UTILITY OF THE CENTRAL PLACE SYSTEM IN PLANNING FOR EFFICIENT LOCATION OF URBAN FUNCTIONS EDWARD OLIVER

Transcription

1 UTILITY OF THE CENTRAL PLACE SYSTEM IN PLANNING FOR EFFICIENT LOCATION OF URBAN FUNCTIONS EDWARD OLIVER B. Comm., University of British Columbia, 1957 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Community and Regional Planning We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA April, 1963

2 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make i t freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for. scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives,, It is understood that copying, or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of Community and Regional Planning The University of British Columbia, Vancouver 8, Canada. Date May 6, 1963.

3 ABSTRACT One of the main concerns of the urban planner should be to establish an efficient pattern of locations for the goods and services that serve the population of the city and metropolitan region. Efficiency in the layout of a city should be sought as an objective, in keeping with aesthetic and sociological considerations, to provide a pleasing urban environment. To achieve efficiency in the distribution of establishments providing goods and services there must be a basis for making locational decisions. One method of analysis on which to base decisions is the Central Place System. This is a method of explaining the geographic distribution of centres which serve the surrounding population. The theory behind the Central Place System developed from observations on the distances people would travel to f u l f i l certain needs which could only be satisfied from a central place. A hierarchy of needs was recognized, some of which had to be satisfied frequently by everyone, such as the need for food. This need people would want satisfied at little cost of time and effort. Eor other less frequently required needs, people would be willing to travel further. A hierarchy of centres would thus develop, the smallest unit having only a grocery

4 store and the largest unit possessing the complete range of functions to satisfy every need. The ideal pattern for such a hierarchy was postulated as a system of hexagons. This system was tested and found to be substantially valid in an area of equal distribution of disposable income and equal ease of travel in all directions. Before a hierarchical pattern can be established, however, the centrality of the centres must be measured. Presumably, the Central Business District is the highest order of centre in any urban region, in that it possesses the functions which people in the urban area are willing to travel the greatest distance to reach. The corner grocery store is the lowest order of centre. The measurement of the ranks that should be ascribed to centres between these two extremes involves concepts of the threshold and relative specialization of functions. The study of central places in Vancouver, British Columbia, revealed a hierarchy of functions and a resultant hierarchy of centres. Experimentation with the pattern suggested that certain tentative conclusions could be made based upon the observed hierarchy. The Central Place System is a way of synthetizing geographic and economic information into a coherent statement. It is useful to the urban planner as a basis for making policy decisions on locations of urban activities. Using the system, inefficiencies in the present layout of the city can be determined and plans made to counterbalance

5 the existing inefficiencies. The hierarchical pattern of centres can serve as a basis for deciding where expressway interchanges should be located to combine local and through traffic needs. It is useful to determine where service centres should be in redevelopment areas. In areas being subjected to intensive development for the first time the Central Place System can be used to predetermine the best locations for service centres to serve the new area in co-ordination with the existing centres. The Central Place System provides a framework for study and analysis of the pattern of urban service centres in relation to each other and to the surrounding region. As well as being useful for making decisions with regard to specific location problems, it provides an understanding and a perspective for urban spatial relationships.

6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Grateful acknowledgement is extended to Professors H. Peter Oberlander, Kevin J. Cross, and Walter G. Hardwick r for useful direction in the preparation of this thesis. The author is also indebted to Dr. John N. Jackson for his interest and suggestions. I am most grateful to my wife, Thelma, for her encouragement and help in contributing to the completion of the study. ii

7 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS i i LIST OP TABLES LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS iv v INTRODUCTION 1 Chapter I. THE EVOLUTION OP CENTRAL PLACE THEORY 3 Summary II. URBAN SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS AND THE NEED FOR LAND USE CONTROL 20 Summary III. METHODS OP MEASURING CENTRALITY 40 Summary IV. ' THE STUDY OP SERVICE CENTRES IN VANCOUVER 59 Summary V. CONCLUSION 78 Concluding Note FOOTNOTES 81 APPENDICES 85 BIBLIOGRAPHY 106 i i i

8 LIST OP TABLES Table Page 1. Christaller's Theoretical Distribution of Centres 8 2. The Grading of Centres According to the Number of Banks, Cinemas and Certain Types of Shops 3. The Grading of Centres on the Basis of Large Shops i+. Ranking of Centres on the Basis of Total Points for all Indices 51 iv

9 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. Christaller 1 s Theoretical Shape of Tributary Areas 8 2. LOsch's Economic Regions The Hexagonal Fundamental Community 3^ 4. The Hexagonal Pattern of Fundamental Communities The Regional Pattern of Communities The Hierarchy Within the Metropolitan Region Ranking of Centres on the Basis of Banks, Cinemas, and Certain Types of Shops Ranking of Centres on the Basis of Large Stores with a Taxable Value of over Ranking of Centres on the Basis of Taxable Values of All Status-Indicating Shops Ranking of Centres on the Basis of Bus Services Vancouver Hierarchy of Central Places by Number of Functions Map A 67 Map B 71 Map C 73 Map D 74 Map E 76 v

10 INTRODUCTION Among the many problems dealt with by town planners is that of location of the various activities in the urban area. The location problems within cities probably receive the most publicity and cause planners more trouble than any other aspect of their work. The approach to location is often too haphazard even in the hands of planners and the analyses made to solve particular location problems seldom are wide enough in scope for a decision to be reached which has regard for the total pattern of locations within the city. This enlarged approach is suggested by Ratcliff. Collective efforts to raise urban efficiency through planning, land-use control, taxation, improvements in traffic, transport, and parking, urban redevelopment, and metropolitan integration should be directed toward the facilitation of land-use changes which enhance total efficiency, the discouragement of changes which diminish i t, the reduction of total costs of f r i c tion, and the equitable distribution of those costs. Spatial organization has been explained in many theoretical ways by geographers and economists. One such explanation which encompasses both disciplines is that of the Central Place System. It will be the purpose of this thesis to examine the theoretical and empirical bases of the Central Place System, to describe how i t has been used by planners, to postulate additional uses, and to demonstrate, 1

