Central place theory
[2] The theory was first analyzed by German geographer Walter Christaller, who asserted that settlements simply functioned as 'central places' providing economic services to surrounding areas.
[1] Christaller explained that a large number of small settlements will be situated relatively close to one another for efficiency, and because people don't want to travel far for everyday needs, like getting bread from a bakery.
But people would travel further for more expensive and infrequent purchases or specialized goods and services which would be located in larger settlements that are farther apart.
Examples for low order goods and services are: newspaper stalls, groceries, bakeries and post offices.
Examples for high order goods and services include jewelry, large shopping malls and arcades.
He deduced that settlements would tend to form in a triangular/hexagonal lattice, as it is the most efficient pattern to serve areas without any overlap.
There are maximum central places possible located on the main transport routes connecting the higher order center.
The transportation principle involves the minimization of the length of roads connecting central places at all hierarchy levels.
The validity of the place theory may vary with local factors, such as climate, topography, history of development, technological improvement and personal preference of consumers and suppliers.
Consumers of higher economic status tend to be more mobile and therefore bypass centers providing only lower order goods.
The application of central place theory must be tempered by an awareness of such factors when planning shopping center space location.
Sufficient densities will allow, for example, a grocery store, a lower order function, to survive in an isolated location.
The Fens of East Anglia in the UK also provide a large expanse of flat land with no natural barriers to settlement development.
According to Margot Smith, Walter Christaller erred in his development of CPT in 1930 by using size of population and number of telephones in determining the importance of a city.
Those having settled on the market principle (K=3 above) have more expensive services and goods, as they were founded at times when transportation was more primitive.
These errors become apparent if we try to make CPT "operational", that is if we try to derive numerical data out of the theoretical schemata.
Openshaw and Veneris (2003) succeeded in linking these two major regional theories in a clear and theoretically consistent way: using the data they derived from the operationalization of CPT, they experimented with several SIM.
