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CITY-REGION CONCEPT Body

Technical Report · February 2006

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.2171.8800

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 CITY-REGION

I. The Concept of City-Region

Walter Christaller (British Economist) and August Lösch (German

Economist)

 saw the hierarchical sets of cities nesting with each other and serving
populations drawn within regular hexagonal catchment areas at
successive scale.

Meaning of City-Region:

 An urban development on a massive scale

 a major city that expands beyond administrative boundaries to cover
small cities, towns and semi-urban and rural hinterlands
Cities to cities- conurbanition

Concept of City-Region - study of globalization or urban and metropolitan

restructuring
City-Region - Compromises central urban core with the relevant to commuter
hinterland.

Aim:

 To identify the boundaries of those areas in which a majority of

population see the core as ‘their’ place-they may work, shop, visit
entertainment and leisure.

Methodological Approach to define City-Region (New Castle’s Centre for

Urban and Regional Development Studies in 1980):

1. Labour-market - Measured by journey-to-work.

2. Housing-market - those households search for residential locations.
(house prices move in tandem)
3. Economic activty-based – businesses and business services maybe
important in terms of the supply chains and procurement activities of firms.
4. Service-district – central place theory; customers use the nearest service
large number of places-frequently-used services- smaller numbers of
‘higher-order’ settlements-more specialized services.
5. Administrative – administrative regions can be considered a subset of
servicer district.
Boundaries are formal and ‘artificial’- functional areas and strategies
are developed within the area.

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 Fig 1. City-Region by Dr. Azmizam Abdul
Rashid

Fig 2. A conceptual
diagram of the Leeds City
Region Partnership

Built-up Area (BUA)

 A developed area- any land on which buildings and/ornonbuilding structures
are present, normally as part of a largerdeveloped environment such as:
o developed land lot
o rural area
o urban area
o suburban area
o urban agglomeration
o conurbation

II. The Classic Spatial Theory of City-Regions

I. GROWTH POLE THEORY

 economic development, or growth, is not uniform over an entire region,

but instead takes place around a specific pole (or cluster)

pole - core (key) industries around which linked industries develop thru direct
and indirect effects.

variety of sectors of poles:

 automotive, aeronautical, agribusiness, electronics, steel, etc

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Direct effects-:

 imply the core industry purchasing goods and services from its suppliers
(upstream linked industries)
 providing goods and services to its customers (downstream linked industries)
Indirect effects:

 can involve demand for goods and services by people employed by the core
and linked industries supporting the development and expansion of economic
activities such as retail.

Sir William Petty (1623-1687)-British Economist

-fascinated by the high growth in London (17th century)
-“Strong urban economies are the backbone and motor of the wealth of nations.

Francois Perroux (1903-1987) - credited with formalizing and elaborating on the

concept

Fig 3. Growth Pole Theory (Clustering)

II. CENTRAL PLACE THEORY

 a spatial theory in urban geography that attempts to explain the reasons

behind the distribution of:
o patterns
o Size
o number of cities and towns around the world

Walter Christaller (1933) - German geographer

 recognized the economic relationships between cities and their hinterlands
(areas farther away).

Southern Germany- gather together in cities to share goods and ideas and that they
exist for purely economic reasons.

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Central Places in Southern Germany.

1. Market Town
2. Township
3. Country town
4. District city
5. State capital
6. Provincial capital
7. Regional capital

2 Assumptions of human behavior:

1. Human will always purchase goods from the closest place

2. When demand for a certain good is high, it will be offer in close proximity to
the population, when drops, so too does the availability of the good.

Definition of Terms:

Central Place - a settlement ( hamlet, village or market town)

Range - maximum distance to travel for good and services
Threshold - minimum population required to bring about the provision of good or
services
Low Order Goods - simple basic services, necessities (e.g. grocery store)
Higher Order Goods - specialized services/ bought less often (e.g. universities,
automobiles, furniture, fine jewelry, and household appliances it implies there are low
order services around it, but not vice versa)
Therefore, they often locate in large cities that can serve a large population in the
surrounding hinterland.
low order settlements - Settlements which provide low order services
high order settlements - Settlements which provide high order services
Sphere of Influence - area under influence of the Central Place
Rational Behavior - assumption that people minimize distance to travel to obtain
good or services
Transportation costs are equal in all directions and proportional to distance

Unserved Area

Fig 4. Central Place Theory (Circular)

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circular - transport is equally reachable from all distances and market areas but
results in unserved areas.

Fig 4. Central Place Theory (Hexagonal)

Hexagonal shape suggested by Christaller - within a given area there will be

fewer higher order settlements (town) in relation to lower order settlements.

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III. Areas of City Dominance and City Region:

City-dominates small area in its immediate neighbourhood by virtue of the provision

of specialized services. Each area of dominance has own hierarchal level.
City-region-the largest of these areas of dominance forms the limit of influence
Area of Dominance-smaller dominance

Fig 6. Area of Influence

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 Formation of city-region- it is made up of several areas of dominance by
towns and country-towns falling within the ambit of a major city or metropolis.

Concept of city influence and city dominance-hierarchical order within a

region

Area of influence may cover varying sizes and shapes but overlaps too.
Zone of competition - separates the areas of dominance of two competiting
cities.
Dominant areas - formed because of all the services of a city.

Regional Hierarchy:

1. Services are arranged in ascending order from hamlet to metropolis

2. Spacing of centers are irregular and system of distribution vary from area
to area according to the circumstances of historical development in the
area.

Dependent centers of a city- smaller in size which do not possess specialized

services but only available at the neighboring city
of higher order than the dependent centers.