11 2 using a case study, particular applications to the case study area. Conclusions based on the case study and on the examination of theory and practice will be put forth to determine whether or not the Central Place System has value for the planner in helping him to plan for more efficient locations for urban activities. The area of the empirical investigation is Vancouver, British Columbia. The hierarchy of centres will be shown and some explanations will be sought for unexpected patterns,. It will be demonstrated how planning could bring about greater locational efficiency using the Central Place System as a tool of analysis. Prom this study and from the discussion on present and possible uses of the Central Place System as a planning tool, i t is hoped that some general conclusions will arise regarding its use for planning for efficient locations of activities within the urban area. They hypothesis, therefore, is: That the Central Place System has utility as a tool in planning for efficient location of urban functions; an application in Vancouver, British Columbia. FOOTNOTES -^Richard U. Ratcliff, "The Dynamics of Efficiency in the locational Distribution of Urban Activities," Readings in Urban Geography, ed. Harold M. Mayer and Clyde P. Kohn (Chicago:: University of Chicago Press, 1959), p. JZk.

12 CHAPTER I THE EVOLUTION OP CENTRAL PLACE THEORY Central Place Theory has evolved from the study of settlements in relation to the pattern of human habitation over a large geographical area. It was recognized that man has a number of needs which can be satisfied only by the clustering together of a number of people. Thus villages and towns spring up to satisfy certain social and economic needs. They are created by man to f u l f i l specific functions required in his society. Some settlements develop as retail centres, others as political centres, industrial cities, and resort towns. Some of the social and economic needs which must be satisfied are as follows: 1) Exchange institutions. In advanced nations as well as in most primitive nations people are interdependent so that some mechanism is necessary to facilitate exchange of commodities and services'. 2) ; Needs of body and soul. Medical care, educational facilities, libraries, and religious institutions are essential to man's well-being. 3)! Leisure needs. Movies, recreational facilities, restaurants, and common interest societies add to the 3

13 fullness of life. 4) Need for institutions to provide for economic security. Such institutions as banks and investment companies provide essential services. 5) Need for information of immediate occurrences. Man is curious about that which transpires in his own community and also in the national and international spheres. Therefore, newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and other means of mass communication are established to f i l l this need. Many of these needs are universal, that is, they are felt by everybody. The need to shop for food is a good example; this need must be satisfied for all people frequently and is termed 'ubiquitous'. Other needs must be fulfilled infrequently but universally, such as the purchase of furniture and clothes. S t i l l other needs must be fulfilled only for a minority, either frequently or infrequently, such as attendance at a university. These distinctions between needs are demonstrated in the hierarchy of cities, towns, villages, and hamlets. The smallest settlement always has a grocery store and possibly an elementary school because these are frequent and universal or ubiquitous needs. Thus, a small centre may have only these functions, but a larger centre is required to sustain such services as a high school and a cinema. For each type of service there must be a minimum

14 5 number of people in the market area to patronize the service and thus make i t profitable. This minimum population in the market area is known as the 'threshold' for that service. For the ubiquitous functions, such as the grocery store, the threshold need not be very large because the same people keep returning day after day. More people are required to support a furniture store and an even larger threshold is required for a department store. Obviously, the threshold required for various services will differ from country to country because of differences in wealth, culture and economic habits. For example, a much larger threshold is required to support a furniture store in England compared with the same type of store in the United States. There is, then, a functional hierarchy among settlements. A village will be provided with only the most rudi mentary services whereas a city will have a full range of services. Of course, each centre in the hierarchy will include all the services provided by the lower order centres, plus the extra services which l i f t i t above those inferior centres. In establishing the relative importance of a settlement as a central place it is not only the size of the town or the number of its establishments but also the rank or importance of its functions. A place with ten retail establishments catering to everyday needs does not rank as high in the hierarchy of central places as the settlement possessing the same number of establishments some of which

15 6 are highly specialized. An initial problem in establishing a hierarchy of centres is to work out a hierarchy among central place functions, keeping in mind the concept of the threshold. When the hierarchy of functions has been established the centres can then be graded on the basis of whether or not certain functions are provided. When considering the threshold for each function the catchment, or market area for that function must be kept in mind. For example, i t cannot be argued directly that a university situated in a city of ten thousand population must have the same threshold as a civic centre which is also located in that city because there may be a difference in the catchment area of each and hence a different threshold for each. The university may serve a much larger region than the civic centre. This general discussion of hierarchy and threshold provides the necessary background for a description of some theoretical statements of Central Place Theory, of the gravity model', and of an empirical study which tested aspects of the theory. The first theoretical statement of importance was Von Thunen's Der isolierte Staat, published in He postulated an entirely uniform land surface and showed that under ideal conditions a city would develop in the centre of this land with concentric circles of less important use surrounding i t. Walter Christaller in 1935 provided the

16 7 most popular theoretical framework for the study of the distribution of settlements.his premises were: 1) > For any population group in any Western European country there will be a number of services required; 2) These services will be centralized in places which are the most easily accessible; and 3) These services will have different threshold populations. He assumed an evenly spaced population where people could travel equally as easily in all directions. Assuming these premises to be correct, Christaller postulated a pattern of centres and tributary areas as shown in Figure 1, p. 8. Since the circles leave unserviced spaces, they are not the best theoretical shape to service all parts of the area. Hexagons are postulated because they are the next best geometrical shape which leaves no unserviced spaces and yet provides almost equal distances from all points on its perimeter, to the centre. In this scheme of hexagons the distance between similar centres increases by the -/J over the preceding smaller category. For example, in Figure 1, the distance between A and B is /3 times the distance from A to G. The distance between centres is indicated in Table 1, p. 8.

