen
Bucharest
Population
8.6 m
9.6 m
7m
7.5 m
1m
1.9 m
Next largest city
Guadalajara
Marseille
Birmingham
Nanthabury
Århus
Iasi
Population
1.6 m
1.3 m
1m
481,000
200,000
315,000
How’s the distribution? Put an “X” in the correct box.
HOW WELL DOES IT FOLLOW THE RANK-SIZE RULE???
COUNTRY
VERY WELL
OK
Lastly… Why do we care about how well a country follows the rank-size rule?
PRIMATE CITY