The extent of the city is important in a number of respects, not least in relation to the question of city size, an issue of considerable significance in urban and regional analysis. Four definitions of the city are considered here. The first involves the city as a physical entity, or the area...

The concept of the population-density function, which is usually applied within the context of an urban area, is extended to the scale of a metropolitan-area-based region or city region. A form for such a regional density function is proposed, and this is examined for selected regions of the UK...

It is argued that the market-area structure within the typical model of an urban system does not conform satisfactorily to the pattern customarily observed. The market-area structure of the standard model of a central place system is modified, by applying, in turn, two additional frameworks: the...

The paper continues from Part 1 which appeared in the previous issue of the journal. The primary concern is with neglected aspects of the growth-pole strategy, particularly as these relate to its implementation. Of importance here are the spatial configuration of the planned poles, the economic...

This paper investigates a central place model which possesses much of the simplicity of the Christaller model but which is of considerably greater generality. A prominent feature of the model is the existence of a hierarchy of central places which is based on functional complexity. The model has...

The paper undertakes a detailed examination of growth-pole strategies, an emphasis in regional economic planning during the 1960s which never lived up to its early promise. The initial concern is with the origins of the strategy, particularly the manner in which the work of Perroux (on dominance...

Following an outline of the different types of agglomeration economy, consideration is given to transaction costs. Transaction costs may have a definite spatial dimension because institutional, commercial, cultural, and language characteristics are differentiated across the geographic space...