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

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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.

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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

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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.