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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central place theory | 3/4 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_place_theory | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T16:01:41.400198+00:00 | kb-cron |
== The importance of a city and other theoretical considerations == 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. Smith recognised that although population size was important to the area served by a city, the number of kinds of services offered there was more important as a measure of the importance of a city in attracting consumers. In applying CPT to describe the delivery of medical care in California, Smith counted the number of physician specialties to determine the importance of a city in the delivery of medical care. Christaller also erred in the assumption that cities "emerge". In California and much of the United States, many cities were situated by the railroads at the time the tracks were laid. In California, towns founded by the railroads were 12 miles apart, the amount of track a section crew could maintain in the 1850s; larger towns were 60 miles apart, the distance a steam engine could travel before needing water. Older towns were founded a day's horse ride apart by the Spanish priests who founded early missions. In medical care regions described by Smith, there is a hierarchy of services, with primary care ideally distributed throughout an area, middle sized cities offering secondary care, and metropolitan areas with tertiary care. Income, size of population, population demographics, distance to the next service centre, all had an influence on the number and kind of specialists located in a population centre. (Smith, 1977, 1979) For example, orthopedic surgeons are found in ski areas, obstetricians in the suburbs, and boutique specialties such as hypnosis, plastic surgery, psychiatry are more likely to be found in high income areas. It was possible to estimate the size of population (threshold) needed to support a specialty, and also to link specialties that needed to cooperate and locate near each other, such as haematology, oncology, and pathology, or cardiology, thoracic surgery and pulmonology. Her work is important for the study of physician location — where physicians choose to practice and where their practices will have a sufficient population size to support them. The income level of the population determines whether sufficient physicians will practice in an area and whether public subsidy is needed to maintain the health of the population. The distribution of medical care in California followed patterns having to do with the settlement of cities. Cities and their hinterlands having characteristics of the traffic principle (see K=4 above) usually have six thoroughfares through them; the thoroughfares including highways, rivers, railroads, and canals. They are most efficient and can deliver the lowest cost services because transportation is cheaper. 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. In Appalachia, for example, the market principle still prevails and rural medical care is much more expensive. Convenience determines the cubic unit and structural principles through which distribution operates, forming a Western conception of orientation in space. Distribution of resources within cities especially emphasize campus as central to contemporary social mitigation. Campuses of all sorts including colleges, hospitals, prisons, and resorts constitute the physical arena that envelopes the range of need for the human body, specifically under the customs of the republic. The human body as a universal law of generalization demystifies the campus industrial complex, which evolved during the Plantocracy era as the premier Western 'enclosed place'. Glissant, Edouard (1997). Poetics of Relation. MI: University of Michigan Press. p. 64. ISBN 978-0472066292. Retrieved 2026-05-04.This concept situates central place theory as observable and accessible, as it contends with the contemporary global experience.
== Making central place theory operational == CPT is often criticised as being "unrealistic". However, several studies show that it can describe existing urban systems. An important issue is that Christaller's original formulation is incorrect in several ways (Smith). 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. These problems have been identified for by Veneris (1984) and subsequently by Openshaw and Veneris (2003), who provided also theoretically sound and consistent solutions, based on a K=3, 37-centre CP system:
Closure problem. Christaller's original scheme implies an infinite landscape. Although each market has finite size, the total system has no boundaries to it. Neither Christaller, nor the early related literature provide any guidance as to how the system can be "contained". Openshaw and Veneris (2003) identified three different types of closure, namely (a) isolated state, (b) territorial closure and (c) functional closure. Each closure type implies different population patterns. Generating trips. Following the basic Christallerian logic and the closure types identified, Openshaw and Veneris (2003) calculate trip patterns between the 27 centres. Calculating inter- and intra-zonal costs/distances. Christaller assumed freedom of movement in all directions, which would imply "airline" distances between centres. At the same time, he provided specific road networks for the CP system, which do not allow for airline distances. This is a major flaw which neither Christaller, nor early related literature have identified. Openshaw and Veneris (2003) calculate costs/distances which are consistent with the Christallerian principles.
=== Central place theory and spatial interaction models ===