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Central Place Theory by srikanth

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Central Place Theory This is theory concerned with the functional importance of places
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Page 1: Central Place Theory by srikanth

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Central Place Theory

This is theory concerned with the

functional importance of places

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Central Place

• -is a settlement that provides goods &

services. It can be small (a village) or 

large (primate city)

• all settlements form a link in a hierarchy

London 7m

Cambridge

108,000

Norwich 122,000

Peterborough

156,000

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Why are there very few

large settlements?

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Settlement hierarchy

• Why are there very few large settlements?

• Large settlements need a very large population

(threshold) to support all of their functions

(services)• Large settlements provide very high order 

functions (Great Ormond St, Houses of 

Parliament). Because these functions are so

highly specialised there is not enough

demand to support more than a few of them

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Sphere of influence

• Is the area around each settlement that

comes under it’s economic, social &

political control.

Reading

Luton

London 7m

Cambridge

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Sphere of influence

• The extent of the sphere of influence will

depend upon the spacing size & functions

of the surrounding central places

Luton

ReadingLondon

Cambridge Norwich

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Central place functions

• These are the goods & services it provides

for local customers & for clients drawn

from it’s wider sphere of influence 

Luton

Reading London

Cambridge

Function= a service

Population size does not necessarily determine the importance

of the central place

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Range & Threshold

• The range of a good or services is the maximumdistance that people are prepared to travel in order toobtain it. (short distances for a low order item e.g.newspaper)

• The threshold of a good or services is the minimumnumber of people required to support it i.e. 2500- doctorssurgery

• 500-primary school/ 25,000-shoe shop 60,000 for a largesupermarket/

• 100,000- large department store/ 1million University

• The more specialised the service the greater thenumber of people needed to make it profitable.

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Range & Threshold

• Low order items (basic items)= newspaper 

• High order items (specialised items)= furniture

• Low order functions (basic services)= corner 

shop/ Primary school• High order functions (specialised services)=

university/ hospital

• Settlements providing low order services = low

order settlements (rural)• Settlements providing high order services= high

order settlements (urban)

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Changes in population size & number of 

functions

• Settlement sizeschange over time (viabirths, deaths,migration)

• Settlement functions(services) changeover time

• Over the past 50yrs inthe UK= decrease inthe no’ of servicesavailable in smallsettlements and anincrease in the no’ of services provided bylarger settlements

Settlement size- increases

   N  u  m   b  e  r

  o   f   f  u  n  c   t   i  o  n  s

1940

1998

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Factors that affect a settlements

number of functions

• Settlement depopulation or increased population

• Greater wealth & mobility means some ruralpopulations no longer visit their own local

services but go further afield seeking servicesfrom higher order settlements

• Domestic changes (deep freezers) means ruralhousehold, no longer make use of daily low

order services (village shop)

Population size does not necessarily determine the

importance of the central place but there is a strong

correlation

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The rules of functional hierarchies

• 1. The larger the settlements are in size, the

fewer in number they will be

• 2. The larger the settlements grow in size the

greater the distance between them• 3. As a settlement increases in size the range

and number of it’s functions will increase 

• 4. As a settlement increases in size, the number of higher-order services will also increase (the

services become more specialised)

(service)

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Walter Christaller’s model of central

places

• The theory states that threshold and range act as lawsthat govern the number, size and distribution of settlements

• When these 2 factors act together they create ahierarchical landscape

• Christaller noticed in the flat land of South Germany thattowns of a certain size were roughly equidistant(uniformly spread)

• He stated that the ideal shape for each towns sphere of influence should be a hexagon because circles either leave gaps (which are unserved by any central place) or they overlap (meaning one area is served by too manycentral places)

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Christaller's central place theory

• Christaller stated that the best shape for a sphere of influence is a hexagon.This shape means that consumers still have accessibility to the highestorder central place and its trading area from all parts of the hexagon.

• Christaller's key idea was that customers would go to the nearest higher order central place to buy goods and services

• High order central places act like a magnet for consumers.

• He called this phenomenon K=3 (or the marketing principle)

• In order to make his theory work Christaller had to make a few assumptions

• He assumed that each trading area had an isotropic surface (that thewhole area was the same all over) i.e.

• the whole area was flat• there was only 1 form of transport (and transport costs were

proportional to distance)

• the population was distributed evenly across the plain

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Source: http://www.uwec.edu/bfoust/155/G155_RS3/sld002.htm

What's wrong with circles?

What’s wrong with circles 

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The areas within the

black dots shows the

sphere of influence

(trading area) of the

largest settlements

Like London

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Example -the highlighted lower order settlement

(village X) will have 1/3 of is consumers go to

the city (settlement A) and 1/3 will go to town Y

and 1/3 will go to town Z (middle order 

settlements)

 All the other lower order settlements (red dots)

will follow the same pattern.

Settlement X

The high order (3rd

order) settlement (A) in

the middle is

surrounded by medium

order settlements

(black dots) and lower 

order settlements

(small red dots). Theseconsumers are

attracted in equal

amounts to whichever 

large central place is

nearby.

K=3 The marketing principle

 Y

Z

Why is K=3 called K=3?

Hint look at the numbers of consumers

who visit the highest order settlement

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K4= The Traffic Principle

In the K=4 model

the lower order 

settlements (red

dots) only have a

choice of 2 higher 

order settlements

to visit, in order to

buy goods andservices.

-Half of them go to

settlement A and

the other half go to

a medium order 

settlement (black

dot)

How did K=4 get its name?

Why is K=4 called the Traffic

Principle (model)

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How the K=4 Traffic principle got it’s name The K=4 model is

called the traffic

principle because the

model shows howconsumers are

influenced in where

they go to shop for 

goods and services by

transport routes

The Crossways

train-line

In this example the low

order settlements (red dots)

are located along a

transport route. This means

that these low order villages

can only visit other settlements that are also on

their transport route. So

they are limited to visiting

the settlement behind them

on the transport route or the

settlement in front of them.

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Why is K7 called K7?

U

V

X

Y

W

Z

 A high order 

central place is

shown.

-All the low order settlements lie

within the

hexagonal trade

area (U,V,W,X,Y)

This model shows a hierarchy of 

control -Lower level settlements are

arranged within the sphere of 

influence of the highest order 

settlement. This is done so that thelower order settlements can be

completely controlled by higher levels. 

K=7 The Administrative

Principle

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The uses of Christaller’s central

place model

• The model is often used by governmentsto plan the location of new towns (i.e.Milton Keynes) and high order services i.e.

hospitals• It is used by transport authorities to plan

transport routes( so that all areas haveequal access i.e. K4 model)

• Businesses can use the model to decidewhere to locate a new shop

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Limitations of Christaller's model

• Few real-life regions fit Christaller's model (except the flat lands of the Dutch Polders and East Anglia in the UK)

• The problem lies in the basic assumptions of the model:

• People do not always go to the nearest central place (they may

chose a new edge of city superstore further away) So the K3 theorywouldn’t work. 

• Large areas of flat land rarely exist. Mountains & hills etc distorttransport routes (so the K4 theory wouldn’t work) 

• People and wealth are not evenly distributed (if poorer people live ina certain area & their nearest high order settlement is expensive

then they won’t visit it)

• Governments often control where new towns are located, not marketforces (i.e. not necessarily where the demand for goods andservices is highest)

Hill

Train-line


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