Major determinants are:

1. Transport facilities
2. Density and movements of population

It is also possible that the selected criteria of city associations may be measured for
all places within given area.

Their degree of correlation at each place would indicate the degree of association
with the central city.

Association-is discovered to exist of a single common factor or variety of

interdependent areal factors.

4 Categories of regional association of the city

1. Trade relations - that are summed up under the heading trade area
-concept of a composite that actually contains as many areas as there are
individual trading activities
2. Social relations - compromising cultural and educational associations, patronage,
of theaters, concerts, museums, general social ties and common attitudes
and ideas that find their leadership and expression through the voice of the
city
3. Movement of population to and from the central city - A daily journey to work,
shopping entertainment, wider distribution of seasonal residences and in the
ownership of farm land by urbanites, etc. –settlement area

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4. Impact of central city on land uses - Both urban and agricultural-in the area
around it.

Role of the city as regional service center - demands that all aspects of their
interconnections be given balanced consideration.

2 Folds approach of city as a center of association

1. An assessment of the character of the surrounding area - resources and

production and effect on character of activities of the city
2. The effects of the city - as a seat of activity and organization, on the
character of its surrounding area.

2 Types of relationship which produce two different natures of regions around

a city:

1. City region compromising towns of lower order of services, and institution

2. City region and surrounding countryside

A city must be:

a. Administrative
b. industrial
c. agricultural
d. cultural

Distance and Nature of Transport Link:

The more the distance between a city and its dependent town the lesser will be
interaction.
Increment in distance - movement of consumers for utilizing services decreases or
becomes irregular.

Frequent centres of special services, departmental stores - distribute

commodities to the distant areas by means of automobiles.

Perishable products - accessible and quick from far and wide areas by special
trains and auto-vehicles.

Small towns and urban centers - main channels of Collecting the agricultural
produce from the entire region, distributing and directing and coordinating the sales
of imports and manufactured goods.

Nature of Influence of Town:

Urban influence varies on nature.

1. Agriculture

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2. Industry
3. Administration
4. Services like medical, cultural, including educational, recreational,etc.

Towns and Agriculture

Age towns - people have owned rural properties.

Modern times - Rich people have lands and properties by villages of forefathers but
not living in the same town.
Town - depends on agricultural production. It acts as a market for rural products
based on local raw materials and for export

Town is a Shopping Center for Country People:

Large cities - goods collected from different parts of the world.
Importance of extent of market-lies in region’s sale regarding of its size.

The City as Regional Center

1. Region as the Social Unit

Practical man of affairs:

Region-an area with certain characteristics and a suitable unit for some particular
purpose of business or administration.

Scientist and above all to geographer:

Region-an area which is homogeneous of some associated conditions, whether the

land or the people such as:

 Industry
 Farming
 distribution of population
 commerce or general sphere of influence of a city.

Sphere of Influence-area under influence of the Central Place.

Regionalized-Homogenous

It is a natural areal unit (real or existing)-basis for:

1. Organizing a system of new local government

2. Collecting statistical and census data

3. Regionalization of public services (health, water supply, and housing)

Social Unit-essential basis for physical planning (Mr. Frank Pick)

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Example:

The geographical area included in the city region is made up of the local authority
areas of:

West Yorkshire comprising:

 Bradford
Leeds City Region
 Calderdale

 Kirklees

 Leeds

 Wakefield

South Yorkshire:

 Barnsley

NorthYorkshire

 Craven

 Harrogate
Fig 7. Leeds City-Region
 Selby

 York

Leeds City Council

-the secretariat for the city region is based

Leeds City Region Enterprise Zone

 promotes development in four sites along the A63 East Leeds Link Road.

Leeds City-Region

 diverse economy consisting of around 100,000 businesses

 generating around £52 billion a year

 recognised as a national centre for financial and business services

 Leeds is at the economic heart, with some 124,000 people engaged in

financial services

 The city is the UK's second largest financial and legal centre.

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The Core Cities Group has eight main interests, namely:

• Transport and connectivity

• Innovation and business support

• Skills and employment

• Sustainable communities

• Culture and creative industries

• Climate change

• Finance and industry

• Governance

Panels and areas of work Fig 8. A conceptual diagram of

the Leeds City Region
Partnership
Leeds City Region Leaders’ Board Panels are Working Groups

 set up by the Board to advise the Board on specific Leeds City Region
matters.

 They comprise members of the Board or their representatives, and other

such senior representatives of other organizations as may be co-opted onto
the Panels by agreement of the Board.

 The Panels have no executive powers

 The partnership has four panels which are involved in helping to develop
strategies to improve:

• Housing and Spatial Planning

• Skills

• Transport

• Economic Drivers and Innovation

Areas of work not specifically allocated to a single panel are:-

• Communications

• Sustainable Development

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 References:

Brunn, S., & William, J. (1993). Cities of the World. New York: HarperCollins College
Publishers

Dickson, E. (1967). The City Region in Western Europe. Carter Lane London:
Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited Broadway House

Fielding, A. (1971). Internal migration in England and Wales: A Presentation

and interpretation of ‘city-region’ data. London: Center for Environmental
Studies 5 Cambridge Terrace

Robson, B., & Barr, R. (2006). A Framework for City-Regions: Working Paper
Mapping of City-Regions. London: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

Sharna Geography. (2015). City Region in India: Meaning, Distance, Nature and
Other Details. Retrieved February 16, 2016,
http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/geography/city-region-in-india-meaning-distance-
nature-and-other-details/40087/

Dr. Rashid, A. (1999). Globalizations and City Regions. Retrieved February 19,
2016. http://mizamphd.blogspot.com/2009_01_01_archive.html

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