Central Place System Research Articles

Cityphilia and cityphobia: A multi-scalar search for city love in Flanders

Cities, towns, and rural areas form a complex spatial system influenced by governance, economic factors, and the perceptions of their residents. This paper introduces the concepts of 'cityphilia' and 'cityphobia' as metaphors for the spatial attraction and repulsion forces that shape local quality of life. It aims to create and validate an operational framework for understanding citizens' appreciation and attachment to their living environment, often referred to as 'city love.' This framework considers two key components, 'body' and 'soul,' encompassing both physical and social aspects. Building upon Charles Tiebout's work on the competitive attractiveness of cities and aligning with contemporary research on the geography of happiness, a conceptual model is developed and applied to identify and assess the components of city love using various indicators. These indicators encompass local attractiveness, local public expenditures, and inter-urban interdependencies. The model is empirically tested in the context of Flanders, Belgium, a region comprising 300 distinct municipalities, both urban and rural. A Beta regression model is employed, which incorporates spatial dependencies to examine multi-scalar effects on residential satisfaction. The results affirm the soundness of the 'city love' framework and emphasize the significance of central place systems in providing tangible and intangible well-being services to citizens within a hierarchical spatial structure. These findings carry notable implications for urban policy and management, shedding light on how local attractiveness and interdependence shape the well-being of residents in diverse urban and rural settings.

From the “isolated states” to the central place system(s): water supply of the cities in modern Libya

From the “isolated states” to the central place system(s): water supply of the cities in modern Libya

Intermittent Development of Central Place Systems: The Dynamics of Unification and Breakup

Relevance. The development of central place theory has been hindered by its static nature, as it fails to capture transitions between equilibrium states in central place systems. This long-standing problem remains unsolved since the theory's inception 90 years ago. This article presents a solution by examining the cases of system unification and system breakup, where previously independent systems merge or split. Research objective: The study aims to identify the conditions under which central place systems resume continual development following revolutionary transformations in their structure. Data and methods: The research analyzes census data from India (1947-2011) and Yemen (1973-2004) using equations based on the axioms of central place theory. The study also considers isostatic equilibrium as the foundation of central place system structures. Results: The effect of intermittence on the steady evolution of a central place system diminishes rapidly after the unification of two independent systems. In contrast, the adaptation of elements from a previously unified system to new conditions, including reinstating the former hierarchy and spatial structure, takes significantly longer after a system breakup. The study introduces a novel perspective, highlighting that the unification of central place systems tends to lead to progress, whereas the breakup of a unified system results in degradation. Conclusions: The true benefit to a central place system lies not solely in achieving isostatic equilibrium but in maintaining a secure and optimal structure. While these concepts share similarities, they may appear more distinct when examining the central place system as a whole. Equilibrium represents an optimal state for individual hierarchy levels rather than the entire system.

Межрегиональные экономические взаимодействия в свете теории центральных мест

This paper considers basic models of functional hierarchy of central places, which are based on different systems of axioms and, therefore, reproduce different spatial structures of economic interactions. This study substantiates the possibility of using these models in researches of wider class of hierarchical systems of central places, where central places are not the settlements, characterized by relations of mutual location and subordination, but the regions, the elements of national economic space, characterized by relations of coalition productivity. For the spatial structures of economic interactions described by Christaller, Tinbergen, and Losch functional hierarchy models, matrices of income flows and spatial multipliers are constructed. The incomes in the models of successively inclusive hierarchy of Christaller and Tinbergen are determined on the basis of the system of recursive equations, in the model of fuzzy hierarchy within economic landscape of Losch – on the basis of the system of simultaneous equations. It’s shown that for identification of types of spatial structures themselves – successively inclusive or fuzzy hierarchy, the parameter of nesting market areas as such has no special importance, and the polymorphism of the central places system can be determined by the structural parameters of spatial multipliers. The resulting matrices of income flows differ mainly in the number of allocated levels of the functional hierarchy and the configuration of trade flows between different levels. Compared to other models, the role of intraregional effects in the formation of income at different levels of the hierarchy is lower in Losch’s model, and the role of system effects is higher. The directions of search for meaningful generalizations during the transition from the theory to the concept of central places, oriented to the study of a wider class of hierarchical systems, were determined. They are: refusal from planar projections; determination of generalized characteristics of the system of central places (mass of central places and ‘distance’ between them); development of principles of coordination of conclusions of theoretical and conceptual designs; formulation and solution of the problem of multilevel analysis

