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Concentric Zone Model×Central Place Analysis×
FieldUrban StudiesHuman Geography
FamilyProcess / pipelineProcess / pipeline
Year of origin19251933
OriginatorErnest W. Burgess (Chicago School)Walter Christaller
TypeDescriptive urban-ecology model of concentric land-use and social zonesTheory and analytic framework for the size, number, and spacing of settlements
Seminal sourcePark, R. E., Burgess, E. W., & McKenzie, R. D. (1925). The City. University of Chicago Press. ISBN: 9780226646114Christaller, W. (1966). Central Places in Southern Germany (C. W. Baskin, Trans.). Prentice-Hall. (Original work published 1933). ISBN: 9780131226302
AliasesBurgess Model, Concentric Ring Model, Burgess Concentric Zone Theory, Urban Ecology Zonal ModelCentral Place Theory, Christaller Central Place Model, Settlement Hierarchy Analysis, Central Place Hierarchy
Related44
SummaryThe concentric zone model, formulated by sociologist Ernest Burgess of the Chicago School in the 1920s, describes the city as a set of concentric rings of land use and social structure expanding outward from a central business district. Each ring — from the commercial core, through a transitional zone of factories and tenements, to successive rings of workers' homes, better residences, and commuters — represents a stage in the city's outward growth. Published in the 1925 volume The City, it was the first influential model of urban spatial structure and treated the city through the lens of human ecology, with zones competing and invading one another like species in an ecosystem.Central place analysis is the study of the size, number, and spacing of settlements as service centres, grounded in Walter Christaller's central place theory of 1933. It explains why settlements form an orderly hierarchy — many small villages, fewer towns, a handful of cities — and why higher-order centres are spaced farther apart and offer more specialized goods, deriving the famous nested pattern of hexagonal market areas from two economic concepts: the range and the threshold of a good.
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ScholarGateCompare methods: Concentric Zone Model · Central Place Analysis. Retrieved 2026-06-24 from https://scholargate.app/en/compare