Central place geometry is a spatial theory in urban geography that attempts to explain the reasons behind the

distribution patterns, size, and a number of cities and towns around the world. It also attempts to provide a
framework by which those areas can be studied both for historical reasons and for the locational patterns of
areas today. Therefore, this paper attempts to discuss the central place theory or geometry and orderly.

According to Walter Christaller (1933: 3), central place geometry is an attempt to explain the spatial
arrangement, size, and number of settlements. The theory was originally published in 1933 by Walter
Christaller a German geographer who studied the settlement patterns in southern Germany. In the flat
landscape of southern Germany, Christaller noticed that towns of a certain size were roughly equidistant. By
examining and defining the functions of the settlement structure and the size of the hinterland he found it
possible to model the pattern of settlement locations using geometric shapes. Thus, a central place is a
settlement which provides one or more services for the population living around it.

However, Walter Christaller (1933: 14) made some assumptions to make this theory easy to understand and
form the basis for other theories. These assumptions were necessary and hold good to explain the structure of
settlements. These also take into account the growth and development of towns, human behavior and
fundamentals of economics. Central place geometry is based on the following assumptions:

An even (flat) terrain – A hilly and uneven terrain poses difficulty in development thus a flat area which
promotes the growth of the town. The evenly distributed population – residents are not concentrated at one
particular place and no preference exists for a particular town. Evenly distributed resources – no place has an
advantage of resources, all placed will compete under perfect market conditions. Similar purchasing power –
along with the population and resources, wealth is also fairly distributed. Because of this people have similar
purchasing power (Parr, 1978). Preference for the nearest market – people will buy products from the nearest
market and avoid the long commute. This keeps price constant as per other assumptions. Lastly, equal
transportation cost (proportional to distance) – the cost incurred in transporting of goods is equal for all and is
proportional to the distance.

These assumptions when combined results in place offering different services. In these places in which people
enjoy the perfect market and purchase from the nearest place to save on money and time. Different services
locate themselves on the basis of the threshold population. The minimum number of people required to sustain
that service or activity. In addition to this, Starrett (1978) asserts that there is no preference for a particular
shop. All people have access to equal resources and do not enjoy any advantage over its competitor. Thus, the
demand for goods consumed and used on daily basis will be used more and vice versa. Perfect competition –

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price is decided on basis of demand and supply. People will buy at the lowest price which market has to offer,
no seller has an advantage over another seller.

As stated above, a central place is a settlement which provides one or more services for the population living
around it. Therefore, it consists of; simple basic services (e.g. grocery stores) are said to be of low order.
Specialized services (e.g. universities) are said to be of high order. Having a high order service implies there
are low order services around it, but not vice versa. Settlements which provide low order services are said to be
low order settlements. Settlements that provide high order services are said to be high order settlements. And
the sphere of influence is the area under the influence of the Central Place (Robison et al., 1991: 415).

Furthermore, Christaller (1933) postulates that the central place geometry is based on two (2) fundamental
concepts which are “Threshold” and “Range”. Threshold is the minimum population needed to make a service
viable at a particular place. If this size is not reached then a particular activity will not start or it will be closed
down. In addition, the threshold is an important. This is the minimum number of people needed for a central
place business or activity to remain active and prosperous. This led to Christaller's (1933: 27) idea of low- and
high-order goods. Low-order goods are things that are replenished frequently such as food and other routine
household items. Since people buy these items regularly, small businesses in small towns can survive because
people will buy frequently at closer locations instead of going into the city.

High-order goods, by contrast, are specialized items such as automobiles, furniture, fine jewelry, and
household appliances that people buy less often. Because they require a large threshold and people do not
purchase them regularly, many businesses selling these items cannot survive in areas where the population is
small. Therefore, these businesses often locate in big cities that can serve a large population in the surrounding
hinterland.

The diagram below illustrates the two fundamental concepts of threshold and range

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On the other hand, the range is the maximum distance a consumer is willing to travel to purchase good or avail
a service, beyond this distance consumer will not travel as the distance traveled for good/service will outweigh
the benefit. From these two concepts, Loeb (1964) further posited that the lower and upper limits of goods or
services can be found. With the upper and the lower limits, it is possible to see how the central places are
arranged in an imaginary area.

