Which theory uses hexagonal market areas to tessellate space and approximate circular market areas?

Which theory uses hexagonal market areas to tessellate space and approximate circular market areas?

• A. Von Thünen Isolated State Model.
• B. Burgess Concentric Zone Model.
• C. Central Place Theory uses hexagonal market areas to tessellate space and approximate circular market areas.
• D. McGee's Southeast Asian City Model.

Answer: (C)

Central Place Theory models market areas so each central place serves a surrounding hinterland of goods and services. To map this idea neatly, geographers use a hexagonal tessellation. Hexagons tile the plane with equal-sized service areas and keep the distance from any point to the central place roughly uniform, which mirrors the idea of a circular market influence but in a form that can actually tile space without gaps or overlaps. Circles don’t tile the plane, so hexagons are used as a practical approximation to represent circular market areas in a regular pattern. The other models don’t fit this approach: the Von Thünen model uses concentric circles to show rings of agricultural land around a city, Burgess’s model maps circular zones around a city in an urban ring structure, and McGee’s Southeast Asian City Model describes a polycentric, irregular urban form rather than a neat hexagonal grid.

Central Place Theory models market areas so each central place serves a surrounding hinterland of goods and services. To map this idea neatly, geographers use a hexagonal tessellation. Hexagons tile the plane with equal-sized service areas and keep the distance from any point to the central place roughly uniform, which mirrors the idea of a circular market influence but in a form that can actually tile space without gaps or overlaps. Circles don’t tile the plane, so hexagons are used as a practical approximation to represent circular market areas in a regular pattern.

The other models don’t fit this approach: the Von Thünen model uses concentric circles to show rings of agricultural land around a city, Burgess’s model maps circular zones around a city in an urban ring structure, and McGee’s Southeast Asian City Model describes a polycentric, irregular urban form rather than a neat hexagonal grid.