Central Place Theory

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Central Place Theory

• Christaller

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What are services?

• Labor more important, but fewer unions
• More women (pink-collar workers)
• Tertiary, quaternary, or quinary
• Where are services?
• From local to global
• More developed more service jobs
• Post-industrial economies

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Central place theory

• How are services distributed?
• Why does a regular pattern exist?
• How are large and small cities connected?
• Central place market center for region

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Central place theory

• Range how far are you willing to travel for a
  service?
• Threshold how many customers do you need?
• Assume shortest distance possible
• Market area, not city size, matters

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Central place theory

• Hexagonal market areas
• Cover all space
• No overlap
• First order largest threshold and range
• Second order, etc.

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First order
Range
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First order
Range
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First order
New range
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First order
Second order
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First order
Second order
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New range
First order
Second order
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New range
First order
Second order
Third order
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First order
Second order
Third order
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First order
Second order
Third order
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Central place theory

• Accessibility based on time, not distance
• Administrative principle
• Political boundaries affect consumers
• Lower taxes, more permissive rules

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So what?

• Model for regional development
• Explains decline as well as growth
• Neighborhood or city scale
• The point is not the hexagons, but the hierarchy
  and interconnectedness of places

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Central Place Theory in Action
A real example in Wisconsin between Eau Claire
and Madison
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A pilot study proved that the location,
distribution, and type of business advertised on
billboards along Interstate Highway 94 between
Madison and Eau Claire in Wisconsin significantly
demonstrated the concepts of the Central Place
Theory. To simplify (and demonstrated in Figure
1), Central Place Theory states that a customer
will travel farther to purchase a product that is
unique or scarce (Foust and deSouza, 1978).
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The pilot study showed that fast food restaurants
and gas stations tended to advertise between
interstate interchanges the majority of
billboards advertising gas stations and fast food
establishments were located at the next exit.
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On the other hand, billboards advertising ski
hills, the Wisconsin Dells, and House on the Rock
(recreation venues) advertised much farther away
from the destination (Figure 2). This implies
that a much greater threshold number of customers
was necessary to make these businesses
profitable.
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Figure 2