Central Place Populations: Some Implications of Consumer Shopping Behavior

This paper examines the relationships that exist between consumer shopping behavior and the population sizes of central places. The discussion begins by establishing the production characteristics for bundles in a Christaller-type system. Then a multipurpose shopping model of the neoclassical variety is developed. This allows specification of trips generated and quantities demanded at any location in the system. Consumer demand for bundles is next aggregated according to the system's geometry, and population size is identified by setting supply (production) equal to aggregate demand for each bundle. Two results are numerically indicated. First, multipurpose shopping behavior creates intralevel variability in central place sizes. Second, a shift from single-purpose behavior to multipurpose behavior generates population declines in small places and population increases in large places.