Chapter 12: Services and Settlement

Unit 6

Where Are Services Distributed?

• Service—any activity that fulfills a human want or need and returns money to those who provide it.

• Settlement—a permanent collection of buildings where people reside, work, and obtain services

• Services are located in settlements• Location of services is important for profitability

• Affluent regions tend to offer more services

• Local diversity is evident in the provision of services

Where Are Services Distributed?

• Three types of services• Consumer—provide services to individual consumers who desire them and

can afford to pay for them

• Business—to facilitate the activities of other businesses

• Public—to provide security and protection for citizens and businesses

Where Are Consumer Services Distributed?

• Central place theory• First proposed by Walter Christaller (1930s)

• Characteristics• A central place has a market area (or hinterland)

• Size of a market area• Range

• Threshold

Where Are Consumer Services Distributed?

Where Are Consumer Services Distributed?

Where Are Consumer Services Distributed?

• Hierarchy of services and settlements• Nesting

• Market areas in MDCs = a series of hexagons of various sizes

• Rank-size distribution of settlements• Primate city rule

• Primate cities

• Gravity model

• Periodic markets

Where Are Business Services Distributed?

• Hierarchy of business services• Business services in global/world cities

• Financial institutions

• Headquarters of large corporations

• Lawyers, accountants, and other professional services

• Ranking global cities• Economic factors

• Political factors

• Cultural factors

• Infrastructure factors

• Communications

• Transportations

Where Are Business Services Distributed?

• Hierarchy of business services• Consumer: retail services with extensive market areas

• May include leisure services of national importance due to large thresholds, large ranges, and the presence of wealthy patrons.

• Public: world cities are often the center of national or international political power

Where Are Business Services Distributed?

• Business services in LDCs• Offshore financial services

• Two functions:• Taxes

• Privacy

• Back offices• LDCs are attractive because of:

• Low wages

• Ability to speak English

Where Are Business Services Distributed?

• Economic specialization of settlements• Two types:

• Basic industries

• Nonbasic industries

• Distribution of talent • Talent

• Cultural Diversity

• Coolness Index

Why Do Services Cluster in Settlements?

• Services in rural settlements• Half of the world’s population lives in rural settlements

• Two types• Clustered rural settlements

• Circular or linear

• Clustered settlements in Colonial America

• Dispersed rural settlements• In the United States

• In Great Britain

• Enclosure movement

Why Do Services Cluster in Settlements?

• Services in early urban settlements• Services in ancient cities

• Earliest urban settlements (e.g., Ur), Athens, Rome

• Services in medieval cities • Largest settlements were in Asia

• European cities developed with feudalism

Why Do Services Cluster in Settlements?

• Services in urban settlements• Differences between urban and rural settlements

• Large size

• High density

• Social heterogeneity

• Increasing percentage of people in cities