We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Central Place Theory-An Analytical Framework For Retail Structure.
- Authors
Forbes, J. D.
- Abstract
Central place theory has been useful in showing that there is a strong relationship between populations and central functions which develop to serve these populations. This article provides a systematic framework for analyzing the structure of urban retailing by relating population to the number of stores in metropolitan areas. A central place is defined as an agglomeration of people and people-serving functions. Higher-order, central places provide more functions and have more functional specialization than do lower-order places. The data for this study include the population and the number of retail stores in United States Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas. The strong relationship of population to the number of stores and sum differences in the relative number of stores, is evidence enough that future researchers in this area should be careful to remove population and urban area size differences before proceeding to analyze the effects of other variables on the distribution structure.
- Subjects
UNITED States; RETAIL industry; CENTRAL places; RETAIL stores; CITIES &; towns; INDUSTRIAL location; INDUSTRIAL concentration; METROPOLITAN areas; POPULATION
- Publication
Land Economics, 1972, Vol 48, Issue 1, p15
- ISSN
0023-7639
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/3145635