Student Study Guide s2

Student Study Guide to accompany Peter Haggett GEOGRAPHY: A GLOBAL SYNTHESIS

CHAPTER 14 NODES AND HIERARCHIES

Pearson Education CHAPTER 14 / OBJECTIVES

After studying the material in this chapter you should:

1. be critically aware of the problems associated with defining the term city

2. be aware of some solutions offered in the city definition dilemma

3. understand the use of the nearest neighbour index

4. understand the rank-size rule

5. understand Christaller’s central place theory

6. understand Losch’s contribution to the theoretical work on the spatial distribution of urban areas

7. be aware of how central place theory can be applied in the context of periodic markets

8. understand the Vance Mercantile model of settlement analysis

9. understand catastrophe models in settlement analysis CHAPTER 14 / STUDY QUESTIONS

1. What is the difference between overbounded and underbounded cities?

2. What problems arise from having overbounded and underbounded city areas?

3. What are the three criteria used to determine metropolitan areas in the United States?

4. Give your definition of an urban area.

5. What is the purpose of the nearest neighbour index?

6. Explain the rank-size rule

7. In a set of cities arrayed in a perfect rank-size rule relationship, the size of the fifth largest city should be 1/ ……..th the size of the largest city.

8. What is the difference between Russian and Australian urban areas?

9. What is a primate city?

10. What reasons are there for an urban area to become a primate city?

11. Berry found that those countries with the rank-size distribution of cities were those which …………………………………………..……………. , while the countries with primate patterns of city size were those which ………….. ………………………………………………………….

12. What is the difference between complementary regions and the range of a good or service? Do they necessarily have to coincide?

13. Examine figure 14.7 in the text. Why do you think the quantity of consumption of a central good should decrease with increased distance from a central place?

14. Explain the terms market size threshold and range of a central good

15. Hexagons are better theoretical shapes for central place theory than circles because …………………………………………………………………….

16. List the five simplified assumptions behind Christaller’s model

17. Explain the K4 and K7 hierarchies. Include a diagram to aid your explanation

18. Losch’s contribution to central place theory was ……………………………… 19. Explain Losch’s city-rich and city-poor landscape

20. Explain how Losch’s model is closer to reality than Christaller’s approach

21. What are periodic markets?

22. The periodic provision of central goods implies a relatively high but discontinuous level of demand. TRUE or FALSE?

23. What problems are there with the Christaller model?

24. Explain Vance’s mercantile model CHAPTER 14 / PROGRESS CHECK

1. A city in which housing, industry etc do not extend to its legal limits is termed:

a) matched and bounded b) underbounded c) overbounded d) a central place

2. A pattern of settlements with a nearest neighbour index of 0.5 would be:

a) scattered b) random c) clustered d) uniform

3. In Berry’s study of city-size distributions it was found that, in general, the largest countries with the longer histories of urbanization conformed to:

a) binary distributions b) regular rank-size distributions c) central place distributions d) primate distributions

4. A complementary region is:

a) inversely related to its threshold b) the area served by a central place c) theoretically square d) measured by the number of telephones

5. The minimum population necessary to support a hospital in a town is:

a) a threshold b) 22,500 people c) complementary to the region d) the range of a central service

6. In the central place model it is assumed that as distance from a central place increases:

a) demand for a central good increases b) demand for a central service increases c) demand for a central good reverses d) demand for a central service decreases 7. The regular isometric lattice of hexagons which characterises Christaller’s central place model is a result of:

a) attempting to pack as many circular demand cones as possible onto an isotropic plain b) requiring all parts of the isotropic plain to be served with central goods and services c) requiring central goods or services to be purchased from the nearest central place d) all of the above

8. The provision of central goods and services by a periodic market system implies:

a) a high but discontinuous level of demand b) a low and discontinuous level of demand c) a low and continuous level of demand d) a high and continuous level of demand

9. The mercantile model of settlement structure was proposed by:

a) Berry b) Losch c) Vance d) Smailes

10. Catastrophe models help to explain why local central places:

a) were affected more in boom conditions than slump conditions b) were not affected so much either in times of boom or slump conditions c) were affected more in slump conditions than boom conditions d) were not affected at all in either economic condition ANSWERS TO PROGRESS CHECK SECTIONS

CHAPTER 14

1C 2C 3B 4B 5A 6D 7D 8A 9C 10B