Central Places: Theory and Applications

1. Central Places:Theory and Applications National Conference on Geography Education San Juan, Puerto Rico September 25, 2009

3. Walter Christaller Die Zentralen Orte in Suddeutschland Central Places in Southern Germany Originally published in 1933, translated into English in 1966

7. THE CIRCLE OF INQUIRY Deduction Induction What is? vs. What should be?

8. CENTRAL More small places than big places Ratio of big places to small places relatively constant PLACE Big places farther apart than small places THEORY

9. CENTRAL PLACE A settlement whose livelihood depends on the sale of goods and services to people in the surrounding area

11. Settlement Sizes • Hamlet • Village • Town • City • Metropolis

18. PREMISES or ASSUMPTIONS“If . . . “ • Isotropic Surface • “featureless plain” with no barriers to movement • Even Population Distribution • similar in purchasing power and behavior • Homo Economicus • “economic man” with purely economic motives • Integrity of the Law of Supply and Demand • customers needed for a business to stay open

19. POSTULATES or OUTCOMES“Then . . . “

20. POSTULATES or OUTCOMES“Then . . . “ • There will be a regular spatial order in the number of central places of different population sizes. • Few large places • Many small places • There will be a regular spatial order in the spacing of central places of different population sizes. • Large places relatively farther apart • Small places relatively closer together

21. Grocery Stores Gas Stations Jewelry Stores Book Stores Hair Stylists Auto Dealerships Houses of Worship Schools Doctors Dentists Museums Concert Halls Central Place FunctionsCategories of like services found in a central place

22. Higher-Order FunctionsHigher-Order Central Places • Provision of higher-order goods and services • Trade in goods and services that are more valuable and infrequently demanded • Because the goods and services are more valuable, people are willing to travel farther to shop. • Higher-order goods and services are available in higher-order central places.

23. Lower-Order FunctionsLower-Order Central Places • Provision of lower-order goods and services • Trade in goods and services that are less valuable and frequently demanded. • Because the goods and services are less valuable, people are willing to travel only short distances to shop. • Lower-order goods and services are available in lower-order central places.

24. Would you travel farther to buy a new car or the week’s groceries? Would you travel farther to see your family physician or a heart specialist? To see a heart specialist To buy a new car Would you travel farther to go to elementary school or to go to high school? To go to high school

25. City: College Town: High School A Hierarchy of Educational Services Village: Elementary School Hamlet: No Schools

26. Stock Exchange Sports Stadium Regional Shopping Mall Major Department Store Income Tax Service Convenience Store Gas Station

27. How big is the trade area of a service center? It depends on . . . - How far a consumer is willing to travel for the service- How many customers a service needs

28. Threshold: the minimum number of people needed to support a central place function With fewer customers a store cannot afford to stay in business. Range: the maximum distance beyond which a person will not travel to purchase a good or service Beyond a certain distance people cannot afford the travel costs. Each central place function has a:

32. K = 3 Hierarchy Marketing Principle K = 4 Hierarchy Transportation Principle K = 7 Hierarchy Administrative Principle

33. K = 3 K = 4 K = 7

34. THE CIRCLE OF INQUIRY Deduction Induction What is? vs. What should be?

35. A WALK ACROSS FRANCE by Miles Morland “We never knew whether or not a village would have a shop or a restaurant, but we were developing a system. We used to look up the population on the map. The IGN puts this in tiny figures next to the village name. Our system went like this:

37. According to Central Place Theory, what should we find about 5.5 miles around Carlisle? • Mount Holly Springs • Boiling Springs • Churchtown • New Kingston • Carlisle Springs • Plainfield • Mount Rock

42. Villages become towns,and towns become cities. The ‘Tween Places

43. Central Places ofIntermetropolitan Corridors Half-way between Washington and Richmond? • Fredericksburg Half-way between Richmond and Norfolk? • Williamsburg Half-way between Washington and Baltimore? • Columbia

44. Why do we not ever see a perfect central place hierarchy? • Physical geography is important! Topography and hydrography interfere. • Consumer behavior is determined by more than economic considerations. • The automobile has made long-distance travel popular (cheap and easy). • People make multiple-purpose shopping trips, often bypassing the smallest places. • The Internet has made it unnecessary to have customers nearby.

45. You were Dutch and needed to settle the newly drained polders of the Zuider Zee? You were Brazilian and needed to settle people on the Amazon frontier? Central Place Theory Central Place Theory You were an archaeologist and wanted to know where to dig next? Central Place Theory