HUMAN SETTLEMENTS
2 Main Approaches
Study of settlements as separate entities
Study of settlements as parts of a system of social environments
studying Hierarchies, Spacing, and Area of influence.
Typology:
Temporary or Permanent
Rural or Urban
Factors influencing the nucleation of settlements include:
Arable land,
Natural Defenses,
Availability of water (Dry or Swampy area).
HUMAN SETTLEMENTS
Classification:
Size,
Form,
Function
Types of Human Settlements
1) Homesteads/Hamlets 2) Villages 3) Towns and 4)
Cities and 5) Mega-Cities and Metropolitan Regions.
Central Place Theory
Walter Christaller
Pub. date 1933
Description of Central Place Theory:
By Walter Christaller, a German geographer.
Describes the pattern of Economic Relationships
between cities and their surrounding regions, using
geometric shapes (Hexagons)
Case study: small towns in South Germany.
Region with relatively flat terrain,
Settlements relatively equidistant to each other.
Central Place Theory
Walter Christaller
Relationships explained: -
a) Size, b) Spacing, c) Location and d) Functional content.
The System is based in the hierarchy of three orders-
Hamlet.
Village.
Town.
Objective of the theory: - to create a system that provides
maximum coverage with a minimum number of supply points.
Central Place Theory
Walter Christaller
Basic Assumptions of the CPT (about the Terrain)
An isotropic (flat) countryside, with no barriers to movement
An evenly distributed rural farming population
Evenly distributed resources.
Transportation costs are equal in all directions and
proportional to distance.
Central Place Theory
Walter Christaller
Basic Assumptions of the CPT (Human Behaviour)
• Similar purchasing power of all consumers
• Consumers will travel the shortest possible distance to
goods and services
• No excess profits (Perfect competition)
• Supply of any good will taper off when the demand of the
good drops off below a certain Threshold
(existence of the economic threshold break-even)
• All players’ in the model (consumers and suppliers) are
rational and knowledge of all options are always available
to consumers (Perfect model).
Central Place Theory
Walter Christaller
Two basic concepts of the Theory:
• Threshold
The minimum population that is required to bring
about the provision of certain good or service
• Range of goods or services
The average maximum distance people will travel
to purchase goods and services
Central Place Theory
The Central Place is the point of focus for a given surrounding
zone or ‘field’ non-urban communities that depend on the
nearest Central Place to access goods.
CPT relates the hierarchy of settlements to the economic
relationship, each settlement level provides goods of different
thresholds, providing Low Order goods or High Order goods.
Criteria: for determining the Central Place was the
concentration of telephone exchanges, but more modern ideas
of centrality include quantity of sales, numbers of retail and
wholesale outlets.
Central Place Theory
Key Terminology-
Central Place, Low order goods, High order goods, Sphere of Influence
A Central Place is a settlement which provides services for its
surrounding population.
Low Order Goods- Simple basic services and goods that require
frequent replenishing and low unit cost (e.g. grocery stores)
High Order Goods- Specialized services and goods (e.g. universities,
Furniture sets, luxury cars etc). These typically have high unit costs, and
only replenished occasionally
Having a high order service implies there are low order services
around it, but not vice versa.
Central Place Theory
Key Terminology-
Settlements which provide low order services are low order
settlements.
Settlements that provide high order services are high order
settlements.
The Sphere of Influence is the area under influence of the
Central Place.
Central Place Theory
Arrangement of Central
places and settlements: -
Each central place has a
circular Sphere of
Influence as shown in C
due to equal access to
transportation.
Central Place Theory
Graphical Arrangement of Central places
Based on the Hierarchy of Settlements
Central Place Theory
Arrangement of Central places
Based on the Hierarchy of Settlements
The areas within the
blue dots shows the
sphere of influence
(trading area) of the
largest settlements
Source: http://www.wolfatthedoor.org.uk/miscimages/centralplace.gif
Central Place Theory
Variations to CPT
K= 3 Marketing Principle (Standard version of CPT)
K= 4 Transportation Principle
K= 7 Administrative Principle
Central Place Theory
The Marketing Principle
The central place serves two
lower-order places each or
one-third of the lower-order
settlements surrounding it.
So, a total of three places
are served (inclusive of the
CP itself).
The goal: To serve a maximum
number of consumers from a
minimum number of centres.
http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch2en/conc2en/img/variationscentralplaces.png
Central Place Theory
The Transport Principle
The settlements are located at
the centre point of each side
of the hexagon.
Each central place serves a
half-share of the settlements in
its surrounding hexagon.
Total number of places served
= 4 (inclusive of the CP).
The Goal: to minimize the
network length and maximize the
connectivity of centres served.
http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch2en/conc2en/img/variationscentralplaces.png
Central Place Theory
The Administrative Principle
All the six lower-order places
in the hexagon are served by
the central place.
The goal: to provide a hierarchy
of controls where the lower
level centers are completely
controlled/administered by the
higher order places.
http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch2en/conc2en/img/variationscentralplaces.png
Central Place Theory
NOTE: -
Christaller conceptualised these models as
hierarchical- All higher order places in the
hexagon surrounded by other higher-order
places can explain local and regional economics
and spatial layout of urban centres.
Central Place Theory
Criticisms:
Hexagonal lattice is rigid and abstract. This has been tested in
Haggett using Brazilian examples, and also developed further by
August Losch, a German Economist in the 1940s.
Distribution of population across a region is not often even.
In lesser developed countries, consumers are not normally supplied
with goods and services from permanent central places. Often
individual producers operate around a number of fairs/periodic
markets. Even where permanent central places exits, the number
and kinds of functions performed fluctuates periodically when they
become sites of markets.
The periodicity of central place may be a useful hypothesis in a
developing context (see J. O Abiodun’s work on SW Nigeria
examples).
Central Place Theory
CPT Achievements
Despite these criticisms, CPT was a breakthrough in
predicting and understanding the hierarchical
development of settlements, where each level of the
hierarchy provides different and distinctive services.
This hierarchical arrangement has been applied in regional
and urban economies, to describe the location of trade and
service activity and consumer market- orientated
manufacturing
