WALTER CHRISTALLER’S

HEXAGON CENTRAL PLACE THEORY

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• (1893 – 1969), was a German geographer whose principal contribution to the discipline is Central Place Theory [1], first published in 1933. This groundbreaking theory was the foundation of the study of cities as systems of cities, rather than simple hierarchies or single entities.

• Life• Before 1914, Christaller began studies in philosophy and political economics and

subsequently served in the army; later, during the twenties, he pursued a variety of occupations. In 1929 he resumed graduate studies that led to his famous dissertation on Central Place Theory in 1933.

• At the end of the 1930s he held a short-lived academic appointment, but then joined the Nazi Party in 1940. He moved into government service, in Himmler's SS-Planning and Soil Office, during the Second World War. Christaller’s task was to draw up plans for reconfiguring the economic geography of Germany's eastern conquests ("General plan of the East") – primarily Czechoslovakia and Poland, and if successful, Russia itself. Christaller was given special charge of planning occupied Poland, and he did so using his central place theory as an explicit guide. [2]

• After the War he joined the Communist Party and became politically active. In addition, he devoted himself to the geography of tourism. From 1950 forward, his Central Place Theory was used to restructure municipal relationships and boundaries in the Federal Republic of Germany and the system is still in place today.

HEXAGON CP THEORY

K-4 Transport Principle

ASSUMPTIONS:• UNBOUNDED LIMITLESS FLAT

SURFACE

• EVENLY DISTRIBUTED POPULATION

• EVENLY DISTRIBUTED RESOURCES

• CONSUMERS HAVE SIMARILAR PURCHASING POWER & DEMAND FOR GOODS & SERVICES

ASSUMPTIONS:• NO COMPANY IS ABLE TO EARN EXCESS

PROFIT$.

• TRADE AREAS OF CENTRAL PLACES MUST ALL BE OF EQUAL SIZE.

• THERE IS ONLY ONE TYPE OF TRANSPORT

• THE LONGER THE DISTANCE TRAVELED, THE HIGHER THE TRANSPORT COST.

Threshold & range

• Threshold is the minimum market (population or income) needed to purchase goods and services.

• Range in the maximum distance consumers are prepared to travel to acquire goods.

• The result of consumer preferences is a system of centers of various sizes will emerge.

• Each center supplies particular goods forming levels of hierarchy.

• Generalizations can be made regarding SPACE, SIZE, and FUNCTION of settlements.

• There are many small villages, but few large cities.

• Villages are usually found close together, while cities are space much further apart

As a settlement increases in size . .

• the range and number of its functions will increase

• the number of high-order services will also increase – a greater degree of specialization occurs.

• The higher the order of goods and services the longer the distance people are willing to travel to acquire them.

EXAMPLES OF LOW ORDER GOODS

• Newspaper stalls• groceries• Bakeries• Post offices• Drug stores• Fast food• motels

• Supported by smaller threshold populations

EXAMPLES OF HIGH ORDER GOODS

• Jewellery• Large shopping malls• Huebner Oaks movie

theater• Professional sports• Symphony• Museums• 5 Star restaurants &

hotels

• Supported by larger threshold population

FACTORS SHAPING A MARKET AREA

• LAND USE – industrial areas proved little in the way of a consuming population

• ACCESSIBILITY – can limit the extent of center’s market area

• COMPETITION – limits the extent of market areas in all directions

• TECHNOLOGY – automobiles allows overlapping of market areas

CRITICISM• It is static and does not incorporate the

temporal aspect in the development of central places.

• Does not help explain the development of industrial or postindustrial areas due to their diversified nature of various services or their varied distribution of natural resources.