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City Size Distributions and Spatial Economic Change

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  • Eric Sheppard

    (Department of Geography, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455 USA)

Abstract

The concept of the city size distribution is criticized for its lack of consideration of the effects of interurban interdependencies on the growth of cities. Theoretical justifications for the rank-size relationship have the same shortcomings, and an empirical study reveals that there is little correlation between deviations from rank-size distributions and national economic and social characteristics. Thus arguments suggesting a close correspondence between city size distributions and the level of development of a country, irrespective of intranational variations in city location and socioeconomic characteristics, seem to have little foundation.

Suggested Citation

  • Eric Sheppard, 1982. "City Size Distributions and Spatial Economic Change," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 7(2), pages 127-151, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:inrsre:v:7:y:1982:i:2:p:127-151
    DOI: 10.1177/016001768200700203
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Pietro L. Fano, 1969. "Organization, City Size Distributions And Central Places†," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 29-38, January.
    2. Okabe, Atsuyuki, 1979. "An expected rank-size rule : A theoretical relationship between the rank size rule and city size distributions," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 21-40, February.
    3. Surinder Mehta, 1964. "Some demographic and economic correlates of primate cities: A case for revaluation," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 1(1), pages 136-147, March.
    4. Brian J. L. Berry, 1964. "Cities As Systems Within Systems Of Cities," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(1), pages 147-163, January.
    5. N. Rashevsky, 1943. "Contributions to the theory of human relations: VII. Outline of a mathematical theory of the sizes of cities," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 8(2), pages 87-90, June.
    6. Vapnarsky, Cesar A, 1969. "On Rank-Size Distributions of Cities: An Ecological Approach," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(4), pages 584-595, July.
    7. Wheaton, William C & Shishido, Hisanobu, 1981. "Urban Concentration, Agglomeration Economies, and the Level of Economic Development," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 30(1), pages 17-30, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Puga, Diego, 1996. "Urbanisation patterns: European vs less developed countries," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 20656, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Lena SANDERS, 2012. "Regards Scientifiques Croisés Sur La Hiérarchie Des Systèmes De Peuplement : De L’Empirie Aux Systèmes Complexes," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 36, pages 127-146.
    3. Junius, Karsten, 1997. "The determinants of urban concentration," Kiel Working Papers 835, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    4. Zengwang Xu & Robert Harriss, 2010. "A Spatial and Temporal Autocorrelated Growth Model for City Rank—Size Distribution," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 47(2), pages 321-335, February.

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