Location, spacing and size of settlements

Introduction to concepts of Central Place Theory

Central place

A place where services and functions concentrate together

Function

The number of goods and services that a settlement provides for the people.

What is an urban hierarchy?

It refers to the grouping together of urban areas (central places) and their trade areas into distinctive levels or orders of functional importance, according to the number of functions and size of trade areas.

There are progressively fewer central places of higher orders.

Urban hierarchy

Shek O Village

Shaukeiwan Town

Tai Koo City

Causeway Bay

Regional centre

Central / TST CBD

Different sizes of urban settlements

Arranged hierarchically

Stepped distribution of urban settlements

progressive increase in population

(or size of trading area) increase in the number

and order of functions (goods/services)

increase in spacing, and

decrease in number of urban settlements

How is the urban hierarchy formed?

Threshold Range Size Location Spacing Number Order

Different types of shops

What are major differences between these shops?

Consider:

Price of goods

Variety of goods

Who will go to buy?

Where are they from?

Comparison

Shops in Mongkok Cheaper Smaller variety of good

s Low-/ middle- income g

roup From the neighbourhoo

d or surrounding areas

Shops in Central More expensive Wider variety of

goods Higher-income group

Tourists or people from anywhere in Hong Kong

Quick survey Rank each item in the order

of frequency that you buy/visit it.

Now try to explain the link between the prices of these goods or services and how often you replace them or make a return visit.

What are the relationships between cost, frequency of use and the distance you are prepared to travel?

Sweets A CD A pair of jeans Aftershave or perfume A magazine or newspaper A pair of shoes A restaurant A library A new coat A soft drink A cinema A concert hall A present for someone else

Toiletries

Jewels and ornaments

High-quality furniture

Answer these questions.

Which type of goods requires longer physical distance from your home?

Which type of goods requires shorter physical distance from your home?

Why do you have to travel for so long? Why the goods you need are not sold in your

neighbourhood?

Range of goods

The maximum distance over which people will travel to purchase goods or to obtain a service offered by a central place.

Usually higher-order goods have longer range of goods

Lower-order goods have shorter range of goods

low-order goods / services

Goods / services required regularly by most of the population

Examples: daily necessities, foodstuffs sold at the market

Examples: primary schooling, postage

How many of the following facilities are provided in your neighbourhood?

Library Swimming pool Museum Theatre Sports centre City hall / town hall Large stadium

Why are these services not available in your neighbourhood?

Insufficient population to support the services May lose money / can’t make profits Not economical enough

Threshold population

The minimum no. of people needed to support a function

Urban Growth vs UrbanizationNumber of Shop

Bremaer Hill City Plaza Causeway Bay

General Store

Bakery

Clothes

Jewelry

Dentist

Which type of shop is the lowest order?

Which type of shop is the highest order?

Low order goods High order goodsConsumableBuy frequentlyLow priceNecessities

DurableBuy occasionallyHigh priceluxury

Which shopping center is the highest order?

Threshold Population

Town Population School Bank Cinema F. S.

XABCDEFGH

106,00060,00042,00018,00015,00014,00012,000

9,0009,000

241713323221

191411432232

8421

722

Scatter Diagram

Population

No. of School

Mean Population Threshold

entestablishm ofnumber Total

population Total

Market threshold is the minimum population that a kind of goods or service needed to maintain its business.

Market threshold and market area of a cinema are than a school because

School is daily necessity Students go to school every day People only go to cinema occasionally Therefore, school is lower order service It needs a smaller market threshold When population is evenly distributed A smaller market area can get the

minimum population for a school

larger

Range of Goods

Range of goods is the maximum distance people are willing to travel for getting a kind of goods or service.

shop

Market area

Market Boundary

Why is the market boundaries are not of

equal distance from town X ? There is no uniform plain Population is not evenly distributed There is variation in relief The friction of distance(in terms of time,

cost and convenience) over rugged relief Transport network is not the same in

different directions Presence of competition People are not all economic rational

Christaller's ideas of Central Place Theory Goods and services are of different

orders Higher order goods needs a larger

market threshold Consumers are willing to travel longer

distance to obtain higher order goods Therefore, higher order goods has a

larger market area/sphere of influence/complimentary area

Christaller's ideas of Central Place Theory A centre will provide goods and services

of different orders Higher order centre will provide a

greater range of goods and services, including low order to high order goods and services

of goods and services of goods and services

of settlements of settlements of settlements of settlements

Urban hierarchy

Urban hierarchy

thresholdrange

size spacing order number