Study on Central place theory

1. C E N T R A L
P L A C E
T H E O RY
P R E S E N T E D B Y :
K . T H A N U J A - 3 1 8 1 0 6 1 0 1 0 1 1
G A N E S H P R AV E E N - 3 1 8 1 0 6 1 0 1 0 3 0

2. CHRISTALLER’S MODEL OF
CENTRAL PLACE THEORY
• Name- Walter Christaller
• He was a German geographer.
• In 1933, he published a book to demonstrate a sense of
order in the spacing and function of settlements.
• It was based on Bavaria South Germany.
• Christaller attempted to design a model that would show how
and where central places in the urban hierarchy would be
functionally and spatially distributed.

3. INTRODUCTION
• Central place theory in geography an element of location theory
based on the size and distribution of settlements within a system.
• Central-place theory attempts to illustrate:
how settlements locate in relation to one another,
the amount of market area a central place
why some central places function as hamlets, villages, towns, or cities
• Central place theory is a spatial theory in urban geography that attempts
to explain the reasons behind the distribution patterns, size, and number
of cities and towns around the world.
• It also attempts to provide a framework by which those areas can be
studied both for historic reasons and for the locational patterns of areas
today.

4. WHAT IS CENTREL PLACE THEORY?
• It is a settlement that provides goods and services. It can be small village
or large primate city. All these settlements form a link in a hierarchy.
• 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 lower order
while specialized services (e.g. universities) are said to be high order.
• Having a high order service implies there are low order services around
it, but not vice versa.
• The sphere of influence is the area under the influence of the central
place.

5. WHAT IS CENTREL PLACE THEORY?
• Urban hierarchy is based on the functions available in a city.
• Every urban center has an economic reach.
• Functions and services attract people from the urban areas as well as
the hinterlands
• Central places compete with each other to provide goods and services
• Economic reach is a measure of centrality.
• Centrality is crucial to the development of urban places and their
service areas.
• Hinterland refers to the area surrounding a service from which
consumers are drawn

6. RANGE AND THRESHOLD
• The theory consists of two basic concepts:
1. Range
2. Threshold
• Range is the average maximum distance people will travel for their
service.
• Threshold is the minimum number of people required to support the
service.
• Low range and threshold goods are sold in small towns, villages etc.
• Higher ranges and threshold are sold in large towns.
• Range is the maximum distance people are willing to travel to use a
service. Threshold is the minimum number of people required to support
the service.

7. RANGE AND THRESHOLD
• Settlements which provides low order services are said to be low order
settlements
Low order services- newspapers
Low order functions- local shops, Primary schools
• Settlements which provides high order services are said to be high order
settlements.
High order services- Furnitures
High order functions- University, Hospitals

8. BUILDING THE THEORY
To develop the theory, Christaller made the following simplifying assumptions:
All areas have:
• an unbounded isotropic homogeneous, limitless surface with abstract space.
• an evenly distributed population
• all settlements are equidistant and exist in a triangular lattice pattern
• evenly distributed resources
• distance decay mechanism
• perfect competition and all sellers are economic people maximizing their profits
• consumers are of the same income level and same shopping behaviour
• All customers have a similar purchasing power and demand for goods and services.
• Consumers visit the nearest central places that provide the function which they demand.
They minimize the distance to be travelled.

9. HIERARCHY OF
SETTLEMENTS
• Hamlet: fewest goods and services available.
• Village: includes the region of the hamlet and some
additional goods and services
• Town: includes the region of the village and hamlet and
provides some additional goods and services.
• City: includes the region of the village, hamlet and town and
provides additional goods and services.

10. CENTRAL PLACE THEORY FIVE
ASSUMPTIONS
• The surface of the ideal region would be flat and have no physical
barriers.
• Soil fertility would be universal.
• Population, purchasing power evenly distributed.
• Uniform transport network that permitted direct travel from each
settlement to the other.
• Constant maximum distance or range for the sale of any good or service
produced in a town prevailed in all directions from the town center.

11. WALTER CHRISTALLER’S MODEL OF
CENTRAL PLACE THEORY
• The theory was originally published in 1933 by a German geographer Walter
Christaller who studied the settlement patterns in southern Germany.
• Walter Christaller attempted to design a model that would show how and where
central places in the urban hierarchy would be functionally and spatially
distributed.
• The theory states that threshold and range acts as laws that govern the number, size
and distribution of settlements.
• These factors actually create hierarchical landscape.
• He stated that the ideal shape for each towns sphere should be hexagon shape.
This suggests that within a given area there will be fewer high order settlements in
relation to lowerorder settlements.
It also suggests that theoretically settlements are equidistance from each other, higher
order settlements are further away from each other

13. ARRANGEMENT OF CENTRAL PLACES

14. THREE PRINCIPLES IN THE
ARRANGEMENT OF CENTRAL
PLACE THEORY
• 1. The marketing principle (K=3 system)
• 2. The transportation principle (K=4 system)
• 3. The administrative principle (K=7 system)

