Models of Urban Distribution and Location

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Models of Urban Distribution and Location
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Rank-Size Rule

• Ideal urban system
• Population of a city is inversely proportional to
  its rank in the hierarchy
• 1/R x Population of Largest City
• R rank

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Major US Cities
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Does the Rank-Size Rule Hold?
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Rank-Size Rule

• Seems to hold true for mature urban systems (like
  the United States)
• Does not hold true for many developing countries
• Primate city

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What about location?

• How far would you be willing to travel for
• A bagel?
• A rock concert?

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Central Place Theory

• Walter Christaller (1933)
• How would cities (market centers) be distributed
  in the ideal?
• Assumptions
• Featureless (isotropic) plain
• Evenly distributed population/resources
• Consumers have similar means/tastes

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Central Place Theory

• Hierarchy of goods
• Range of a good
• How far one is willing to travel
• Threshold of a good
• How much population you need to support production

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Central Place Theory

• The larger the center, the fewer in the system
• Centers distinguished by goods available there
• Orders of goods

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Central Place Theory

• The highest order center will provide all goods
  in the system
• Lower orders only certain goods
• So what is the best way to represent the
  distribution of market centers.

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Marketing Principle
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Transport Principle
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Administrative Principle
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