Rank Size Rule and Urban Primacy MATTHEW GARREN

Rank Size Rule and Urban Primacy MATTHEW GARREN AND CARTER STACY

Founder �The founder of the Rank Size Rule is George Kingsley Zipf. �Zipf was born in Freeport, Illinois on January 7 th, 1902 �Zipf died in Newton, Massachusetts on September 25 th, 1950

Definition of Rank-Size Rule �It is the proportion of small towns to large cities and applies to different regions and the world as a whole �Examples: sizes of cities or businesses, people’s wealth.

Why the Rank Size Rule was Created �The Rank Size Rule was created to explain the size cities in a country. �The Rank Size Rule was created in 1949, one year before George Zipf’s death

Definition of Urban Primacy � Urban indicates the primate city. � Primate cities are the largest cities in their area that dominate all the surrounding urban areas. � Atlanta is a primate city because it dominates all the surrounding towns such as Kennesaw, Marietta, and Powder Springs.

The Primate City �The Primate City theory is the corollary theory of the Rank Size Rule �The founder of this theory is Mark Jefferson �The purpose of this law is to explain the phenomenon of huge cities that capture a large proportion of a country’s population and economic activity. �Example: Paris, France

Example Chart This Chart represents the Rank Size Rule because it shows the expected population size vs. the actual population size

Formula for rank-size rule �Pr= P 1/P 2 �Pr is the population of the rth rank size. �P 1 is the population of the largest city �P 2 is the rank of the city.

What the rank-size rule shows �It will show that the 2 nd ranked city will have a half the population of the first. �The 3 rd ranked city will have one-third of the population of the first. �The 4 th ranked will have one-fourth the population of the first. �The creator, George Zipf, wanted to make a rule that shows a mathematical relationship between rank and population. �For example, according to this, Los Angeles, California, which is the second largest city in the U. S. should have a population half the size of New York City, New York which is the largest city.

Application �This rule does not apply in all places. �It tends to work in more developed countries rather than lesser developed countries. �The more developed countries have many urban primates, one controlling each region it is in. �In the lesser developed countries, they generally have one urban primary which is the center of the whole country.

Sources �www. lewishistoricalsociety. com �www. slideshare. net �http: //www. lboro. ac. uk/gawc/rb/rb 308. html �Barron's Ap human Geography test prep. �An Introduction to Human Geography