17 8 Figure 1. Christaller's Theoretical Shape of Tributary Areas TABLE 1 CHRISTALLER'S THEORETICAL DISTRIBUTION OF CENTRES Central Place Distance (km) Population (Tributary Areas) Size Population Market hamlet k.5 2,700 Township centre 3-2 1, ,100 County seat 21 3, ,000 District city 36 9,000 1,200 75,000 Small State capital 62 27,000 3, ,000 Provincial head city ,000 10, ,000 Regional head city , ,,400 2,025,000 The initial distance of seven kilometers between the smallest centres was chosen because the normal service area limit for the lowest order of good was thought to be approximately the distance that a person could walk in one

18 9 hour, which is about three and a half kilometers. This choice would not be made today because the motor vehicle has altered the pattern of shopping so that distance travelled is no longer so important. However, people would not think of taking an hour to travel to a place for a low order of good in this age when time is such a precious thing. They may s t i l l only be willing to go seven kilometers not so much because of the distance factor as the time factor. That is, only a certain amount of time is available for a certain type of shopping. In any case, in the model the other distances follow automatically from the original choice of seven kilometers. Christaller tested these relationships in southern Germany and found them to be substantially valid. Of course, the theory does not hold when consideration is made of mining and industrial centres. These do not usually arise in response to the needs of people in the immediately surrounding area but acquire central place functions as a result of having located there to exploit a certain resource. In most cases all the conditions will not be present so that the theory is just a starting place from whence deviations can be explained. In reality, people cannot travel as easily in all directions and the population is not evenly spaced. Christaller defined a 'central place' in terms of its use to supply the functions necessary to man. A 'central good' he defined as a commodity or service which is located in a

19 10 convenient place for distribution to the market. In other words, 'central goods' were the necessary ingredients to make a 'central place' and a 'central place' was that place from which a variety of central goods were distributed. A, 'complementary region' was Christaller's term for the area served by a central place. As his network of hexagons indicates, there is a system of complementary regions depending upon the functions of the central place.^ Christaller also recognized several economic relationships the most important of which are:^ 1) There are variations in prices of central goods as distance from the point of supply changes. These differences are attributable to costs of transportation from the central place. When the cost of supplying a central good from one central place equals the cost from another central place, a boundary line is established for that good. 2) In the distribution and consumption of goods there is extremization of behaviour. That is, people purchase goods from the closest place at the lowest cost. This is a simple principle which is basic to the conception of Central Place. Naturally, there are variations in this pattern for various reasons. Occasionally, shoppers prefer to go to a larger centre at a greater distance merely for a change or for reasons of social class distinction. The^ greater opportunity to 'comparison shop' may be a draw to a larger centre, and certainly the vagaries of clothing styles

20 11 sometimes dictate that a larger centre he visited to obtain something different or new. 3) Christaller envisioned also inner and outer limits for the range of distances over which central goods may be sold. The inner limit defines that area immediately around the central place, in which everybody will purchase from the central place because of proximity. Between this inner limit and the outer limit, beyond which people will purchase from another centre, is a zone where people purchase primarily from one centre but also purchase from the next closest one. k); There is a relationship between the number of goods sold from a central place and the population of that place. This seems rather a logical observation in general. The population of merchants, wholesalers, manufacturers, and so on, would naturally be larger i f more goods were sold. On the other hand it means that people tend to centralize around convenient functions. Within this context Christaller described the arrangement of central places and complementary regions using the simplified assumption of homogeneous purchasing power and transportation mobility in all areas. August Losch added to the theory developed by Christaller in many ways. He developed an explicit statement on the demand cores over areas for goods and verified the hexagonal shaped complementary region as the best shape

21 12 when purchasing power is uniformly distributed. He provided a clear relationship between the arrangement of transportation routes among cities and Central Place ideas. Losch assumed a flat plain with no geographic or political irregularities and with an equal distribution of resources. He further assumed nothing on the plain but self-sufficient: farms distributed regularly over i t. To explain his theory of economic regions he postulated the case of a farmer on such a plain who wanted to sell his surplus of a certain commodity, in this case, beer. Such a farmer would be aided by the economies of large scale production and hindered by the costs of transportation. Losch 1 s diagrams, as shown in Figure 2, p. 14, are useful in explaining his reasoning. In Figure 2.1, the demand curve for beer is shown. No more beer will be sold at F, where the freight is PF. Therefore, PF is the maximum shipping distance radius for beer and the total demand within that radius is equal to the volume of the cone obtained by rotating the triangle PQF around PQ as axis (Figure 2.2). Its volume, corrected for density of population, is equal to the total possible demand i f the price at the factory is OP. For other prices at the factory, there will be other cones of demand so that finally we get the curve A of Figure 2.3, representing the total demand as a function of the price at the mill. The curve TT of Figure 2.3 is the 'planning curve* which shows the minimum costs at which a given output could be produced i f a new

22 13 factory had to be built for that purpose. It is only i f the planning curve TT intersects or is to the left of the total demand curve A that it is possible for the farmer to run a brewery. Otherwise, he would produce at a loss. The theoretical best shape of a trading area, however, is not a circle because even i f all the circles touch there are spaces left and a number of people could s t i l l enter the brewing business. As shown in Figure 2.4 there are corners left unused. Losch cites Chamberlin's The Theory of Monopolistic Competition to show that the size of the individual firm can be reduced from MM to M'N' (Figure 2.3) without making i t unprofitable. The unused corners can thus be used by changing the shape of the area to a regular hexagon. This will shift the curve A slightly to the left, as the hexagon is somewhat smaller than the circle that circumscribes i t. If Chamberlin's reasoning is followed, the size of the hexagon will be reduced until it is so small that the corresponding demand curve A just touches the offer curve in I'. Now no more people can enter the brewing business. As the largest possible shipping radius results in a total demand MN, so the necessary minimum radius must yield the demand M"N". Figure 2.4 shows the development from the largest to the smallest possible shipping range. The trading areas of the various products look like nets of such hexagons, from very small ones to very large ones, depending upon the product (Figure 2.5) Six

