This document discusses several theories related to the location and classification of urban settlements: 1. It describes Christaller's central place theory which proposes that settlements are organized in a hierarchical pattern based on their functions and market areas. 2. It also explains Zipf's rank-size rule which observes that the population of a settlement can be predicted based on its rank compared to other settlements. 3. Jefferson's law of the primate city holds that in many countries, the largest city is more than twice as large as the second largest city due to factors like colonialism, centralized government, and rural-urban migration.

1. Ch.6 Locations, spacing, size and functions of
urban settlements
Urbanization and urban Growth :
1. Urbanization
2. Urban size
3. Urban growth

2. The Present World Pattern of
urbanization
• 1. Highly urbanized regions(over 65%
urbanized)
• Moderately urbanized lands (35% - 65%)
• Less urbanized lands (below 35% urbanized)

4. Settlement Classification
• 1. Types of settlement
• 2. Classification of settlements by size
• 3. Classification of settlements by form
~ Isolated dwelling
~ Hamlet
~ Small Village
~ Large Village

5. ~ Town
~ City
~ Conurbation
~ Megalopolis

6. 4. Classification of settlements by function
Central place
function
Transport functions
Special function

7. Urban Functions and Locational
Factors
• 1. Commercial functions and locational
factors
~ Route intersections
~ Valley confluences
~ Junction of highland and lowland
~ lowest bridging point on a river
~ Head of estuary

8. 2. Commercial ports and locational
factors
• Commercial ports
• Outports
• Fishing ports
• Ferry ports/packet stations

9. 3. Industrial functions and
locational factors
• Primary industry
• Secondary industry
• Tertiary industry

10. 4. Cultural and religious functions
• Education
• Religion

11. 5. Tourist functions and resorts
• Coasts
• Fashion
• Spas
• History

12. • Administrative
functions
• Residential function
• Diversified function

13. 1. Christaller’s Central Place Theory
• It is a theory stating that there was a pattern
to the distribution and location of
settlements of different sizes, and a pattern
in the way in which they provided services to
the inhabitants living within their sphere of
influence.

14. 2. Main aim
• The main aim of central place theory is
to explain the spatial organization of
settlements and hinterlands, in
particular their relative location and size

15. 3. Assumption
• Unbounded uniform plain
• Uniform population distribution
• Central place function
• Consumers minimize travel
• Suppliers act as economic men
• High order/low order centres co-exists
• Uniform consumer income and demand

16. 4. Principles
• Market threshold
• Range of a good
5. Hierarchy of services and central place
~ the comparsion of high order centres and low
order centres

17. • The marketing principle (k=3 network)
• The traffic principle ( k=4 network )
• The administrative principle (k=7network)

18. 5. Application of Christaller’s model
• Southern Germany
• Southern and eastern Australia
• South-west Wisconsin and southern England

19. 6. Criticisms of Christaller’s central place theory
• Isotropic surfaces
• Modern technology
• Population
• Non-service centre
• Overlapping market areas
• Multi-purpose shopping
• Mobility of people

20. • Influence of government and planning
agencies
• Statics theory
• Applicability
• Spacing of settlements

21. Contribution of the central place theory
• Christaller’s theory though hypothetical, theoretical
and unrealistic, is still valuable as it illustrates the
notion that urban networks are orderly systems and
not just random arrangements
• The theory has stimulated work on retailing and
consumer behaviour between settlements ,and
within them,which is useful for town planning and
economic development

22. Zipf’s Rank Size Rule
• 1. Introduction
Zipf’s observed the size and number of
settlements in various countries. He noticed a
common characteristic which has been called
the rank-size rule. Having observed this order
in the real world, he then sought to explain it.
The rank-size rule is an empirical regularity

23. 2. Main aim
• The main aim of the rank-size rule is to find
regularities concerning the characteristics of
settlements in various countries,and to fit a
graphical description to the size distribution
of cities

24. 3. The rank-size rule
• The settlements within a defined area are ranked in
descending order according to the size of their
population
• The size of a particular town can be predicted by
observing its rank and the size of the largest city in
the area
• The town’s population is derived by dividing the
largest city’s population by the town’s rank

25. • Pr P1/r or pr=p1(r )-1
Where p is the population
r is the rank
p1 is the population of the first-ranked
city
pr is the population of the rth ranked city

26. 4. Explanations of the rank-size
rule
• 1. Diversification and unification
• Minimizing costs and maximizing efficiency

27. 5. Present day examples fitting the rule
• Modern American cities comply to a great
extent with the rank-size rule
• Chicago is smaller than expected, but in
general the rule fits

28. 6. Present day examples not fitting the rule
• In Australia, there is a large gap between the
“primate” or largest city and lower ranked
cities. There is a deviation from the ideal
straight rank-size line.This is because in
Australia, the state capitals dominate each
state’s territory

29. 7. Validity of the rank-size rule
• There is no reason why towns and cities
should conform to this rule
• There are problems involved in accurately
delimiting both urban and regional
boundaries when testing the rule

30. 8. Comparison between central place theory and rank-
size rule
• Christaller- functional classes or orders
• Zipf- concerned with ranking urban centres in
descending order of population size
• Central Place theory is deductive while rank-size
rule is generally observed phenomenon is inductive
and empirical
• The central place theory concerned with a regional
scale while rank-size rule is applies to a national
scale

31. Jefferson’s Metropolitan Primacy (Law
of the Primate City)
• 1. Introduction
Mark Jefferson discovered that in many
countries, in terms of population, the
leading city is more than twice as large
as the second city. In 1939, Jefferson
formulated “the law of the primate city”

32. The law of the primate city
• A primate city is one which far out-ranks all
other cities of the country in which it is
located,in terms of population, commercial
activities, industrial output and political
influences

33. 3.Examples of primate city
• The law of the primate city is mainly
applicable to agricultural based, developing
countries.It will show following
characteristics
- small territorial extent
- Relatively high population densities
- Low per capita income

34. • A high degree of dependence upon
agricultural exports
• High rates of population growth
• A former colonial status

35. 4. Factors giving rise to a primate city
• Spread of colonialism
• Strong centralized government
• Economic factors
• Industrial agglomeration
• Rural-urban migration
• Efficiency of modern transport