Rank-size rule for rural settlements

Abstract

A new rank-size rule for rural settlements is presented. It replaces the urban rank-size P n = P 1 n α by P n = P 1 δ n−1 where P n is the population size of the nth settlement. A graphic presentation of this rule is the straight line on a semilogarithmic grid. The basis for checking the proposed rule is a case-study based on population records for Samarian villages for 1596, 1931, and 1975. The explanation for the rural rank-size rule is that there is a certain optimal size of a rural settlement. This optimum shows itself in the form of a concentration of settlements within a relatively narrow range of sizes. It is suggested that each region and each culture has its own specific range of preferred sizes. The optimum level is thus the major factor which accounts for the special case of the rural rank-size rule. But variations in the range of concentration reflect the relative importance of dynamic factors: the development of urban centers, at one end, and the establishment of new off-shoots in marginal areas, at the other.