Primate City

Mark Jafferson propounded his concept of primate city in 1939. He observed that a region’s regional development revolves around a large city of the region. All other cities are smaller than the largest city. He names the largest city as primate city. Characteristics of Primate City Primate city is the largest economically dominant city of … Read more

Rank Size Rule by GK Zipf

Many urban geographers have observed the existence of some kind of pattern in size and spacing of cities. Similarly, GK Zipf observed this pattern and propounded rank size rule. Rank Size Rule states that the population of all towns can be expressed in relation to the most populated city of a region. The rank size … Read more

Relevance and Criticism of Central Place Theory

Central place theory is a milestone in the quantitative revolution era. It demonstrated the use of quantitative techniques in spatial and locational studies. However, it has been criticized widely on many grounds. Criticism of central place theory led to development in the field of spatial studies. To understand the relevance of this theory, we must … Read more

Central Place Theory by Walter Christaller

Walter Christaller proposed his Central Place Theory in 1933. He aimed to rationalize the distribution of cities over geographic space. He was concerned with the way the settlement of different sizes evolve and are spaced out. It is a theoretical account of size and distribution of settlements within an urban system where marketing is predominant … Read more

Multiple Nuclei Model by Harris and Ullman

Harris and Ullman proposed Multiple Nuclei Model in their paper The Nature of Cities (1945) to explain the morphology of a city. They argued that the land use pattern is much more complex than the model given by Burgress, Hoyt & Davis. They observed that the land use pattern is neither in concentric zones or … Read more

The Sector Model of Urban Morphology

Homer Hoyt and M.R. Davis proposed the sector model of urban morphology in 1939. This model was based on observations from 64 cities in the USA. He modified the Concentric Zone Model by Burgess in combination with the impact of transport routes on urban morphology and came up with their own Wedge or Sector Model. … Read more

Concentric Zone Theory by E.W. Burgess

E.W. Burgess proposed the Concentric zone theory in 1925. This model is also known as ecological theory of city structure or urban morphology. The primary concern of this model was to map the urban social problem i.e. vices and crime in Chicago city. To map the vices and crimes, Burgess mapped the different zone of … Read more

R.P. Mishra’s Growth Foci Model

R.P. Mishra gave his growth foci model in response to ideas of Perroux. Growth pole theory by Perroux was widely adopted by western scholars of his time. Boudeville tried to add spatial dimension to this theory but did not take into consideration that elaborate process of trickle down. R.P. Mishra, an Indian Geographer realized that … Read more

Boudeville Growth Pole Theory

Boudeville growth pole theory provides geographic sense to growth pole. Boudeville gave specific geographic and regional character to the growth pole. Perroux’s ideas in Perroux’s Growth Pole Theory does not specify the geographic extent of the growth pole. Boudeville tried to supplement Perroux’s idea by providing geographic dimension. He wrote his ideas in his book … Read more

Growth Pole Theory by Perroux

The growth pole theory was postulated by Francois Perroux in 1955. He considered growth pole as key driver of economic activities and development in a region. Basic idea behind his theory is that the growth in a large city propels the growth in the all the areas surrounding the large city due to exchange of … Read more