Central Place Theory

Central Place Theory

 Central places theory takes its origin from the

work of the German geographer Walter
Christaller who studied the urban system of
Southern Germany during the 1930s. In the flat
landscape of southern Germany Christaller
noticed that towns of a certain size were
roughly equidistant. By examining and defining
the functions of the settlement structure and
the size of the hinterland he found it possible to
model the pattern of settlement locations using
geometric shapes.

 He was mainly looking for a relationship

between the size, the number of settlements
and the spatial distribution of cities.

 His observations enabled the elaboration of an

important theory of spatial structure and order,
mandatory in the study of urban, economic
and transport geography.
 Central Place Theory
Assumptions:
Christaller made a number of assumptions such as:
•All areas have an isotropic (all flat) surface
•an evenly distributed population
•evenly distributed resources
•similar purchasing power of all consumers and consumers
will patronize nearest market
•transportation costs equal in all directions and
proportional to distance
•no excess profits (Perfect competition)
 Some Terms related to CP Theory

 A Central Place is a settlement which provides one or

more services for the population living around it.
 Simple basic services (e.g. grocery stores) are said to be
of low order while specialized services (e.g. universities)
are said to be of high order.
 Having a high order service implies there are low order
services around it, but not vice versa.
 Settlements which provide low order services are said to
be low order settlements. Settlements that provide high
order services are said to be high order settlements.
 More terminology

• “Higher order” goods and services are those with a

wider range and higher threshold, located in larger
urban centers
• “Lower order” goods and services are those with a
narrower range and lower threshold, located in smaller
urban centers
• “isotropic plain” uniform land surface on which these
ordering principles would generate a hexagonal pattern
of cities
 Details of Theory

The theory consists of two basic concepts:

• Threshold: the minimum population that is required to bring
about the provision of certain good or services

 Range of good or services

-- the average maximum distance people will travel to purchase
goods and services
associated assumptions
variations in range and threshold from person to person
or from culture group to culture group are irrelevant
most people will shop at only one center
 Arrangement of Central Place
As transport is equally easy in all direction,
each central place will have a circular
market area as shown in C in the
following diagram:

However, circular shape of the market

areas results in either un-served areas or
over-served areas. To solve this problem,
Christaller suggested the hexagonal
shape
of the markets as shown in D in the above
diagram. Within a given area there will be
fewer high order cities and towns in
relation to the lower order villages and
hamlets.
For any given order, theoretically the
settlements will be equidistance from
each other.
The higher order settlements will be
further apart than the lower order ones.
Within the central place system, there are
following sizes of communities.
Hypothetical pattern of central places
 Three Principles in the Arrangement of CP theory

Christaller noted three different arrangements of central

places according to the following principles:
1. The marketing principle (K=3 system);
2. The transportation principle (K=4 system);
3. The administrative principle (K=7 system).

The different layouts predicted by Christaller have K-values

which show how much the Sphere of Influence of the
central places takes
The central place itself counts as 1 and each portion of a
satellite counts as its portion.
 Marketing Principles
The marketing or supply principle gives
maximum choice of central places to
individual sub-centres. In this hierarchy the
central place has the allegiance of one third
of each of six sub-centres plus the original
centre, giving a total equivalent of three
dominated centres. Christaller termed this
three the k-value which is the total number of
settlements of a certain order served by a
central place of the next higher order.

However, a major problem here is that of

logistics and transport. In simple terms, the K=3
states that if mumbai / london are the central
places, than they may have a market of 1/3rd
of surrounding areas.
 Transportation Principles
The transporting principle leads to a
hierarchy which minimises the distance
between the sub-centres and the main
centres, with as many important places
as possible lying on one traffic route
between main centres. Thus under the
transporting principle the k-value is four.

According to the transport principle of

central place theory, the arrangement
is of a hexagon and the lower areas are
located at the edge of the hexagon
due to which there is share of market
area of 1/2 of the lower areas in the
central place. For example, if you were
in a Tier 2 city, the Tier 2 city will have
1/2 market area share of the Tier 3 city.
In this case, because of the proximity of
places, the transport is the easiest.
 Administrative Principles
The administrative principle
requires that each centre has
complete control of the six
surrounding sub-centres with no
divided allegiances. In this case
the k-value is seven.
A very simple layout with the
central place connected to
different lower places directly.
Thus the lower places play a
minimal role and the central
place generally takes major
control. A gram panchayat of
India or rural villages abroad are
best examples of the K=7
principle.
 Central Place Theory: Relevance

 A major problem associated with the central place theory is that

it is more applicable in rural areas as compared to urban areas and
it does not take into consideration the complexities in the structure
of Urban areas / towns. And hence it is known as a static theory,
only applicable in scarce situations.
 This is a model, not reality
 Use of hexagons explain hierarchy and interconnectedness of
places
 Originally applied to Germany
 Found to be applicable in China and the Midwestern US