AP Human Geography
Central Place Theory
Central Place Theory
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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?
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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
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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
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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
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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.