Chapter 12 Services
Dec 22, 2015
Chapter 12
Services
Key Issue #1
Services
Service = any activity that fulfills a human want or need
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 Did Services Originate? Three types of services
Consumer services About 44 percent of all jobs in the United States
Business services About 24 percent of all jobs in the United States
Public services About 17 percent of all jobs in the United States
In the United States, all employment growth has occurred in the services sector
Percentage of GDP from Services, 2005
Figure 12-1
Employment Change in the United States by Sector
Figure 12-2
Where Did Services Originate? Services in early rural settlements
Early consumer services met societal needs Examples = burial of the dead, religious
centers, manufacturing centers Early public services probably followed
religious activities Early business services to distribute and
store food
Where Did Services Originate? 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
Where Are Contemporary Services Located?
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
Rural Settlement Patterns
Figure 12-10
Where Are Contemporary Services Located? Services in urban settlements
Differences between urban and rural settlements Large size High density Social heterogeneity
Increasing percentage of people in cities Increasing number of people in cities
Percentage of Population Living in Urban Settlements
Figure 12-14
Urban Settlements With Populations of at Least 3 Million
Figure 12-15
Key Issue #2
Why Are Consumer Services Distributed in a Regular Pattern? 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-max distance people are willing to
travel to use a service. Threshold-min # of people needed to support
a service.
Central Place Theory
Fig. 12-5: Hexagons are often used to delineate market areas because they are a compromise between circles, which have edges equidistant from the center but leave gaps, and squares, which don’t leave gaps but whose edges are not equidistant from the center.
Market Areas, Range, and Threshold for Kroger Supermarkets
Figure 12-18
Why Are Consumer Services Distributed in a Regular Pattern? Market-area analysis
The Gravity Model Predicts that the optimal location of a service
is directly related to the # of people in the area and inversely related to the distance people must travel to access it.
Consumer behavior reflects 2 patterns: The greater the # of people living in a place, the
greater the # of potential customers for a service.
The farther people are from a particular service, the less likely they are to use it.
Optimal Location for a Pizza-Delivery Service
Figure 12-20
Central Place Theory
Figure 12-21
Why Are Consumer Services Distributed in a Regular Pattern? Hierarchy of services and settlements
Rank-size distribution of settlements Rank-size rule
The country’s nth largest settlement is 1/n the population of the largest settlement. For ex, the 2nd largest city is one-half the size of the
largest Primate city rule
The largest settlement has more than twice as many people as the second-ranking settlement
The country’s largest city is called a primate city For ex, Paris is a primate city b/c it has 11m people,
while the 2nd largest city, Lyon, has 2m people
Rank-Size Distribution in theUnited States and Indonesia
Figure 12-23
Key Issue #4
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
Central Business District Historically, services of all types
clustered in the center of the city, commonly called downtown and known to geographers by the more precise term central business district (CBD).
Recently services, especially retail, have moved from the CBD to the suburbs.
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
Central Business District 3 types of retail activities concentrate
in the CBD: High threshold shops, like department
stores, preferred CBDs to give access to many people.
High range shops are very specialized, with customers who patronize infrequently; ex. include expensive jewelry or furs
Shops that serve people who work in the CBD
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
Central Business District The CBD produces extreme
competition for the limited sites available. Land value in CBDs is very high Cities have grown vertically—
skyscrapers 1st were in Chicago (elevators and iron-
frame bldgs) None in Washington, D.C.