23 d-demand curve for beer OP-price at centre of production P PQ-demand for beer by people at P PR-freight from P to R RS-demand for beer by people at R Figure 2. LiJsch's Economic Regions

24 15 sectors result where centres of production are frequent and six sectors where they are scarce (Figure 2.6). This provides for the best lines of transportation. Thus,' there is a hexagonal market area surrounding every centre of production or consumption; there is a net of such areas for every commodity or service; and there is a systematic arrangement of the nets of market areas of the various commodities. Losch calls this the ideal economic region. The range of a good, first discussed by Walter Christaller, is an important element in the concept of Central Place. This theory was applied to the study of Snohomish County in Washington State.^ The upper limit of a good or service is, of course, that limit beyond which the price is too high and consumers either do without or purchase from a closer, and hence cheaper, source. The lower limit encloses that number of customers which makes i t profitable to supply that good from a central place. That number of customers, as explained before, is called the threshold population of the good. The Snohomish County study related to fifty-two types of retail and service activities in thirty-three small urban centres. The fifty-two activities were ranked according to the threshold populations of the communities in which they occurred. Least squares averaging techniques were used which computed for each urban function the best

25 16 fitting relationship of the equation P=A(B N ), where P is the population of the centres and A and B the parameters to he estimated. losch assumed in his theory no excess profits. This is not the case in reality, but it was observed in the Snohomish County study that excess profits became relatively less significant as the size of centre increased. The size of excess profits can thus probably be used as a measure of the inefficiencies of the system. If the excess profits are large there are not enough shops to serve the consumer demand. More shops move in and the centre grows to reach a state in which there are few excess profits remaining. A most interesting discovery of the study concerned the so-called 'B-values'. It would seem logical to assume that twice the threshold population for a good should support two establishments selling that good. This is not true in practice according to this study. As the urban centres increase in population and thus also in size of market, stores become larger to take advantage of economies of scale. The case of barber shops is cited. The threshold population of this service is 386. The B-value is That is, for two barber shops to exist in a centre the population in the market area must be 386 multiplied by 2.39 ; the centre must have a population of Obviously, if the number of barbers alone were dealt with there would be a closer

26 17 relationship "between the threshold for one barber and the threshold for two barbers. It is interesting to note, however, that establishments respond quickly to the demands of consumers and expand their operations to try to bring the increased demand into their shop. The spatial interrelationships between travel movements and the location of various economic activities within the city have been" analysed by geographers, land economists, planners, sociologists, and others by means of the 'gravity model'. The basic form of such a model is as follows: Pij ~ a A.1 Dijb where Pij = the expected frequency of interaction at point i created by the attraction of destination 3 ; Aj the attraction of the j destination; Dij =- the distance from the point of origin i to the j't"- destination; a = a constant of proportionality; and b = a constant exponent. In other words, the probability of interaction that is likely to occur between individuals and various destination sources within an urban area varies directly with the size or attraction of each of these sources and inversely with the distance separating each of these sources from the individual's point of origin. A model such as this cannot be used as a law but must be considered merely as a tool to explain and approximate the direction and magnitude of individual travel movements.

27 18 It assumes that group behaviour is predictable on the basis of mathematical probability because individual differences tend to be cancelled out. To account for differences among various types of individual groups the model was modified by Dodd.^ He introduced additional variables and made them multipliers of the basic variables, to account for differentials in sex, income, education and other characteristics. Basically, his equation is as follows: Pij = K sdpi Mj SfP.i where the weighting factors for population Pi; and Y= the weighting factors for population Pj. It is recognized that individuals are not willing to travel the same distances for all trips. Various exponents are thus used to reflect differences among various expeditions. This type of model is interesting in that.it recognizes a hierarchy of centres based upon the behaviour of the large group which is relatively predictable. Of course, when smaller groups are introduced, variables must be devised to account for differences. Summary Man has a number of social and economic needs that can be satisfied only by the clustering together of people. Some of these needs are ubiquitous and others are nonubiquitous. The thresholds for various functions differ according to the frequency and universality of the needs

28 which they satisfy. A functional hierarchy is thus 19 established between centres. Von Thunen's was the first theoretical statement of importance to the Central Place System. Walter Christaller, over one hundred years later, provided the most popular theoretical framework for Central Place study with his network of hexagonal market areas. August Losch developed an explicit statement on the demand cores over areas for goods and provided a clear relationship between the arrangement of transportation routes among cities and central place ideas. The concept of the range of a good, first discussed by Christaller, was tested by Brian Berry in Washington State. He found that, although the concept of the range of a good involves the unrealistic assumption of no excess profits, in fact excess profits become relatively less significant as the size of centre increases. A slightly different approach to location is developed in the use of the "gravity model' to explain travel movements. This chapter has attempted to outline the basic principles which lie behind the theory of Central Place and to trace the evolution of the theory. It has not been attempted to reveal all of the subtleties of Central Place Theory because the concern of this paper is with applications to practical problems, not with testing and restating theory.

