THE HIERARCHY OF CENTRAL FUNCTIONS WITHIN THE CITY

Abstract

W HEN this survey was begun in 1952, it was, to my knowledge, the first attempt to use the central place concept for analyzing the pattern of central functions within the city. It was felt that such a study would strengthen the functional approach in urban geography. The methods which were used in the survey did also prove useful for solving practical problems of business location and city planning. Those problems led, as a matter of fact, to the initiation of the survey. Although this article is based on studies in one specific city-Zurich, Switzerland-it is expected that its approach, its methods and results will be of general interest to the urban geographer. The study aims at a qualitative presentation of the findings rather than at an exact quantitative record of data. The findings of the survey, as far as they were of interest to the general public, were printed in April, 1957, in the form of a series of articles in the leading newspaper of Zurich, the Neue Ziircher Zeitung.' Reviewing the literature concerning the central place concept, it is interesting to note how strongly the German-speaking geographers have concentrated their efforts on the external classification of settlements as central places, and also on the establishment of the relationship of these settlements to their service areas. They followed the lead given by Hassinger, Bobek, Christaller, and others. English-speaking, and other geographers as well, have made contributions to the external as well as to the internal functional analyses.2

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