Location Theory:

“The Foundation of Planning”

INRODUCTION TO URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING
(PLAN -03)
 SCOPE

• UNDERSTANDING THE LOCATION THEORY AS

THE FOUNDATION OF PLANNING
• IDENTIFYING THE LOCATION THEORY OF
JOHANN HEINRICH VON THUNEN, ALFRED
WEBER AND WILLIAM ALONSO
 RELATIONSHIP OF PEOPLE AND THE
ENVIRONMENT

• THE NATURE OF THE ACTIVITY ITSELF

• THE SPACE IN WHICH IT WAS CARRIED OUT
• ITS LOCATION WITH RESPECT TO ALL OTHER
ACTIVITIES
• THE KINDS OF COMMUNICATIONS MADE WITH
ACTIVITIES AT OTHER LOCATIONS
• THE CHANNELS WHICH SERVED TO CARRY OR
TRANSMIT THEM
 PLANNING SEEKS TO…

-regulate or control the activity of

individual and groups in such a way as to
minimize the bad effects which may
arise.
-promote better performance of the
physical environment in accordance with
a set of broad aims and more specific
objectives set out in a plan.
 LOCATION THEORY

-explain the pattern of land use

-indicates a solution to the problem of
what is the most rational use of land
suggesting ways in which the current
pattern can be improved.
- location of economic activities can be
determined on a broad level such as a
region or metropolitan area, or on a
narrow one such as a zone, neighborhood,
city block, or an individual site.
JOHANN HEINRICH VON
THÜNEN

-a Prussian landowner
-born June 24, 1783, Jever, \
Oldenburg, Germany and died on
September 22, 1850, Tellow,
Mecklenburg
-introduced an early theory of
agricultural location in Der isolierte
Staat (1826); The Isolated State.
 ALFRED WEBER

- 1868-1958
-German location economist
-The Von Thunen of economic geography
-Über den Standort der
Industrien (Theory of the Location of
Industries, 1929) or least cost theory.
 WILLIAM ALONSO

-Location and Land Use: Toward a

General Theory of Land Rent, 1964.
-built upon the Thünen model to account
for intra-urban variations in land use.
-He attempted to apply accessibility
requirements to the city centre for various
types of land use (housing, commercial,
and industry).
THE THÜNEN, WEBER, AND ALONSO,
MODELS ARE NOT THE SOLE
CONTRIBUTORS TO LOCATION THEORY, BUT
THEY ARE ITS FOUNDATION. THESE
THEORIES HAVE BEEN EXPANDED UPON
AND REFINED BY GEOGRAPHERS,
ECONOMISTS, AND REGIONAL SCIENTISTS.