Lesson 1: Effects Of Geographic Location On Development

Video Lesson

Competencies

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

• Explain the concepts of economic growth and development,
• Differentiate between the contrasting views of geographic determinism and possibilism on development;
• Discuss the effect of geographic location on agricultural development;
• Explain the influence of geographic location on industrial development; and
• Describe the effect of geographic location on settlement and service development.

 Brainstorming questions

What is economic growth? What about economic development?

How does geographic location influence economic development?

Key words

• Administrative principle
• Marketing principle
• Transportation principle

Economic growth and development

Dear Online Learner!

• Economic growth and development are defined by different scholars in different ways.
• Economic growth is an increase in goods and services or growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) in a nation over a specific period.
• Mainly focuses on the quantitative growth
•  Economic development on the other hand refers to the sustained development of the material well-being of society.
• Both qualitative and quantitative development of the country’s economy.
• Economic development often measured using the Human Development Index (HDI).
• HDI is a quantitative measure of human wellbeing and development.
• It is computed using three dimensions: longevity; access to knowledge and standard of living.
• The calculated HDI values thus lie between 0 and 1.
• In the 2019 United Nations Development Program (UNDP, 2019) ranking of 189 world countries, Norway, Ireland and Switzerland (all in Europe) stood at the top with 0.957, 0.955, and 0.955 HDI scores, respectively.

Geographical determinism and possibilism

• Geographical determinism assumes that the stage of socio-economic development of countries is exclusively determined by the geographic environment (location, climate, and geomorphology).
• The leading advocates of geographic determinism in the 19th and 20thC were Karl Ritter (1779-1859), Ellen Churchill Semple (1863–1932), and Elsworth Huntington (1876–1947).
• The school of possibilism argues that geographic environment is not the only determinant factor of the lifestyle of people and socio-economic development.
• They conclude that ‘nature is never more than an adviser’ and ‘there are no necessities but everywhere possibilities’.
• The leading proponents of this school of thought were Lucien Paul Victor Febvre (1878–1956) and Paul Vidal de la Blache (1845– 1918).

In appreciation of the influence of geographic location on development, this topic presents you with the effect of location on three distinct activities. Three theories each focusing on the three discrete activities and questioning ‘what economic activities are located, where and why are discussed.

Effect of location on agricultural development

Dear Online Learner!

• The German theorist, Johann Heinrich von Thünen developed his agricultural land use theory in 1826 in his book The Isolated State.

Figure 5.1 von Thünen’s hypothetical circular land use model

• He envisioned a central market city established at the heart of a plain of thorough physical similarities.
• Heavy and perishable crops (vegetables, fruits & dairy products) are suggested to be produced nearer to the city in the model.
• Bulky products (firewood & timber) are supposed to cover the
  next zone.
• Field crops such as grains are proposed to come from the third zone.
• Ranching of animals is suggested to occupy the fourth zone.
• The final zone beyond the fourth ring is suggested to remain free (unoccupied wilderness).
• His proposed market city is located in an ‘Isolated State’ which is supposed to be ‘self-sufficient’ or with no external influences.
• Four concentric zones: intensive farming (dairying); forest gardening; extensive cropping and animal grazing were proposed activities in the model.

The influence of location on industrial development

Dear Online Learner!

• The German economist, Alfred Weber Alfred Weber was a professor of economics at the Heidelberg University, Germany (from 1907 to 1933); developed the least cost industrial location model in his book titled Theory of the Location of Industries.

Figure 5.2 Weber’s least cost triangular location model

• The model is considered the basis of modern industrial location theory.

Like, von Thünen, Weber adopted several assumptions during writing his least-cost location theory. Some of his assumptions include the following:

• Firms choose a suitable location to minimize total costs and maximize profits,
• An isolated region having no external influences, Isotropic space (with no variations in transport costs),
• Markets are located in a specific number of centers,
• Perfect competition (large numbers of firms & customers, and small firm sizes to prevent disturbances by monopolies and oligopolies),
•  Complete knowledge of market conditions (both for the buyers and suppliers). Several ubiquitous natural resources (e.g. water, air, sunlight, sand, etc.)
• Many localized materials: materials found at specific locations (e.g. labor, fuel, minerals, crops, wood, etc.)

Weber assumed three key factors (transport & labor costs, plus agglomeration economies) influence industrial location.

Thus Weber uses the ‘Location Triangle’ to solve the mentioned problems.
Alfred Weber suggested that industrial firms have to locate in places where costs of transporting raw materials and finished products are kept low. For that he identified two particular cases:

• Weight losing
• Weight gaining

Based on these raw material categories, Weber had proposed two least-cost firm location types.

1. Industrial firms using pure (non-weight losing inputs) during the process of production can locate nearer to markets.
2. Industries using impure gross materials lose part of their weight of raw materials during the production processes.

Hence, Alfred Weber developed the material index model:

    Where, MI = Material Index; WIs= Weight of Inputs; WOs= Weight of Outputs.

Then, he concludes:

• If MI >1, the industrial firm should locate nearer to the source of the raw material,
• If MI <1, the firm should locate nearer to the market.

Weber proposes firms using bulky inputs like aluminum refineries should locate nearer to the supply sources; nearer to energy sources or at port sites. According to Weber, industries that use ubiquitous raw materials (e.g. water, solar power) are likely located closer to markets.

Locational Influences

Walter Christaller (1893-1969)

Dear Online Learner! Walter Christaller was a German geographer who wrote a groundbreaking theory titled ‘Central Places in Southern Germany’ in 1933.

• Perfect competition, equivalent income, and ‘shopping behavior’ on the parts of consumers are parts of the assumptions.
• Based on these assumptions, Christaller had developed a geometric hexagonal pattern of settlements and service centers in hierarchical order.
• His hierarchical model anticipated a well-established urban system containing a large city, a smaller number of towns, and many villages and hamlets in the hypothetical region
• Christaller adopted three principles in his idealized hierarchical hexagonal settlement model.

These include the:

1. Marketing principle (K = 3 system);
2. Transportation principle (K = 4 system);
3. Administrative principle (K = 7 system).

Central Place in Christaller’s model refers to settlements or nodal points that support adjacent areas with goods and services. The premise here is that all goods and services are accessed by consumers from the nearest market centers (central places).

Figure 5.3 Christaller’s hexagonal settlement model

This is the marketing principle (k = 3) indicated in number (i) above

• The k = 3 system is where the hexagonal space with the center envisioned that one higher-order central place serves three (two lower-order neighboring centers and itself).
• The 3s rule implies 1, 3, 9, 27, 81 …) – meaning that consumers located at equidistant centers from the three higher-order centers (A1, A2 & A3) could acquire one third from each of A1, A2, and A3 centers. As there could be several settlement orders, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd order service centers, correspondingly provide 1st, 2nd, and 3rd order services.
• In the K = 4 system, the aim was to lower the travel distance and increase the linkage of the centers served.
• The K = 7 system aims to retain a hierarchy of control between high-order and low-order settlements. Under this system, six low-order settlements in the hexagon will be wholly served, controlled, and enclosed by the central place (by the high-order place). This provides comparable seven market centers.