I.

Introduction

Central Place Theory, spatial theory in human geography that attempts to explain the number, size, and distribution of settlements, and to provide a framework by which settlement structures all over the world may be studied. It was first developed by the German geographer Walter Christaller in 1933 and modified in 1954 by another German, August Lösch.

The essence of the theory is that settlements act as central places providing one or more services for their surrounding areas, and that they vary in their importance, or order, according to the number and type of other settlements dependent upon them, and according to the number and type of services, or functions, they provide. Services are also ordered: lower-order functions include the types of services provided by a village shop; higher-order functions include department stores and hospitals. Cities and large towns are classified as high-order settlements because they supply both low- and high-order services, the latter to both their own inhabitants and to those living further away. A village with one small shop would be of a very low order.