A Word on Rank Size Rule and Central Place Theory
For those of you who need a little help on this!
Central Place Theory
Definition:
 A theory that states that market areas (places of buying and selling) are arranged in a regular pattern
(meaning they are predictable).
 The larger the settlement, the farther it is from another large settlement
 The smaller the settlement, the closer it is to other smaller settlements AND probably a larger
settlement
 Larger settlements are important because they provide goods and services not available to smaller
settlements
 When drawn, it looks much like below.
Why the Theory?
 The purpose of the theory is to show patterns in settlements, to help us understand the relationship
and interactions between larger and smaller settlements
 Most importantly: it helps producers find out where the most profitable location to start or run a
business would be – the bigger the settlement, the more likely the business will do better, right?
Image:
Rank size Rule
Definition
 Geographers have noticed that ranking settlements from largest to smallest creates a pattern or
hierarchy (hierarchy is when something has different levels or status)
 Basically the rule is that the second largest city is going to be half has big as the largest
o The fourth largest city, ¼ as big – follows a nice mathematical pattern
 If you see it on a graph it has a straight line
Problem!
 Although many MDCs, such as the US follow the rank size rule, most LDCs do not
 In most LDCs, there are a few large cities and then the rest are less than half the size of the larger city
 Often the smaller settlements will follow a rank size rule (ignoring the larger cities), but even then,
not always
 In fact, LDCs follow the Primate City rule, more – you have one or two big cities and the rest are small
towns or villages that depend on it
Why Important?
 A country that follows rank size rule shows that it is a wealthy enough country to be able to make
sure all its consumers/population has access to goods and services they need
 A country that does NOT follow the rank size rule shows that it is not wealthy enough to do that and
can only offer the bulk of its services and goods in one or two places.
 It ALSO shows that if a country does NOT follow rank size rule, that it does not have enough money to
even offer a lot of services (if it did, you’d find more spread out, right?)
What has been done?
 Some countries like Romania are aware of their lack of rank size rule
 They try to slow the growth of the big cities in order to force people to live and move to smaller towns
to promote growth
 The government put money into developing smaller towns to entice people to move their
 The more people, the more businesses will come right? YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT BY NOW… 
QUESTION: If a country doesn’t follow rank size rule, would it look like the central place hexagonal
image? I wonder…