Urban Service Centres

1
Urban Service Centres

• Cities as centres of...
• Control
• Production
• Distribution over a homogenous umland
• uniform distribution pattern

2
Central Place TheoryExplaining the Geography
ofUrban Service Centres

• Model noun, verb, adjective
• Spatial model
• Abstraction
• Simplifying assumptions
• Theoretical basis for urban (Central Place)
  hierarchies
• Walter Christaller The Location of Central Places
  in Southern Germany
• (1933)

3
Simplifying assumptions

• Land Area
• isotropic surface (flat / homogeneous)
• unbounded plain
• no variation in raw material distribution
• equal ease of movement in all directions
• transportation costs proportional to distance

4
Simplifying assumptions

• Population
• Homogeneously distributed
• Homogeneous demand
• Tastes/preferences
• Spending
• Behaviour
• Rational Economic Persons
• aware of alternatives
• producersprofit-maximizers
• consumersoptimizing
• perfectly competitive market

5
Market and Demand

• Market is a point location
• Distributes its goods within a market area.
• Demand for good
• Market price (fob market)
• Cost of transport (to from) market

6
Market location
7
Spatial Demand Cone
Increasing real price
Market location
RANGE The spatial extent of demand before demand
drops to zero
8
Demand zero
9
Important definitions

• Threshold
• minimum DEMAND (volume of sales) needed for a
  business to stay in operation (and make a
  normal profit).
• Range
• maximum distance over which a good can be sold
  from point P (i.e. where real price is low
  enough that people will travel to market to buy
  it)
• Profit R - T
• Threshold and range is the spatial basis for
  profit

10
Implications of the RANGE
Area of Extra Profit
Min area required to stay in business (normal
profits)
Isotropic surface
R
M
? Unmet demand for same good or service
T