Location, spacing and size of settlements

1. Location, spacing and size of settlements Introduction to concepts of Central Place Theory

2. Central place • A place where services and functions concentrate together Function • The number of goods and services that a settlement provides for the people.

3. 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.

4. Different sizes of urban settlements Arranged hierarchically Urban hierarchy

5. 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

6. How is the urban hierarchy formed? • Threshold • Range • Size • Location • Spacing • Number • Order

7. 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?

8. Shops in Mongkok Cheaper Smaller variety of goods Low-/ middle- income group From the neighbourhood or surrounding areas Shops in Central More expensive Wider variety of goods Higher-income group Tourists or people from anywhere in Hong Kong Comparison

9. 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 Quick survey

11. Toiletries

12. Jewels and ornaments

13. High-quality furniture

14. 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?

15. 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

16. 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

17. How many of the following facilities are provided in your neighbourhood? • Library • Swimming pool • Museum • Theatre • Sports centre • City hall / town hall • Large stadium

18. 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

19. Threshold population • The minimum no. of people needed to support a function

20. Urban Growth vs Urbanization

21. Which type of shop is the lowest order?

22. Which type of shop is the highest order?

23. Consumable Buy frequently Low price Necessities Durable Buy occasionally High price luxury Low order goodsHigh order goods

24. Which shopping center is the highest order?

26. Threshold Population

27. Scatter Diagram No. of School Population

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

29. Market threshold and market area of a cinema are than a school because larger • 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

30. Market area shop Market Boundary Range of Goods Range of goods is the maximum distance people are willing to travel for getting a kind of goods or service.

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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

35. of goods and services of goods and services of settlements of settlements of settlements of settlements Urban hierarchy Urban hierarchy range threshold size spacing order number