scholarly journals External Urban Relational Process: Introducing Central Flow Theory to Complement Central Place Theory

Urban Studies ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 47 (13) ◽  
pp. 2803-2818 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Taylor ◽  
Michael Hoyler ◽  
Raf Verbruggen
Keyword(s):  
Network Model ◽  
Hierarchical Model ◽  
Flow Theory ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Central Place Theory ◽  
Urban Networks ◽  
Place Theory ◽  
Non Local ◽  
Central Flow ◽  
Relational Process

Central place hierarchies have been the traditional basis for understanding external urban relations. However, in contemporary studies of these relations, a new emphasis on urban networks has emerged. Rather than either abandoning or extending central place thinking, it is here treated as representing one of two generic processes of external urban relations. Town-ness is the making of ‘local’ urban—hinterland relations and ‘city-ness’ is the making of ‘non-local’ interurban relations. Central place theory describes the former through an interlocking hierarchical model; this paper proposes a central flow theory to describe the latter through an interlocking network model. The key difference is the level of complexity in the two processes.

scholarly journals Operationalizing Central Place Theory and Central Flow Theory with mobile phone data

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek Doran ◽  
Andrew Fox
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Flow Theory ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Mobile Phone Data ◽  
Central Place Theory ◽  
Central Places ◽  
Place Theory ◽  
Cooperative Development ◽  
Socioeconomic Data ◽  
Central Flow

Central Place and Central Flow Theory are geographic principles explaining why and how cities develop across large regional spaces. Central Place Theory postulates that cities self-organize into a spatial hierarchy were small numbers of very large ‘Central Places’ support numerous surrounding and less developed ‘Low Places’, while ‘Middle Places’ develop at the periphery of where Central Places carry spatial influence. Central Flow Theory is a comple- mentary notion that explains the cooperative development of cities through joint information sharing. Both theories are often discussed, with multiple regional development and economic models built upon their tenents. However, it is very difficult to quantify the degree to which Central Place and Central Flow Theory explains the development and positions of cities in a region, particularly in developing countries where socioeconomic data is difficult to collect. To facilitate these measurements, this paper presents a way to operationalize Central Place and Central Flow Theory using mobile phone data collected across a region. It defines a set of mobile phone data attributes that are related to basic facets of the two theories, and demonstrates how their measurements speak to the degree to which the theories hold in the region the mobile phone data covers. The theory is then applied in a case study where promising locations for economic investment in a developing nation are identified.

scholarly journals Operationalizing Central Place Theory and Central Flow Theory with mobile phone data

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek Doran ◽  
Andrew Fox
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Flow Theory ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Mobile Phone Data ◽  
Central Place Theory ◽  
Central Places ◽  
Place Theory ◽  
Cooperative Development ◽  
Socioeconomic Data ◽  
Central Flow

Central Place and Central Flow Theory are geographic principles explaining why and how cities develop across large regional spaces. Central Place Theory postulates that cities self-organize into a spatial hierarchy were small numbers of very large ‘Central Places’ support numerous surrounding and less developed ‘Low Places’, while ‘Middle Places’ develop at the periphery of where Central Places carry spatial influence. Central Flow Theory is a comple- mentary notion that explains the cooperative development of cities through joint information sharing. Both theories are often discussed, with multiple regional development and economic models built upon their tenents. However, it is very difficult to quantify the degree to which Central Place and Central Flow Theory explains the development and positions of cities in a region, particularly in developing countries where socioeconomic data is difficult to collect. To facilitate these measurements, this paper presents a way to operationalize Central Place and Central Flow Theory using mobile phone data collected across a region. It defines a set of mobile phone data attributes that are related to basic facets of the two theories, and demonstrates how their measurements speak to the degree to which the theories hold in the region the mobile phone data covers. The theory is then applied in a case study where promising locations for economic investment in a developing nation are identified.

scholarly journals New Approaches in Defining the Structure of Urban Settlement Systems

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cansu Güller ◽  
◽  
Çiğdem Varol ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Temporal Structure ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Central Place Theory ◽  
Urban Networks ◽  
Settlement Systems ◽  
Place Theory ◽  
Urban Patterns ◽  
Technological Developments

Technological developments such as the extensive use of modern communication tools and increasing infrastructure opportunities have changed the spatial organization forms and daily life practices in cities. Previously, central place theory, which explains hierarchical urban patterns based on the minimum population size-based threshold concept and the maximum distance-based range concept has become incompetent to explain the spatial organization of today's settlements. At this point, in defining the urbanization processes and explaining the spatial organization, the search for new conceptual and methodological approaches has become important. In this study, changing urban systems are evaluated in terms of closeness centrality, attribute centrality, network centrality, and geographical centrality based on space of flows and interpreted by current parameters. It is concluded that in defining the structure and spatial organization of urban systems, the morphological and functional dimensions of urban systems should be evaluated besides the parameters of population, geographical proximity or network relations. In this context, a model proposal has been developed by using current parameters such as density, diversity, mobility, connectivity, spatial-temporal structure, and urban networks.

Rational-Choice Models and Asian Studies

1991 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Little
Keyword(s):  
Rational Choice ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Survival Strategies ◽  
Transport Cost ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Central Place Theory ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Place Theory ◽  
Late Imperial ◽  
The Individual

The rational-choice paradigm has been attractive to many area specialists in their efforts to arrive at explanations of social and political behavior in various parts of the world. This model of explanation is simple yet powerful; we attempt to explain a pattern of social behavior or an enduring social arrangement as the aggregate outcome of the goal-directed choices of large numbers of rational agents. Why did the Nian rebellion occur? It was the result of the individual-level survival strategies of north China peasants (Perry 1980). Why did the central places of late imperial Sichuan conform to the hexagonal arrays predicted by central-place theory? Because participants—consumers, merchants, and officials—made rational decisions based on considerations of transport cost (Skinner 1964–65). Why was late imperial Chinese agriculture stagnant? Because none of the actors within the agricultural system had both the incentive and the capacity to invest in agricultural innovation (Lippit 1987).

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