From city hierarchy to city network: Reflections about an emerging paradigm

Abstract

According to textbooks of theoretical geography and urban economics, the analytical model which still better describes in strictly economic and locational terms the structure of the city system is Christaller’s and Losch’s central-place model developed in the 1930s and 1940s. After the basic refinements introduced by Isard, Beckmann and McPherson, a huge literature has grown upon the same logical foundations and simplifying assumptions with the works of Parr, Beguin, Mulligan and others, but it has not changed the basic economic characteristics of the initial model: it still remains the more elegant, abstract but consistent representation of the hierarchy of urban centres.