Система опорных населенных пунктов как механизм управления пространственным развитием: теоретические и практические аспекты

The article considers the theory of central places as a methodological basis for creating a system of reference settlement. The practical significance and relevance of it is largely determined by the purpose of creating a system of central places in conditions of a limited (minimal) number of central places to ensure that all settlements of the corresponding territory are provided with the necessary services. Using the example of Germany, the authors show how the concept of central places is widely used in spatial organization, spatial development and territorial planning, in the organization of the system of public power and the provision of services. The authors analyze the current federal agenda and the regional practice of the Russian regions identification of reference settlements (on the example of the Stavropol Territory). The authors determine the nature and area of distribution of the benefits provided; the number of the population acting as a potential consumer of the benefits provided; the intensity of the impact on migration processes (primarily pendulum migration) and the labor market; the level of infrastructural development (including industrial, transport, social infrastructure); distance to other central places. The approbation of the proposed approach is presented on the example of the Kochubeyevsky municipal district of the Stavropol Territory. The authors consider fundamentally important taking into account that the system of third-level reference settlements should be significantly more extensive.

Системы центральных мест: континуальное развитие на ранних этапах

The article is devoted to determining the conditions for the evolution of central place systems in the early stages – in the framework of the new and classical economic geography. We come to the conclusion that the new economic geography is not operational in relation to evolutionary processes, since it proceeds from postulates that violate the central place theory and based on incorrect assumptions (for example, validity of Bunge’s problem). We postulate the need to revise three main provisions of the classical approach: 1) on the initial correspondence of systems to the rank-size rule; 2) on increasing the compliance of systems with the rank-size rule as the share of urban population increases to 50%; 3) about the striving of central place systems to the state of equilibrium and – upon reaching it, for mature systems – an insignificant in its intensity ‘fluctuation’ around it. The authors define the conditions for the evolution of central place systems as follows: 1) the systems correspond slightly to the rank-size rule in the early stages and much better to the Christaller distribution; 2) as the share of urban population increases, the very slight compliance of systems with the rank-size rule worsens more and more; an increase in the share of urban population is accompanied by an improvement in the fit to the Christaller distribution; 3) systems strive for a state of equilibrium at any stage of their evolution; ‘oscillations’ around it for young systems are characterized by a significantly larger amplitude compared to that for mature systems

생활서비스 공급 측면에서 본 전라북도 농촌지역의 중심지체계와 읍·면 중심지의 역할

This study aims to derive the life service supply structure in rural areas of Jeollabuk-do through the analysis of the centrality of life service in Eup/Myeon central area. In addition, mutual relationship between the settlement system in rural areas and the current status of the supply of living services in Eup/Myeon areas were also analyzed. In particular, in this study, the entire administrative districts of Jeollabuk-do are intended to be established as a single wide area unit, breaking away from the current status of living service supply at the Si/Gun level. This study mainly conducted with three points. First, the spatial range of Eup/Myeon central districts with centrality in terms of living service supply was established. Second, the hierarchical structure of the living service supply system in the rural areas of Jeollabuk-do was investigated through the analysis of the living service supply level based on the centrality and geographical distribution in Eup/Myeon central districts. Based on the analysis results, the central place system of rural areas in Jeollabuk-do was established in terms of living service supply. Third, through the analysis of the living service functions distributed in the central area, and the type of living service supply by hierarchy was identified.

