Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Heidelberg
Karlsruhe
Ansbach
Heilbron
Crailsheim
STUTTGART
Pforzheim
Eslingen
Freiburg
Augsburg
Tubingen
Göppingen
Ulm
High-order centre
Market area
Middle-order centre
Market area
Low-order centre
Market area
11. Walther Christaller's central place model, characterized by
repeated hierarchical hexagonal patterns: towards the right, actual
settlements from southern Germany have been mapped onto the
model
Christaller argued that consumers of goods in a market town
would respond to the constraints of distance by travelling to the
nearest centre that offered that particular commodity. His nearest
centre hypothesis was a simple and mechanical way of explaining
and describing human behaviour. Given this hypothesis, a specifi c
pattern of market towns would develop on a uniform plain, and
Figure 11 shows the classic form of the Christaller model with its
system of a hierarchy of central places and nested market areas
in a hexagonal pattern. Here just three orders of central places
and market areas are shown, with an attempt to fi t the model to
southern Germany using Stuttgart as the high-order centre. The
essence of this model was that it assumed a uniform plain (often
referred to as a billiard table surface) with equal accessibility
from all directions; distance therefore became the key factor