15. PRINCIPALS OF CENTRAL PLACE
THEORY

16. • Marketing Principle: If the distribution is entirely based on the range of the good,
then
it would result in evenly spaced central places with hexagonal markets area.
• Traffic Principle: If any central place (city) is smaller in size than expected than it be
because of lower accessibility (not falling on major transport route) and vice-versa
• Administrative Principle: Spacing and sizing of Central places can sometimes be
distorted
due to socio-political consideration.
• The different layouts predicted by Christaller have K- values which show how much the
Sphere of Influence of the central places takes in - the central place itself counts as ONE
and
each portion of a satellite counts as its portion:
• 1. Marketing Principle (K=3)

17. MARKETING PRINCIPLE
• According to the marketing principle K = 3,
• The market area of a higher-order place(node) occupies 1/3rd of the
market area of each of the consecutive lower size place(node) which lies
on its neighbors.
• The lower size nodes (6 in numbers and 2nd larger circles) are located at
the corner of a largest hexagon around the high-order settlement.
• Each high-order settlements gets 1/3rd of each satellite settlement
(which are 6 in total)
• However, although in this K = 3
• Marketing network, the distance travelled is minimized.

18. • The lower size nodes (6 in no. and 2 larger circle)are located at the
corner of a largest hexagon around the high-order settlement.
• It serves 1/3 (6 settlements)+1=3 times its own population and area
Thus with one at the highest seventh order the no. are 1, 2, 6, 18, 54,
162 and 486

19. TRANSPORTATION PRINCIPAL
• As an alternate arrangement, Christaller suggested that central
places could be organized according to what he called the
transport principle.
• In Christaller’s K=4 model, The criterion is to minimize the
length of roads to join all adjacent pairs of central places.
• It serves 12 (of 6 settlements)+1 =4 times the population area
of a lower order c e n t r e
• The no. of settlements is thus greater than in K=3 (in the ratio 1,
2, 8, 32, 128, 512 and 2048)

20. ADMINISTRATIVE PRINCIPAL
• Settlements are nested according to seven (K=7)
• The market areas of the smaller settlements are completely
enclosed within the market area of the larger settlements.
• Christaller suggested that an arrangement whereby lower
order centres were entirely with the hexagon of the higher
order centres would obviate such problems.
Such a pattern is shown in the following diagram.
• Efficient administration is the control principle in this hierarchy
• Sequence-1, 6, 42, 294, 1058, 14406 & 100842 settlements

21. EVALUATION OF CENTRAL PLACE THEORY
• The pattern of cities predicted by central place theory may not hold
because of the failure to meet initial assumptions.
1. Production costs may vary not only because of economies of scale but
also by natural resource endowments. (i.e. not a homogeneous plain)
2. Transportation costs are not equal in all directions.
3. Rural markets (initially households) are not evenly distributed.
4. Non economic factors (culture, politics, leadership) may be important
but not
evenly distributed.
5. Competitive practices may lead to freight absorption and phantom
freight (other forms of imperfect competition)

22. ADVANTAGES OF CENTRAL PLACE
THEORY
• The theory does a reasonably good job of describing the spatial
pattern of urbanization. No other economic theory explains why there
is a hierarchy of urban centres.
• Central place theory does a good job of describing the location of trade
and service activity.
• It also does a good job of describing consumer market oriented
manufacturing
• Trade and service activity has an increasing relevance as the U.S.
economy shifts from manufacturing to services over time.
• Small-town community economic developers can secure quite
specific, relevant information about what kind of trade or service
enterprise will likely work, and what kind of enterprise will not li kely
work in a given small community.

23. LIMITATIONS OF THEORY
• Large areas of flat land rarely exist-transport is uneven.
• There are many forms of transportation- cost cannot be proportional to
distance
• People and wealth are not evenly distributed
• People do not always to the nearest place.
• Purchasing power of people differs.
• Perfect competition is unreal-some make more money than others.
• Shopping habits have changed.
• Theory sees the central place as having a particular function-in reality,
places have several which changes over time.

24. CENTRAL PLACE THEORY: CRITICISM
• An isotropic surface is ideal rarely found in the world.
• The behavior of consumers and sellers is not always rational
• The hexagonal pattern of central places is rarely found in real life
• This theory is primarily suitable for agriculture regions and it doesn’t
account for the impact of industrial agglomerations and govt. policies
• The fixed value of ‘K’ shows poor approx. with reality

25. CHRISTALLER’S MODEL WILL NEVER BE
FOUND IN REAL WORLD
• Large areas of flat land are rare, with the presence of relief barriers
channelling transport in certain directions
• Government intervention can dictate the location of industry
• Perfect competition is unreal with some firms making more money than
others.
• People vary their shopping trends, not always going to the nearest
centre People or resources are never perfectly distributed Christaller
envisaged each centre with a particular function whereas they have
many which change over time

26. “MODELS ARE NOT REAL, BUT THEY HELP
US UNDERSTAND REALITY.”
THANK YOU