1930 Walter Chris Taller -central Place Theory

CENTRAL PLACE THEORY

CENTRAL PLACE THEORY Central place theory is a geographical theory that seeks to explain the number, size and location of human settlements in an urban system. The theory was created by the German geographer Walter Christaller IN 1930, who asserted that settlements simply functioned as central places providing services to surrounding areas. He was mainly looking for a relationship between the size, the number and the geographic distribution of cities. Central places theory tries to explain the spatial distribution of urbanization. This pattern is best understood by a central place and its market area. The central place is specialized in selling various goods and services, and the market area is a sphere of the settlement of consumers traveling to the central place, which is a part of hierarchy with other central places. A central place has the main function to supply goods and services to the surrounding population. Its influence is undertaken with its market area and the size of this market area will determine the nature of the spatial order. The primary purpose of a settlement or market town, according to central-place theory, is the provision of goods and services for the surrounding market area. Such towns are centrally located and may be called central places. Settlements that provide more goods and services than do other places are called higher-order central places. Lower-order central places have small market areas and provide goods and services that are purchased more frequently than higher-order goods and services. Higher-order places are more widely distributed and fewer in number than lower-order places. The theory then relied on two concepts: threshold and range. The determining factor in the location of any central place is the threshold, which comprises the smallest market area necessary for the goods and services to be economically viable. Once a threshold has been established, the central place will seek to expand its market area until the range—i.e., the maximum distance consumers will travel to purchase goods and services—is reached. To develop the theory, Christaller made the following simplifying assumptions:

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An

isotropic

homogeneous, limitless

(all

flat),

unbounded

surface

(abstract

space). •

An evenly distributed population

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Evenly distributed resources.

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All consumers have a similar purchasing power and demand for goods and services.

Bhavin R. Amrutiya IP 0208

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CENTRAL PLACE THEORY

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No provider of goods or services is able to earn excess profit.

Bhavin R. Amrutiya IP 0208

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CENTRAL PLACE THEORY

The different layouts predicted by Christaller have K-values which show how much the Sphere of Influence of the central places takes in — the central place itself counts as 1 and each portion of a satellite counts as its portion:

K = 3 Marketing principle According to the marketing principle K = 3, the market area of a higher-order place includes a third of the market area of each of the following size neighbouring lower-order places and each is located at the corner of a hexagon around the highorder settlement. Each high-order settlement gets 1/3 of each satellite settlement, thus K = 1 + 6×1/3 = 3. However, although in this K = 3 marketing network the distance traveled is minimized, the transport network is not the most efficient, because the important transport links between the larger places do not pass through intermediate places.

K = 4 Transport principle According to K = 4 transport principle, the market area of a higher-order place includes a half of the market area of each of the six neighbouring lower-order places, as they are located on the edges of hexagons around the high-order settlements. This generates a hierarchy of central places which results in the most efficient transport network. There are maximum central places possible located on the main transport routes connecting the higher order center.

K = 7 Administrative principle According to K = 7 administrative principle (or political-social principle), settlements are nested according to sevens. The market areas of the smaller settlements are completely enclosed within the market area of the larger settlement. Since tributary areas cannot be spilt administratively, they must be allocated exclusively to a single higher-order place. Efficient administration is the control principle in this hierarchy.

LATTER DEVELOPMENTS

- Losch’s Central Place Theory

In 1954, German economist August Losch modified Christaller's central place theory because he believed it was too rigid. He thought that Christaller's model led to patterns where the distribution of goods and the accumulation of profits were based entirely on location. He instead focused on maximizing consumer welfare and creating an ideal consumer landscape where the need to travel for any good was minimized and profits were held level, not maximized to accrue extra.

Bhavin R. Amrutiya IP 0208

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