Moreover, within the central place geometry system, there are five sizes of communities: Hamlet, Village,
Town, City, and Regional capital. However, a hamlet is the smallest place, a rural community that is too small
to be considered a village. Cape Dorset (population 1,200), located in Canada's Nunavut Territory is an
example of a hamlet. Examples of regional capitals - which are not necessarily political capitals - would
include Paris or Los Angeles. These cities provide the highest order goods possible and serve a huge
hinterland.

Geometrically and orderly, the central place is located at the vertexes (points) of equilateral triangles. Central
places serve the evenly distributed consumers who are closest to the central place. As the vertexes connect,
they form a series of hexagons - the traditional shape of many central place models. The hexagon is ideal
because it allows the triangles formed by the central place vertexes to connect, and it represents the assumption
that consumers will visit the closest place offering the goods they need (Hartwick, 2004).

In addition, central place theory gives three (3) principles which are the marketing principle, transport principle
and administrative principle for orderly arrangements and the formation of hierarchy. Settlements are regularly
spaced – equidistant spacing between same order centers, with larger centers farther apart as compared to
smaller centers (Dacey, 1965). The market area is hexagonal shaped as it is free from overlapping, most
efficient in both number and function. Every layout is defined by a K-value. This shows how much the sphere
of influence of the central places takes in as opposed to the centers of lower order (or how many centers are
subject to a center of higher order).

The first is the marketing principle and is shown as K = 3 (where K is a constant). In this system, market areas
at a certain level of the central place hierarchy are three times larger than the next lowest one. The different
levels then follow a progression of threes, meaning that as you move through the order of places, the number
of the next level increases threefold. For example, when there are two cities, there would be six towns, 18
villages, and 54 hamlets. According to Starrett (1978), marketing principle is based on minimal number of
centers needed to service an area and is defined as K-3 principle. To minimize the number of centers the
1
centers of lower order are located at the corners of a hexagons and each high-order settlement gets 3 of each

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satellite settlement. A high-order centers is surrounded by six satellite centers - for every high-order center
there are 3 lower-order centers on average - the figure below gives an illustration marketing principle.
Consequently, a center of higher-order serves three times the area than a center one order lower.

1
According to the marketing principle K = 3, the market area of a higher-order place (node) occupies of the
3

market area of each of the consecutive lower size place(node) which lies on its neighbor; the lower size nodes
(6 in numbers and 2nd larger circles) are located at the corner of a largest hexagon around low value the high-
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order settlement. Each high-order settlement gets 3 of each satellite settlement (which are 6 in total) thus, 𝑘 =
1
1 + 6 × 3 = 3. However, in this K = 3 marketing network the distance traveled is minimized.

There is also the transportation principle (K = 4) where areas in the central place hierarchy are four times
bigger than the area in the next lowest order. Furthermore, Fujita (1986) stipulates that Transport principle (K -
4) involves the minimization of the length of roads connecting central places. In hexagon lattice the shortest
connection is using the edges of hexagons – lower order centers are all located along the edges and every one
of them is for two higher-order center. The market area of a higher-order place includes a half of the market
area of each of the six neighboring lower-order places. For each higher order center, there are now four centers
of immediate lower order (see fig).

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According to K = 4 transport principle, the market area of a higher-order place includes a half of the market
area of each of the six neighboring lower-order places, as they are located on the edges of hexagons around the
high-order settlements. This generates a hierarchy of central places which results in the most efficient transport
network. 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. In this system of nesting, the lower order centres are all located along the
roads linking the higher order centres. This alignment of places along a road leads to minimization of road
length. However, for each higher order centre, there are now four centres of immediate lower order, as opposed
to three centres under the marketing principle (Coxeter, 1961).

Finally, the administrative principle (K = 7) is the last system where the variation between the lowest and
highest orders increase by a factor of seven. Here, the highest order trade area completely covers that of the
lowest order, meaning that the market serves a larger area. Robison et al. (1991: 389) added that administrative
principle (K-7) - the market areas of the smaller settlements are completely enclosed within the market area of
the larger settlement and all lower-order center are located inside the higher-order center - i.e. tributary areas
are allocated exclusively to a single higher-order place. Therefore, in a hexagonal lattice the area serviced by a
higher-order center is seven times larger than the area serviced by one order lower.