29 CHAPTER II URBAN SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS AND THE NEED POR LAND USE CONTROL The geographer, in his study of spatial relationships, has emphasized the regional application of the Central Place System. The region usually includes an urban, or a metropolitan centre. The geographer has been mainly interested in the relationships between the urban core and rural centres and among the rural centres themselves. The urban planner, although he must be aware of regional relationships, must also have knowledge of the relationships between the Central Business District and district service centres and among the district service centres. Prom the evidence of the case study done for this paper an assumption could be made that the Central Place System applies to a strictly urban area, and would therefore be of use to the planner for the organization of his information regarding urban spatial relationships. But there is more evidence than this for such an assumption. Economists have put forward excellent arguments for urban locational efficiency, and although these arguments are not put forward in terms of the Central Place System, they complement the 20

30 21 system to a marked degree. Robert Murray Haig, the land economist, states that cities are a part of an economic mechanism and that urban concentrations, from the standpoint of transportation efficiency, are the locations of lowest cost in the process of production and consumption. The concentration of persons and goods is the result of efforts to minimize the 'costs of friction', that is, costs of overcoming the 'friction of space'. Spatial relationships, then, are the primary factors in the efficiency of our urban organizations and in the location of our urban centres. The minimizing of cost is the controlling force in the determination of locations. Haig thus feels that location and distribution of land use in the city can be explained by hypotheses which are summarized as follows: 1 1); Each activity seeks a site for which the costs of friction are at a minimum; 2) That activity which can best exploit the locational attributes of a given site will probably occupy i t, through a process of competitive bidding in the real estate market; 3) The people in the community, through their evaluation of the relative importances of the various conveniences as demonstrated through their choices dictate how they wish the land to be used. For example, the locations of stores of various types are conditioned by the buying habits of potential customers; and

31 22 4) Efficiency in the layout of the city is inversely proportional to the aggregate of the costs of friction.. If the city has an inefficient layout, the costs of friction will be high. This statement is a useful basis for understanding the internal structure of the city and the land use relationships that have developed. It is simplified, of course, to illustrate the ideal economic model. Such considerations as administrative controls over locations and the effects of topography are ignored for clarity. Haig's hypotheses comply nicely with the tenets of the Central Place System, and provide an urban perspective for the geographic theory. For example, Haig's reference to the 'costs of friction', although conceived in economic terms, applies equally as well with reference to Christaller's hierarchy, in that both concepts concern the determination of spatial relationships predicated upon the consumer's desire for locational efficiency. Haig's points 2) and 3) correspond to the geographic concept of 'threshold' which has been explained in Chapter I. It is Haig's fourth point which is of particular interest to the planner who would use the Central Place System for the planning of efficient location of activities within the city. The reduction of friction in the layout of a city would be facilitated through the use of the hexagonal pattern for recognizing hierarchical structure, since this method would incorporate

32 23 the ideas expressed by Haig. Both economists and geographers in their descriptions of spatial relationships consider only the ideal situation. The geographer's perfect hexagons would rarely evolve under natural conditions,just as the economist's models are subject to disruption by unpredictable elements. Knowledge of such elements is essential for appraisal of the applicability of theory to reality. If the urban land market were perfect in the classical economic sense, there would be no need for planning, because the interests of individuals and society would be served through decisions of owners with respect to land use. The effect of competition for sites is to minimize inconvenience and friction and to maximize efficiency in the conduct of the affairs of the community. The market is not perfect, '. however, and wide deviations occur even though the pattern is close to the economic ideal. The basic cause of the inefficiencies that result from the working of the market is the "constant lag resulting from the dynamic nature of society, socially, economically, and technologically, which impinges upon the rigidity of the physical improvements; these improvements carry over far beyond the time when they adequately express the needs of the community". Readjustments in land use are slow because of the large investment and long physical life of the improvements. New improvements on an occuppied site cannot be economically

33 24 justified until the value of the cleared land exceeds the present value of the land and improvements. Even when. accurate forecasts can be made to predict a type of land use for the future which is not feasible now, it is seldom possible to erect a building inexpensive enough to provide the interim use and be retired after a short life. When a site'is being held for a higher use in the future, a onestorey building is sometimes erected to derive at least enough money to pay the taxes during the interim without investing a large amount in improvements.^ Because of the imperfect working of the urban real estate market and as a result of conflicts between private and public interest, there is need for land use control. These controls would assist in prediction of future land use and spatial relationships and so would be favourable to the investor but unfavourable to the speculator. Thus, with greater controls and hence greater predictability, the long term investor will be encouraged, with the consequence that more socially desirable developments will result. The purpose of attempting to predict the best locations for service centres is to direct development to these locations, as determined by locational efficiency, and avoid the loses which befall both the entrepreneur and the city as a whole, as a result of poor location. Policy must be formulated which will bring about the locational efficiency of urban activities; a sound

34 2 5 basis for such policy would be the use of the Central Place System in analysis of the urban area. Much of the maldistribution of urban activities is the result of the lack of firm policy toward location of commercial functions. Thus, scattered locations of functions are approved and ribbon development is allowed to grow because no logical basis has been determined for the locations of functions. Scattered locations of functions cause inefficiencies but the biggest loss is to the entrepreneur in such a location who loses out to the attraction of larger and well organized centres. Ribbon development, however, is a cost to the entire community. Some of the more obvious drawbacks of commercial ribbon development are: 1) Excessive speculation and inflated values because i t is known that land along the strip is easily rezoned. The result is a large amount of productive land being held unproductive on speculation. 2) This type of development usually contains a mixture of both commercial and residential uses with the resultant depreciation of land for both purposes. 3) Ribbon development on both sides of a main traffic artery results in pedestrian and vehicular conflict, caused by pedestrians crossing the street. 4) The additional traffic generated results in: a) necessity of street widening, requiring purchase of expensive commercial frontage, b) conflict between through traffic and local shopping traffic, and c) complication of off-street parking. 5) ' Many businesses tend to be of a marginal character adding little to the variety of shopping.