LAND RENT IN THE CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT OF A CITY AS A KEY FACTOR OF SOCIAL SERVICE DEVELOPMENT

This article summarizes different approaches to investigation of land rent in the central place system e.g. in the business district of a large city or agglomeration as a key factor of social service development. The main purpose of the study is increase of profitability and competitiveness of service enterprises due to improvement of their location in the business district centre. Systematization of literature sources and approaches to solving the problem of land rent in central business district development allowed to single out the works of domestic scientists such as Tkachenko T. I., Drapikovskyi O. I., Ivanova O. O., Gritsai O. V., Vakulenko V. M., Dekhtiarenko Yu. F., Zakharchenko V. I., Litvinenko R. I., as well as researches of foreign scientists such as Fujita M, Thisse J.-F., Henderson V., Herbert Giersch. The urgency of solving this scientific problem is that land rent in central place system e.g. in the business district of a large city became the main driver of service sector development. The study of land rent development in the article is carried out in the following logical sequence: land rental development of trade objects in a monocentric city, retail locations, rent for trade in episodic demand goods, rent for trade in goods of constant demand, the main feature of the trading enterprises rent investigation, residential land rent of a city, two rent types of residential development estimation, rent function with replacement of production factors instead of output or rent gradient investigation. Methodical tools of the conducted research are methods of formalization, algorithm development, descriptive, analytical and synthetic. The object of the study is land rent development in the central business district of a large city or agglomeration. The article presents the results of an empirical analysis of land rent development in the central business district, which showed its influence on service sector location and growth. The study empirically confirms and theoretically proves procedures of land rent estimation for increasing profitability and competitiveness of service enterprises due to improvement of their location. The results of this study may be useful for different Tourism and Service Companies looking for the best location place in the central business district of a large city.

СИСТЕМЫ ЦЕНТРАЛЬНЫХ МЕСТ: ФОРМИРОВАНИЕ ПОПУЛЯЦИОННОЙ И ПРОСТРАНСТВЕННОЙ СТРУКТУР

The study is methodological in nature and aims to present the sequence of analysis of the population and spatial structures of a central place system. For the distribution of settlements by levels of the hierarchy, we use reference tables reflecting the contribution of each central place to the accumulated value of the K-parameter. It is postulated that, at each stage of a system’s evolution, there is only one variant of the hierarchy of central places by population size and the only variant of their location in the lattice: in the process of research they are determined using the equations and principles of central place theory, rather than being given ‘from above’. The process of determining the morphological structure is based on the principle of local predetermination, according to which at any moment of time a central place system has an optimal locally predetermined spatial structure which does not necessarily coincide with that in general theoretical terms. It is concluded that any settlement system can be stable provided that it corresponds to the theoretical optimum for a set of interacting different-parameter levels, and not for an equal-parameter lattice as a whole: the optimal state is the equilibrium state of not the entire system but individual levels of the hierarchy.

Lost in plain sight: revealing central flow process in Christaller’s original central place systems

ABSTRACT Walter Christaller’s central place theory famously conceptualizes local external urban relations (town-ness) while neglecting non-local connections characterized as central flow theory (city-ness). In this paper, we advance the study of central flow theory by revealing its existence within the foundation text of central place theory. We systematically separate town-ness and city-ness in Christaller’s original data on 1920s’ southern Germany to estimate the balance between the two processes for different urban places. We find that city-ness dominates town-ness in leading cities and show the severe limitations of focusing on just one urban external relation in urban and regional studies of settlement systems.

