Von Thunen’s Model of a Spatial Economy, Book Review Example

Upon a first reading, Von Thunen’s model of a spatial economy and Christaller’s central place theory appear to concepts that are entirely consistent with each other. In the case of Von Thunen, spatial economy emphasizes the determinative importance of geographic concepts on economic concepts. Concepts such as distance and area are viewed by Von Thunen as crucial to understanding how economies work. As an example, the price of a good on the market will be radically affected if this good is only produced at a remote location from where it will be purchased, thus creating an increase in the price. In this sense, many economic decisions are based on considering phenomena such as distance and area, whereas distance and area, from the reverse perspective, may also define economic realities, simply because of the geographic reality of the goods in question.

Christaller’s theory of central place becomes an extension of Von Thunen’s spatial economics, to the extent that Christaller views “central places” as ones which provide services to a community, for example, market places or other required goods. The central places are crucial to the structure of the settlement, in so far as population will tend to be more heavily dense in the areas where these goods are available. In other words, Christaller provides a very intuitive model, whereby human living spaces arise in conjunction with geographic locations of service providers. This is an extension of Von Thunen’s theory since distance and area clearly affect decisions in terms of settlement.

Arguably, however, such theories, despite their intuitive appeal, seem to have their limitations, precisely when one considers phenomena such as gateway cities. Namely, the gateway city is not an “end” in itself, but rather it is a means, a “gateway” to another destination. In terms of urban theory, the gateway city is above all connected with transportation as opposed to services. Chicago, accordingly, emerges as a metropolis in the 19^th century, not because of any services or industries which it offered, but rather because it was a key point of transit in the vast American landscape. Such an example appears to be problematic for the theories of Von Thunen and Christaller, because, according to these models, cities are closely related to the services they offer. This is explicitly clear in Christaller’s work, where settlements will grow around offered services. But Chicago, as noted, is not offering a service, but rather is a key artery, a decisive logistic point, between service points.

On the one hand, however, perhaps formulating the problem in this way is a simplified version of Von Thunen and Christaller’s theory. Namely, in the case of Von Thunen, his primary concerns were that of distance and area. Accordingly, because of these concerns, it is only logical that logistics and questions of transport will become crucial to the question of economy. For this reason, gateway cities, if one follows the model of spatial economy, will have a key role to play. Furthermore, in light of Christaller’s work, while he emphasizes the central space theory about services, perhaps from another perspective, logistics and transportation must ultimately also be considered services that are offered. From this perspective, gateway cities are consistent with both models.

At the same time, it is important to note that not all gateway cities are the same. While gateway cities share the commonality as key points in a logistics network, they share the same destiny. To reduce Chicago to only a gateway city, for example, is a certain simplification of the city’s history, since it was also an important manufacturing center. Furthermore, because of its attractiveness for employment, it attracted a phenomenal amount of immigrants, who accordingly shaped the life of the metropolis. Crucial culture phenomena, such as the birth of jazz and blues shape the city’s development. Namely, because of the constant influx of different thoughts, ideas and persons in a gateway city, each gateway city may develop in a unique manner because of the equally unique way in which diverse interests and norms interact.