35 26 6) The efficient grouping of services and organization of traffic in the grouped commercial concentrations makes it difficult for the ribbon commercial group to compete with these centres in attracting customers. 4 It is obvious, then, that ribbon development of commercial uses should not be allowed to occur for considerations involving the shopper, the storekeeper, and everyone who must travel through such an area. It was found in Tulsa, by an analysis of twenty shopping centres built since 1952 that the average size per store was almost three times the average size of store in a commercial strip development or scattered location. If this trend can be expected to continue, the land use needs for future commercial development will be different than they have been until now and new land use plans will have to be made. It must be recognized by the planner that shopping activities are following the trends of industry, farming, construction, and so on, to become larger in scale and more efficient. The small operator in almost every commercial activity is disappearing in favour of the large scale operation. The small business man can s t i l l have a place, however, provided he recognizes and adjusts to the new situation. As well as employing retail tactics such as group purchasing, specialty brands, and the provision of personal service, the small retailer must pay more attention to his location. There is a better chance for his survival in a good shopping centre or district grouping than on his

36 27 own. The planner has a duty to recognize these trends and assist retailers to provide more effective shopping facilities. Other factors are also at work to change the needs for shopping. The work week will almost certainly be shortened because of technological advances, with a resultant greater need for stores to cater to leisure needs. A much greater proportion of space in shopping centres may have to be allocated to such functions as record shops, music shops, sporting goods stores, hobby and pet shops, and other similar services. It is -also probable that shopping centres will take on more of the aspects of community centres so that more space will be required for cinemas, recreational areas, and other community social needs. Contributing to the downfall of strip commercial centres will be the building of expressways. This will remove a large amount of traffic from streets with ribbon development so that stores in these centres will suffer. Some types of businesses will suffer more than others: the neighbourhood grocery store or drug store may not be harmed as much as those businesses, such as automotive accessories, outboard motors, etc., serving the larger region. Many of the businesses along these string streets were located there to service the passing traffic and not the local neighbourhood. When expressways replace these streets as major arterial routes much of the traffic that was catered to will be lost. The planner must work to ensure that ribbon

37 28 development does not continue. More of this type of development will mean a greater amount of displacement as expressways are built. A firm land use policy based on the Central Place System will not only enable the planner to avoid ribbon development and the problems of scattered location, but should guide his approach to problems arising from the over-all expansion of his city. As population grows and commercial activity increases the planner must consider such problems as the location of service centres for 1) expressway interchanges, 2) areas of changing density and 3) areas of redevelopment. The planner must also be aware of any trend to an exchange or re-grouping of functions between the Central Business District and district service centres, and how such trends affect his zoning decisions. The Central Place System provides the framework for such study, but full use should be made of market surveys and population projections where such information will complete the background necessary for decision-making. To illustrate the use of the Central Place System in planning for an expanding urban area, the three problems enumerated above are discussed here in detail. 1) Service Centres for Expressway Interchanges. V/hen planning the locations of urban arterial highways there must be an awareness of the hierarchy of service centres so that interchanges may be located in such a way that the existing

38 29 pattern of centres is not disrupted needlessly. If possible, existing centres should be adapted to serve not only the neighbourhood but also the increased demands resulting from the new highway. If existing centres are ignored and new centres emerge where the interchanges are placed, a large amount of capital investment in the old centre may be lost* Also, it may be possible to plan for highway interchanges in locations which, as indicated by reference to the pattern of centres, will be necessary when the population becomes denser. In other words, i f the highway is to go through an area which is not densly'settled, there is little information available on market demand for centres because there is, as yet, no market. One way to estimate where the future centres should be located is to extend the existing pattern into the undeveloped area, taking into consideration proposed densities. Interchanges can then be planned to f i t in with the ideal pattern. 2) Areas of changing density. Examination of the pattern of centres in a city may reveal certain spaces which do not appear to be serviced on a par with the remainder of the city. Explanations must be sought to explain these variations. Apparently under-serviced areas may merely have a low population density relative to the whole city. A population projection for the smaller area may reveal that the density will increase to such a degree that another centre may be required or that an existing one will grow much larger. Without reference to the pattern it might be pure speculation

39 30 to determine which one it will he. Thus, the planner can devise zoning requirements or other restrictions and encouragements to implement what should be an inevitable realization of Central Place phenomena. The planner may even recommend that the city purchase a large piece of property in the proposed location to provide for a well organized shopping centre with all the desired amenities including off-street parking, pedestrian-vehicle separation, and control of advertising signs. 3) Areas of redevelopment. Irregularities in the pattern of service centres may sometimes be traced to other causes than differences in density. Perhaps some historical factor may have intervened to disrupt the pattern. For example, it may have been that all or most of the land in an area was held by a person who placed a restrictive covenant on each parcel against its use for any activity except residential. If part of the area becomes dilapidated and the public authority wishes to redevelop i t, there is the problem of how much commercial activity is warranted. Without reference to the pattern of centres it may be concluded that a centre to serve the needs of the immediate redevelopment area is required. However, such a centre, designed only to serve a limited population, may be inundated by the demands from the wider area which has been deprived, because of the restrictive covenants, from having services appropriate to the need. Thus, the local residents for whom the services

40 31 were intended are inconvenienced by overcrowding of the facilities and the needs of the larger community are only partially met. Shop owners will then wish to expand their premises to handle this excess of customers and the plan for the area must be adjusted, if possible. Of course, a market survey for a new service centre would reveal the extent of the need but it is useful to get a clear indication from the pattern of centres of the probable size needed. If the pattern reveals that there is a wide discrepancy between what one would at first glance think would be required and what the pattern would indicate, then a closer examination is suggested. As the city grows larger there is a tendency for greater decentralization of some functions and centralization of others. The Central Business District may become, more specialized and centres outside the Central Business District may take on more of the functions formerly existing only in the CBD. Thus, department stores build in suburban centres, administrative offices find it more economical to operate from a less central position in the city, and perhaps existing stores in suburban locations find that they want to expand to accomodate those extra customers who find it no longer desirable to shop in the crowded CBD. Knowledge of the existing hierarchy of centres may provide a sound basis for predicting which of them will probably tend to take on more of the CBD functions. Land use in these centres can then be

