Rank Size Rule
•Primate Cities
•Binary Distributions
The Rank Size Rule
Zipfs Rank Size Rule
“If all the settlements of a country are ranked
according to population size, the sizes of
settlements will be inversely proportional to their
rank”
OR
Second largest town or city is half the size of the
size, the third would be a third the size etc….
What does it show?
London is by far the
most important.
WHY?
English Cities
1
1
2
3
4
5 city number
Germany - Does this fit the Rank Size Rule?
• ACTUAL POPULATION
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
1 Berlin
3 390 000
2 Hamburg 1 700 000
3 München 1 300 000
4 Köln
965 000
5 Frankfurt
640 000
6 Essen
590 000
7 Dortmund
589 000
8 Stuttgart
587 000
•RANK
RANK
SIZE
RULE
SIZE
RULE
EXPECTATIONS
EXPECTATIONS
• 1 Berlin
3 390 000
•
•
•
•
••
•
•
•
•
••
•
••
•
2 Hamburg
1 Berlin
32 München
Hamburg
34 München
Köln
4 Köln
5 Frankfurt
5 Frankfurt
6 Essen
77 Dortmund
Dortmund
8 Stuttgart
8 Stuttgart
1 195 000
3 390 000
11 130
000
195 000
1 847
130 000
500
847 500
678 000
678 000
565 000
484
484 000
000
424 000
424 000
Why is Germany a better fit?
Clue - think about its political set up
Germany is made up of Federal
States rather like the United States
Because……..
• Germany is run on a Federal system of
Regions, each with their own capital city
• This means each city has developed high
order services of their own, instead of
centralising them on one capital city such as
London.
• Germany also used to be split in two, with 2
capitals Berlin in the East and Bonn in the
West.
Peru - An LEDC Primate City?
•
ACTUAL POPULATION SIZE
•
RANK SIZE RULE
•
1 Lima
7 000 000
•
1 Lima
7 000 000
•
2 Arequipa
700 100
•
2 Arequipa
3 500 000
•
3 Trujillo
600 000
•
3 Trujillo
2 333 000
•
4 Chiclayo
470 000
•
4 Chiclayo
1 750 000
•
5 Iquitos
335 000
•
5 Iquitos
1 400 000
•
6 Piura
310 000
•
6 Piura
1 166 000
•
7 Huancayo
305 000
•
7 Huancayo
1 000 000
•
8 Chimbote
300 000
•
8 Chimbote
875 000
Yes because…..
•
•
•
•
•
Initial site factors favor growth - Capital
Transport network focuses on capital city
Capital City generates high order services
Attracts most of the investment, creates jobs
Globalisation reinforces dominance as TNC’s use it as a
regional node to break local markets.
• Causes migration from rural areas
• As economy industrialises other cities may challenge
primacy - but not always.
Netherlands - A Binary Pattern?
•
ACTUAL POPULATION
•
RANK SIZE PREDICTIONS
•
1 Amsterdam N-H
700 000
•
1 Amsterdam N-H
750 000
•
2 Rotterdam Z-H
650 000
•
2 Rotterdam Z-H
375 000
•
3 's-Gravenhage Z-H
465 000
•
3 's-Gravenhage Z-H
250 000
•
4 Utrecht U
265 000
•
4 Utrecht U
188 000
•
5 Eindhoven N-B
205 000
•
5 Eindhoven N-B
150 000
•
6 Tilburg N-B
200 000
•
6 Tilburg N-B
125 000
•
7 Groningen Gr
175 000
•
7 Groningen Gr
107 000
•
8 Almere Fl
165 000
•
8 Almere Fl
94 000
Yes because …...
•
•
•
•
•
The Netherlands has two important cities
Each City has a separate FUNCTION
Amsterdam is the political city
Rotterdam is the industrial city / port
The country is relatively small and other
cities haven’t challenged this
• Ex - major colonial power