Urban hierarchy
Encyclopedia
Urban hierarchy a term that relates the structure of town
s within an area. It can typically be illustrated by dividing towns into four categories:
1st-order towns provide the bare minimum of essential services, such as bread and milk. The services that 1st-order towns provide require only a very low threshold population
to survive, which make them suited to small communities. Services that require more customers to remain viable are not found in 1st-order towns.
3rd- and 4th-order towns are larger cities and communities. They are home to services that people are willing to travel longer distances to get to, as they are more important or rarer. The services in 3rd- and 4th-order towns require large threshold populations to survive, which is why they are only found in more developed areas.
It is clear, therefore, that there should be more 1st-order towns than 4th-order towns, as 1st-order towns only require a small number of people in their hinterland
to remain viable.
German
geographer
Walter Christaller
proposed the concept of the K-Ratio to describe the number of towns in one order in relation to the next. While Christaller's model is rarely found, it still provides a useful rule for the establishment of towns, called central place theory
.
If a country had a K-Ratio of 3, for example, this would mean that there would be 3 times as many towns in the order beneath the current one. For example, if a country had the following number of towns in the relevant orders:
The country or area would be said to have a K-Ratio of 3, as a large, 4th-order town had three 3rd-order towns within its hinterland, nine 2nd-order towns and twenty-seven 1st-order towns.
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
s within an area. It can typically be illustrated by dividing towns into four categories:
- 1st-order towns
- 2nd-order towns
- 3rd-order towns
- 4th-order towns
1st-order towns provide the bare minimum of essential services, such as bread and milk. The services that 1st-order towns provide require only a very low threshold population
Threshold population
In microeconomics, a threshold population is the minimum number of people needed for a service to be worthwhile.In geography, a threshold population is the minimum number of people necessary before a particular good or service can be provided in an area...
to survive, which make them suited to small communities. Services that require more customers to remain viable are not found in 1st-order towns.
3rd- and 4th-order towns are larger cities and communities. They are home to services that people are willing to travel longer distances to get to, as they are more important or rarer. The services in 3rd- and 4th-order towns require large threshold populations to survive, which is why they are only found in more developed areas.
It is clear, therefore, that there should be more 1st-order towns than 4th-order towns, as 1st-order towns only require a small number of people in their hinterland
Hinterland
The hinterland is the land or district behind a coast or the shoreline of a river. Specifically, by the doctrine of the hinterland, the word is applied to the inland region lying behind a port, claimed by the state that owns the coast. The area from which products are delivered to a port for...
to remain viable.
German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
geographer
Geographer
A geographer is a scholar whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society.Although geographers are historically known as people who make maps, map making is actually the field of study of cartography, a subset of geography...
Walter Christaller
Walter Christaller
Walter Christaller , was a German geographer whose principal contribution to the discipline is Central Place Theory, first published in 1933...
proposed the concept of the K-Ratio to describe the number of towns in one order in relation to the next. While Christaller's model is rarely found, it still provides a useful rule for the establishment of towns, called central place theory
Central Place Theory
Central place theory is a geographical theory that seeks to explain the number, size and location of human settlements in an urban system. The theory was created by the German geographer Walter Christaller, who asserted that settlements simply functioned as 'central places' providing services to...
.
If a country had a K-Ratio of 3, for example, this would mean that there would be 3 times as many towns in the order beneath the current one. For example, if a country had the following number of towns in the relevant orders:
- 1st-order towns = 27
- 2nd-order towns = 9
- 3rd-order towns = 3
- 4th-order towns = 1
The country or area would be said to have a K-Ratio of 3, as a large, 4th-order town had three 3rd-order towns within its hinterland, nine 2nd-order towns and twenty-seven 1st-order towns.