FRACTAL TEXTURE AND STRUCTURE OF CENTRAL PLACE SYSTEMS

The boundaries of central place models proved to be fractal lines, which compose fractal texture of central place networks. However, the fractal texture cannot be verified by empirical analyses based on observed data. On the other hand, fractal structure of central place systems in the real world can be empirically confirmed by positive studies, but there are no corresponding models. The spatial structure of classic central place models bears Euclidean dimension [Formula: see text] rather than fractal dimensions [Formula: see text]. This paper is devoted to deriving structural fractals of central place models from the textural fractals. The method is theoretical deduction based on the dimension rules of fractal sets. The main results and findings are as follows. First, the central place fractals were formulated by the [Formula: see text] numbers and [Formula: see text] numbers. Second, three structural fractal models were constructed for central place systems according to the corresponding fractal dimensions. Third, the classic central place models proved to comprise Koch snowflake curve, Sierpinski space filling curve, and Gosper snowflake curve. Moreover, the traffic principle plays a leading role in urban and rural settlements evolution. A conclusion was reached that the textural fractal dimensions of central place models can be converted into the structural fractal dimensions and vice versa, and the structural dimensions can be directly used to appraise human settlement distributions in reality. Thus, the textural fractals can be indirectly employed to characterize the systems of human settlements.

Влияние урбанизации на систему расселения Германии в XIX–XX веках

The article is devoted to the study of the dynamics of settling on the example of the settlement pattern of the German states over a bicentennial period. The substantiation of the relationship between changes in the level of urbanization and a change in the fundamental characteristics of settlement pattern is presented. The development of settlement pattern under the influence of patterns explained by the central place theory is considered in detail. The interdependence of the territorial growth of central place systems and the spread of new transport modes is investigated. It is shown how self-organization of settling leads to changes in the structure of central place systems. So, at the beginning of the 19th century there were over 20 small systems on the lands of German states, corresponding to the central place theory with K = 2 and K = 3. And at the beginning of the 20th century, when the share of the urban population reached 50%, there are 5 central place systems in the German Empire, covering the entire territory of the country and corresponding to K = 3 and K = 4. This was accompanied by an unprecedented growth in the railway network. In the second half of the 20th century 2 independent central place systems with K = 5 in independent GDR and FRG are formed. Finally, by the beginning of the 21st century, the formation of a single central place system throughout the country happens in a short time after the unification of Germany. Such a central place system, corresponding to K = 6, demonstrates very high isostatic equilibrium values when more than 90% of the population is concentrated in cities and urban agglomerations.

Dynamic evolution of the central place system

Dynamic evolution of the central place system

Containment and Connectivity in Dutch Urban Systems: A Network‐Analytical Operationalisation of the Three‐Systems Model

AbstractThis paper discusses key methodological issues with nodalising interaction data of urban networks to produce a state‐of‐the‐art settlement geography of the Netherlands. We operationalise the three‐systems model that analyses functional settlement geographies through the interaction between the daily urban system, the central place system and the export base system. We utilise theoretically‐informed selections of spatial interactions derived from travel survey data at the finely‐grained postcode level. After examining the methodological challenge of the node‐inclusivity dilemma, we estimate the causal mechanisms that geographically structure each system and determine which spatial interactions should be assigned to nodes (containment) and edges (connectivity). The three systems produce different regionalisations that are neither mutually exclusive nor perfectly nested. Further analysis of the multiplexity of the three systems reveals the importance of the imbricated boundaries between the urban subsystems. We argue that these interplaces deserve more attention as they are particularly sensitive to changes in urbanisation trends.

A Big City as an Independent Central Place System, a Case Study of Moscow

The paper studies a big city as an independent central place system. For this purpose, the author has developed and tested a methodology for quantitative assessment of central functions based on an integrated set of the most important socioeconomic indicators. This methodology helped to prove the possibility of not only measuring the value of central functions in different parts of a big city, but also of determining the affiliation of all the system’s elements with different hierarchical levels or a service area. The study was based on the model of Moscow’s central place system. The study evaluated how the factor of the Russian capital’s considerable territorial expansion has influenced the dynamics of its central place system from 2009 to 2015. We have found that there is a strong interrelation between Moscow’s radial–circular structure and a relatively uniform reduction in the value of central functions with increasing distance from the city center, which is disturbed by the largest highways, which concentrate a significantly higher value of the key factor compared with neighboring elements.