41 32 planned. For instance, it may be foolish to allow apartment buildings to be erected in locations which will crowd and restrict further development of retail outlets when it may be predicted with some degree of accuracy that the centre is destined to become of a higher order and hence larger. If it can be predicted which centres will take on these added functions, space can be reserved for them and more effective traffic movement can be planned to ease congestion and to encourage a more efficient and more aesthetically pleasing centre to evolve. For these purposes i t may be useful to study the emerging pattern in other cities of a similar or larger size. There may be experience elsewhere which indicates that when a city reaches a certain size the CBD functions become decentralized in such a way that an entirely new hierarchical pattern emerges. It would be useful to have some knowledge of these trends so that plans could be made accordingly. If existing centres are too congested the moving CBD functions may seek other space. New centres may then emerge which will attract the trade away from the older centres, with the resultant lowering of property values in the older centres and waste.of existing facilities. These problems can be dealt with if their occurrence can be foreseen. The utility of the Central Place System to the planner is not limited to the understanding of urban spatial

42 33 relationships, The city and its environs are in a dynamic relationship with each other; growth or decay in any one of the district service centres will influence the status of the CBD and also the status of other district centres. If a change in status takes place at the core, in the suburban area, or in a satelite town, a reaction is felt in the other spheres of service activity. For this reason it is important that the planner extend his use of the Central Place System to include the region of which his city is the core. If the planner can guage the influence of completely new settlement patterns upon service centres in his suburban area (and the CBD) he can adjust his land use policies to accomodate the new influence. For example, the hamlet of St. Albert, Alberta, is. situated three miles north-west of Edmonton, a large urban centre. As St. Albert was developed into a dormitory town with its own low order service centres, the higher order north-west Edmonton service centres were called upon to service the infrequent needs of the dormitory town. On the eastern periphery of the city, a village, Ft. Saskatchewan, developed into a New Town (in the British sense). In this case, since the new settlement is of a more complex nature, and since it is located seventeen miles from the urban area, service centres of a slightly higher order than those at St. Albert have developed. The influence of Ft. Saskatchewan upon the urban district service centres in the eastern sector

43 3 4 of the city would be less directly felt than the influence of St. Albert in the west. There would be a service link between Pt. Saskatchewan and the Edmonton CBD for the f u l f i l ment of the more infrequent, or specialized needs. It can be seen, then, that the dynamics of urbanregional service relations are an important consideration in planning for locational efficiency in the urban area. In Israel and in Africa these relationships have been used in the planning of urban and rural areas where settlement was previously unorganized, sparse, or non-existent. In the application of the Central Place System to the emerging nation of Israel^ the geographic and economic factors have been incorporated with the sociological factors to plan on a nation-wide scale for the locations of major centres and also on a smaller scale to plan for the servicing of small rural settlements. The location of the main centre in the Lakish region of Israel, Kiryath Gat, was determined by planners because it was situated at the intersection of the main roads crossing the region and was in the geographic centre of its area of influence. A semi-circle of four subregional clusters, each consisting of from four to six villages arranged around their own community centre, surrounds Kiryath Gat to the west on the fertile plain. Wherever villages can be placed close together-, usually in areas of intensively irrigated farming, they are grouped together in clusters of five or six villages around a service village which contains

44 35 the rural community centre. In this way, small sub-regions are dependent for their less-frequent needs on the service village, the individual villages having only a kindergarten, a shop, the local council office, a synagogue, and a firstaid station. One of the foremost planning consultant firms in the world, Doxiadis Associates, has embraced the Central Place System for planning on a regional as well as on a metropolitan scale. In their report on the Accra-Tema-Akosombo region of Ghana^ Doxiadis Associates use the Central Place System to explain the principles upon which planning should be based for the large region encompassing the rural and urban areas and for the limited area of the metropolitan region' of Accra and Akosombo. They explain that the fundamental or primary community would take the form shown in Figure 3, p. 36, with the small village in the middle surrounded by a small hexagon containing the irrigated farming lands, surrounded in turn by a larger hexagon containing the dry farming lands. The landscape would have a network of these fundamental communities as shown in Figure 4, p. 36. As well as these fundamental communities serving only their own inhabitants there would be communities which would not only serve their own inhabitants but also the needs of other communities neighbouring them. These belong to a higher order and would constitute Class B communities. This is illustrated in Figure

45 36 5» P«37. Other larger areas would be served by bigger communities and would constitute the higher order centres of class C,D, etc. All of these communities would be related to each other in this hierarchical relationship. Figure 3. The Hexagonal Fundamental Community from Accra-Tema-Akosombo Regional Programme and Plan, (final report), Vol. 2, p Figure 4.; The Hexagonal Pattern of Fundamental Communities, from Accra-Tema-Akosombo Regional Programme and Plan^ (final report), Vol. 2, p. 179.

46 37 Figure 5. The Regional Pattern of Communities, from Accra-Tema-Akosombo Regional Programme and Plan, (final report), Vol. 2, p. 183.

47 38 Figure 6. The Hierarchy Within the Metropolitan Region,.from Accra-Tema-Akosombo Regional Programme and Plan, (Final report), Vol. 2, pp. 215, 217. The Israel and Ghana applications of the Central Place System illustrate the dynamics of urban-regional relations in areas where complete control over development has enabled the planner to organize centres for maximum efficiency. Although the North American city planner usually deals with

48 39 settled land and has something less than complete control over development, he can see from these illustrations a real example of the Central Place System worked out under near ideal circumstances. The continuing development of these two examples should be watched since they represent some of the first full applications of Central Place Theory, and so that their problems and solutions can serve as a guide to the city planner in his concern for locational efficiency. Summary The Central Place System provides a framework within which the planner can organize geographic and economic information for a better understanding of urban spatial relationships and as a basis for policy formulation. Through his use of the Central Place System the planner can borrow from other sources of information, such as sociological studies, population projections, market surveys, and other Central Place studies. The system provides the planner with a specific point of view from which all this information will become unified into a meaningful pattern.