According to K = 7 administrative principle (or political-social principle), settlements are nested according to
sevens. The market areas of the smaller settlements are completely enclosed within the market area of the
larger settlement. Since tributary areas cannot be split administratively, they must be allocated exclusively to a
single higher-order place. Efficient administration is the control principle in this hierarchy.

Above all, Soni (1986) asserts that 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. However, it is still possible to discern Christaller patterns in most distributions of urban centres,

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even though these patterns will often be distorted by the terrain or imperfect because of suboptimal (with
regard to the optimal distribution of centres) historical development decisions.

Economic status of consumers in an area is also important. Consumers of higher economic status tend to be
more mobile and therefore bypass centers providing only lower order goods (Richardson, 1979). The
application of central place theory must be tempered by an awareness of such factors when planning shopping
center space location. Purchasing power and density affect the spacing of centers and hierarchical
arrangements. Sufficient densities will allow, for example, a grocery store, a lower order function, to survive in
an isolated location.

Factors shaping the extent of market areas: Land use: industrial areas can provide little in the way of a
consuming population. Poor accessibility: this can limit the extent of a center's market area. Competition: this
limits the extent of market areas in all directions Technology: high mobility afforded by the automobile allows
overlapping of market areas.

Parr (1978) further articulates that market area studies provide another technique for using central place theory
as a retail location planning tool. The hierarchy of shopping centers has been widely used within the planning
of "new towns". In this new town, the hierarchy of business centers is evident. One main shopping center
provides mostly durable goods (higher order); district and local shopping centers supply, increasingly,
convenience (lower order) goods. These centers provided for in the new town plan are not free from outside
competition. The impacts of surrounding existing centers on the new town centers cannot be ignored.

In conclusion, Central place geometry is a spatial theory in urban geography that attempts to explain the
reasons behind the distribution patterns, size, and a number of cities and towns around the world. It also
attempts to provide a framework by which those areas can be studied both for historical reasons and for the
locational patterns of areas today. Central place geometry is based on some assumptions such as; an isotropic
(all flat) surface, an evenly distributed population, evenly distributed resources, similar purchasing power of all
consumers and consumers will patronize nearest market, transportation costs equal in all directions and
proportional to distance, and no excess profits (Perfect competition). Furthermore, the central place geometry
is based on two (2) fundamental concepts which are “Threshold” and “Range”. Threshold is the minimum
population needed to make a service viable at a particular place. The range on the other hand, is the maximum
distance a consumer is willing to travel to purchase good or avail a service, beyond this distance consumer will
not travel as the distance traveled for good/service will outweigh the benefit. Besides this, within the central
place geometry system, there are five sizes of communities: Hamlet, Village, Town, City, and Regional capital.
In addition, central place theory gives three (3) principles which are the marketing principle, transport principle
and administrative principle for orderly arrangements and the formation of hierarchy.

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 REFERENCES

Berry, B. J. L., and Pred, A. (1961). Central Place Studies: A Bibliography of Theory and Applications.
Philadelphia: Regional Science Research Institute.

Coxeter, H. S. M. (1961). Introduction to Geometry. New York: Wiley.

Fujita, M. (1986). Urban Land Use Theory, In Location Theory. New York: Harwood Academic
Publishers.

Hartwick, J.M. (2004). Trade in a Hierarchical System of Cities. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.

Starrett, D. (1978). Market Allocations of Location Choice in a Model with Free Mobility. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.

Richardson, H. W. (1979). Regional Economics. Urbana: University of Illinois Press,

Dacey, M. F. (1965). “The Geometry of Central Place Theory. Princeton University Press, Princeton,
NY.

Loeb, A. L. (1964). “The Subdivision of the Hexagonal Net and the Systematic Generation of Crystal
Structure”. New York: Harper and Row.

Parr, J. B. (1978). “Models of Central Place System: A More General Approach. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice Hall.

Robison, M. H., and Miller, J. R. (1991). “Central Place Theory and Intercommunity Input-Output
Analysis.” New York: Wiley.

Soni, M. (1986). “Transportation Flows within Central-Place Systems. New Haven: Yale University
Press.

Walter Christaller. (1933). Theory of Central Places: The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography.
London: Penguin.

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