1. A-Level Geography Seminar Central Place Theory: The Theory, its limitations and Applications
Dr Jianfa Shen
Department of Geography and Resource Management
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography

2. Central place theory: Basic concepts
Developed by Walter Christaller in 1933 “Central Places in southern Germany”.
It is a deductive theory to explain the number, location, size, spacing and functions of settlements in terms of the services they performed for surrounding hinterlands.
Central place: a service center, a settlement providing a range of goods and services to the surrounding areas.
Centrality: the functions or services provided by central place.
The higher the centrality of a central place is, the more the variety of services and the higher the order of services it provides.
Hinterlands: the market areas covered by the services of central places that may include smaller central places.
The higher the centrality of a central place is, the larger the hinterland.
Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography

3. Assumption of idealized landscape
An uniform transportation surface, the relative accessibility between any two points is a direct function of their distance.
Population is evenly distributed.
The goods and services are only provided in central places
Each point has an equal chance of receiving a central place
Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography

4. Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography
Service ranges
Upper limit of the range:
the maximum distance (r) a consumer will travel to a center to obtain goods, the maximum area to be served from a center will be a circular region of radius r.
Lower limit of the range:
the minimum radius (r’) of a circular service area with sufficient population (threshold population) to generate sufficient demands to make the central place economically viable to provide the service.
Example:
Key maker services
Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography

5. Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography
Service ranges
Lower-order service
Smaller upper limit and lower limit
Smaller market area
Low-order center
Higher-order service
Larger upper limit and lower limit
Larger market area
High-order center
The size of market area will be between the lower and upper limits
Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography

6. Market areas: Circle or square?
Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography

7. Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography
Market areas: Hexagon?
Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography

8. Deriving the highest-order central places
The upper limit of the highest order services is used to obtain the area for central places ranked ‘B’ to meet marketing principle a ;
Each central place serves a circular area with radius ‘r’ and the distance between any two central places is 2r; but some areas are not served;
To meet marketing principle b, a modified structure of overlapping circles is necessary. Assume consumers go to the nearest central place, exclusive regular hexagonal areas are obtained as the service areas for B centers.
Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography

9. Deriving the lower-order central places
For goods and services with a smaller upper limit of range (e), some areas cannot be served by B centers, thus lower-order K centers are needed;
To be most competitive with B centers, these K centers will be located in the center of areas not served with maximum distance to all B centers;
These K centers are also the corners of the hexagonal areas of B centers;
Each B center service area will cover three K center service areas, this was called k=3 framework.
Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography

10. Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography
Central Place Theory
K=3
Marketing principle
K=4
Transport principle
K=7 Administration principle
Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography

11. Contributions of central place theory
It defines the ideal pattern of central places and explains why an urban hierarchy may exist in the reality.
A small number of high-order centers serve large hinterland;
Many low-order centers serve small hinterland.
It provides a basis for planning the size and spacing of centers in newly-developing areas.
Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography

12. Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography
Limitations
An uniform transportation surface, the relative accessibility between any two points is a direct function of their distance.
In reality, there are transport routes and natural barriers like rivers and coastal lines. Accessibility is different over space
Population is evenly distributed.
In reality, population density is uneven. Other than services, population is also related to manufacturing activities.
Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography

13. Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography
Limitations
Each point has an equal chance of receiving a central place
Physical conditions, historical legacy and government policy may favour particular locations.
Above factors will distort the ideal size, location and spacing of central places.
Highest-order center offers all the low-order services
Some low-order service may not be offered in highest-order center
The centers of the same order will offer same range of services
The services offered by the centers of the same order may be different
Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography

14. Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography
Limitations
Discrete distribution of the size of central places
Number of central places by order in K=3 system
1, 2, 6, 18, 54, 162, 486, …
Real urban system is the result of SPACIAL PROCESSES and the Physical, Historical conditions and Policies.
Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography

15. Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography
Applications
The impact of increased population density or increased income of population
Consumer expenditure will increase
Further high-order services will be required
Increase the potential number of levels of hierarchy
Increase the degree of functional specialization of the highest-order center
Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography

16. Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography
Applications
The impact of improved transportation on central place system
Population mobility increased
People are willing to travel longer to obtain services
Market area of a central place will expand
Restructuring of central places, some have to be closed.
Dr Shen Jianfa CUHK Geography