GEOG 217 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Central Place Theory, Walter Christaller, Inverse Relation
18 May 2018
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GEOG 217: January 16th, 2018
- Central Place Theory
o Order of Goods
o Settlement Distribution
- Urban Hierarchies
o Production
- Size/Service Pyramid
- The Rank Size Rule
Urban Patterns and Processes:
Central Place Theory:
- Theory of location
Order of a Good:
- What:
o Good is a commodity, or service
- Low Order Good:
o Example: A cookie
o Not willing to travel very far, but consume very often
▪ Inexpensive and consumed frequently
o Will be located nearby because arent willing to go very far
- High Order Good:
o Example: Sports Car
o Expensive, purchased infrequently
o Willing to go a much further distance
Range of Threshold Diagram:
- Connecting geography with order of good
- Range:
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o The consumer is at the center of the circle and the range is the distance that the
consumer is willing to go
o Low goods have small ranges and high goods have large ranges
- Threshold:
o A business is at the center of the circle and the threshold is the radius around the
business that defines the number of people willing to buy the amount of your
product in order for your business to be supported
o Threshold is greater for high order goods and lower for low order goods
- Example:
o Business is at the center of red circle
o Range: Low Order Good: Will not likely be supported as a business because you have
big threshold and your consumers have small radius
o Range: High Order Good: Will likely be supported as a business because the
consumer is willing to travel farther for the good
- In general, the threshold of the business has to be smaller than the range of the consumer
- Overlapping circles can occur:
o Black circles represent businesses selling the same product
o There are areas where the threshold of the businesses overlaps
▪ End up with hexagons that define market area, so that the market areas
dont have spaces between them
Central Place Theory:
- Walter Christaller (1930s):
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Document Summary
Central place theory: order of goods, settlement distribution. What: good is a commodity, or service. Low order good: example: a cookie, not willing to travel very far, but consume very often. Inexpensive and consumed frequently: will be located nearby because aren(cid:495)t willing to go very far. High order good: example: sports car, expensive, purchased infrequently, willing to go a much further distance. Range: the consumer is at the center of the circle and the range is the distance that the consumer is willing to go, low goods have small ranges and high goods have large ranges. In general, the threshold of the business has to be smaller than the range of the consumer. Walter christaller (1930s): german geographer, he took threshold and range to explain the distribution of cities and towns in. So far have just looked at the theory from the consumption lens, but we need to consider both consumption and production.