How effective are regions in determining urban spatial patterns? Evidence from Germany

ABSTRACTDespite a highly organized and institutionalized planning framework, regions in Germany are widely considered the most variable and experimental layer of planning and vary quite extensively in terms of their organizational composition, strategic purpose, and administrative competencies. This research examines the role of German regional-level planning in explaining urban spatial structure and urban development patterns. Our unit of analysis consists of the 114 planning regions in Germany. We model change in urban structure and density over 2 time periods as a product of a number of demographic, geographic, political-economic, and policy variables. We utilize data from the CORINE land cover data set for the years 2006 and 2012. In addition, we use the Raumordnungsplan-Monitor (ROPLAMO) data set from the Federal Office for Building and Regional Research, a unique data set that allows us to rank regions based on the relative restrictiveness of their growth management policies. We find that regions are not particularly effective in explaining urbanization rates. Instead, the central place system, a planning framework that guides land use decisions, and whether or not a region is located in the east are the most significant factors in explaining urban spatial structure.

Problem centralnog naselja u općini Gradac

In the paper the importance of Gradac as central place is analysed according to the central places’ theory. Using survey method, the system of central places in Upper littoral (especially the role of Gradac) has been defined. Special attention has been dedicated to the significance of the political territorial organisation for the development of the central places network.

The capital agglomeration of the Republic of Korea as a fuzzy central place system

Abstract Explosive urbanization in the Republic of Korea from 1950 to 2010 marked by a growth in extensive urban agglomerations rendered unproductive the approach that was commonly used in the central place theory and which considered every element of the settlement system as a point in a homogeneous space. The paper suggests an alternative concept of fuzzy central place that makes possible the understanding of an internal heterogeneity in the distribution of central functions within the limits of urban agglomerations. This research was conducted using the example of the Capital agglomeration - the main element of the Republic of Korea’s urban settlement system. This “island” country, isolated by North Korea, has seen fantastic economic growth in the second half of the 20th century.

Irányelvek és ítélet – a német területfejlesztés és -rendezés aktuális eseményeiről

A német területrendezési miniszterek konferenciája 2016. március 9-én elfogadta A területfejlesztés irányelvei és cselekvési stratégiái Németországban c. anyagot. A konferencia négy stratégiai irányelvben – a versenyképesség erősítése, a közszolgáltatások biztosítása, a területfelhasználás irányítása és fenntartható fejlesztése, valamint a klímaváltozás és az energiafordulat kezelése – fogalmazza meg a német területi politika útmutatását. A cikk ismerteti a határozatot, valamint a negyedik irányelvet (az első hármat a Tér és Társadalom olvasói már ismerik), továbbá a konferencia külön, a településhálózati koncepcióra vonatkozó határozatát. Végül a cikk kitér a Szövetségi Közigazgatási Bíróság 2015. évi ítéletére, mely erősíti az érintett ingatlantulajdonosok jogait és közvetve hozzájárul a regionális tervek jobb minőségéhez.

Territorial organization of the population and economy of Russia on the brink of tectonic shifts

According to D. Trenin, profound geopolitical changes led to the fact that instead of a Europe from Lisbon to Vladivostok, the formation of Eurasia from Shanghai to St. Petersburg is seen. Under these conditions, the main defect of Russia’s geopolitical position is its extreme weakness in the Far East. It is necessary to accelerate the development of Vladivostok, so that in 15–20 years it could be Russia’s third most important city, a Pacific Petersburg. This can be achieved by forming a Greater Vladivostok, since the population of its potential metropolitan area has already reached about 600000 people, matching the population of Vladivostok itself. For Greater Vladivostok to become the regional capital of Pacific Russia, transportation problems will require innovative solutions: presumably it will be necessary to develop hovercraft transport as high-speed intrametropolitan transport. This can lead to the formation of a quite exotic system of central places with K = 2 in the Far Eastern Federal District, led by Greater Vladivostok. The city of Khabarovsk will be second in the hierarchy of such a system, Yakutsk and Blagoveshchensk, third.