49 CHAPTER III METHODS OP MEASURING CENTRALITY The importance of centres as central places must be measured in as accurate a way as possible if a meaningful hierarchy of central places is to be established. It is not sufficiently accurate to examine a centre cursorily and assign to it a designation such as hamlet, village, town or city. A more detailed and scientific method must be used. This is particularly true for centres within an urban region where the differences between centres are even less apparent. The centrality of rural service centres was the first systematic attempt at measurement. Two methods of measurement have been used. The first is to examine the business establishments in the centre to determine i f certain kinds of goods and services exist, the presence of which would indicate a certain level of centrality. This method 1? was used by Dickinson and Smailes in the United Kingdom, and also in the study of south-western Wisconsin.3 The second method is to measure the use made of a centre by rural residents. The rural resident is asked' where he travels to buy certain commodities and services. The centrality of a -centre-is then determined by the number of people patronizing 40

50 41 that centre for certain selected goods or services which are indicative of certain levels of centrality. The advantage of this method is that the extent of the area of influence of a centre is also established. This second method was the one used by Bracey in southern England.^ The measurement of the area of influence of the cities of Boston and New York has also been attempted.the following functions were investigated from the point Of view of gravitation to either centre: transportation (truck, railroad, ship); communications (newspaper circulation, telephone calls); agriculture; recreation; manufacturing; and finance. Boundary lines were established for each function and the area of influence for each centre for each function could be clearly seen. The importance of centres in a metropolitan area could not be measured in these ways, however, because of the complexity of a metropolitan region and the lack of clear boundaries. For example, long distance calls were tabulated according to origin and destination; calls between various telephone exchanges within the city are not recorded, and in any case if they were recorded, the figures would include a large proportion of social calls not indicative of the status of a centre in the same way in which long distance calls, most of which are business calls, would indicate status. There have been few published Central Place studies that have been carried out within urban regions. The ones

51 42 that are available, however, were done within the past five years. The study of service centres in London, England, is interesting for its method of approach and graphic presentation of the data.^ In this study, three different methods were used to measure the centrality of centres. The first was to count the number of establishments of certain types in the centre; the second was to use the measure of assessed value of the establishments, and the third was a measure based upon the frequency and origins and destinations of bus services. The first is a measure of the quantity of establishments in a centre whereas the second and third are measures of how much they are patronized by customers. Not all centres were studied. It was decided that only those centres would be studied which had at least three banks, or two banks and a Woolworth store. It was assumed that banks and Woolworth stores were good indicators of economic activity of the level of which study was desired. The validity of these measures for North America will be discussed later in this chapter. There were over two hundred of such centres in the Greater London area. Other types of establishments noted, in the centres possessing the basic requirements, were chain department stores, clothing, home furnishings, radio shops and cinemas. Pood stores and other stores of the same order were considered to be too ubiquitous to have importance in indicating status of these centres. A grading system was

52 43 then developed using six classifications from 'a' to 'f 1 (see Table 2, p. 44). A hierarchy of centres was thus established based on the number of establishments of the selected types. This hierarchy is shown by Figure 7, P«45. 0 A further quantitative measure was used which had for its basis the number of establishments over a certain size, as determined by assessed taxable value of the establishment. This was done because it was assumed that the status of a centre depends to a large degree upon the size of its stores. Large stores were observed to attract many, shoppers because of their window displays and large scale advertising. Therefore, a grading was made on the basis > of stores with an assessed taxable value of over Chain department stores were not included. Points were awarded to centres as follows: for every store with an assessed taxable value of 1500 to 2,499, one point; those from 2500 to 8,999, two points; those of 9000 and over, three points. The grading on this basis is shown in Table 3, p. 44. The centres were then mapped according to the grades thus established (Figure 8, p. 46). The map shows the concentration of large stores in a relatively small number of important centres and seems to indicate that large stores can be taken as revealing a centre's status. As well as these quantity measures two further indices were used to assess status of centres. These were assessed taxable values of all the establishments considered,

53 2J4 TABLE 2 THE GRADING OF CENTRES ACCORDING TO THE NUMBER OF BANKS, CINEMAS. AND CERTAIN TYPES OF SHOPS, from Carruthers, Town Planning Review, p. 7. 0) Banks (iv) (») (i«). Chain ', Dept. Clothing. Furnishing Stores i. (v) rtac/io (vi) Cinemas Grade 8 & over & over 17 & over 13 & over j 8c over a b c S I j-6 2 d x 4 I S e \ \» f DEFINITIONS OF THE CLASSIFIED TELEPHONE DIRECTORY (1958) (i) Banks:. Bankers. X. (il) Chain Department Stores British Home Stores, Marks and Spencer and Wqolworth, Stores: only. Mail Order Stores Littlewoods Mail Order Stores. (iii) Clothing: Children's Outfitters, Clothiers, Ladies'Wear, Men's Wear, Outfitters, Tailors, and Tailors Ladies. (iv) Furnishing: Carpet Merchants, China, Glass and Earthenware Merchants and " Dealers, Furnishers, and Furniture Dealers, (r) Radio: Gramophone land Record Dealers, Engineers Radio, Engineers Television, Radio Receiver Dealers, Radio Renting, Television Receivers, Television Renting, (ri) Cinemas: Cinemas and Theatres. TABLE 3 THE""GRADING OF CENTRES ON THE BASIS OF LARGE SHOPS, from Carruthers, p. 8. Points Totals Grading Over b 3-9 c 1-2 d a

54 RANKING OF CENTRES ON THE BASIS OF BANKS, CINEMAS AND CERTAIN TYPES OF SHOPS, From Carruthers, p. 8 (opposite).

55 46 FIGURE 8 RANKING OP CENTRES ON THE BASIS OP LARGE STORES WITH A TAXABLE VALUE OP OVER 1,500, f r o m C a r r u t h e r s, p. 1 0.