III.

Central Place Hierarchy

This ordering of settlements according to the size of their market area creates what is known as a central place hierarchy. Each central place can be given a value, called a k value, according to how many lower-order places are dependent upon it. However, it is more usual to describe the overall settlement pattern in k-value terms. For example, a hierarchy based on the second settlement pattern described above—where lower-order central places are located on the sides of the hexagons around the higher-order central places—would have a k value of four. This is because each of the six lower-order central places is shared between the two adjacent higher-order places. Thus, each higher-order place has the equivalent of three (6 divided by 2) settlements dependent upon it plus itself, hence k = 4. Much higher k values are possible, especially when there are more than two orders of central place involved in a hierarchy.