Central+Place+Theory

Central Place Theory

A German geographer named Walter Christaller created the Central Place Theory in 1933; his theory is a spatial theory that attempts to explain the reasons behind the distribution patterns, size and number of cities and towns in a region. He began to recognize economic relationships between cities and the areas farther away from the main cities. His conclusion after studying southern Germanic cities was that people come together in cities to share goods and ideas and that cities only exist for purely economic reasons. The city is a distribution center, only there to provide goods and services to its surrounding populations.

Assumptions: - The land is flat, with no barriers to impede trade and peoples' movement. - Humans will always purchase goods from the closest place that offers it - Whenever demand for a particular good is HIGH, it will be offered in close proximity to populations. When demand DROPS or is LOW, so is the availability of the good or service.

Important Aspects: __Threshold__: minimum number of people needed for a central place business to remain open and prosperous. __Low-Order Goods__: items that are replenished frequently (i.e. food, routine household items) __High-Order Goods__: specialized items not quickly and easily obtained (i.e. automobiles, furniture)

Low-order goods can be sold anywhere because they are bought frequently; therefore, businesses selling these items can be located in smaller towns with less people. High-order goods are not bought as often and require a larger threshold than low-order; businesses selling high-order goods must locate to larger cities where a greater amount of people live and will buy their products.

The Five Sizes of Communities: - Hamlet: smallest; rural community; too small to be considered a village (ex. Cape Dorset, Nunavut, Canada--1200 people) - Village - Town - City - Regional Capital: cities that provide the highest-order goods possible and have an enormous hinterland (areas outside the city--outskirts) (ex. Paris, France; Los Angeles, California)

Central Place Theory is widely used to explain the relationships between the separate urban areas and is used to assist urban geographers in studying modern cities and how they interact. Citations: [] []

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