An investigation into central place aspects of Portage la Prairie, with special emphasis on the establishment of an hierarchy and the delimitation of the complementary area

Abstract

Ever since Christaller expounded his Central Place Theory in the early 1930's, researchers have turned to the field to find evidence of its theoretical base. This search has been met with varyng degrees of success... In Canada only a few studies have been done and in Manitoba only one study has concentrated on finding a hierarchy of central places. Therefore, the examination of a hierarchy of central places in the Portage la Prairie area of Manitoba is the task of the first part of this study... The establishment of a hierarchy of central places has previously been approached by a preselection method, in which an area was chosen and the researcher decided to examine all the centers within the selected area... In this study a center is chosen (Portage la Prairie) and the hierarchy problem is approached from the fact that certain centers are dependent upon it. The whole array of centers that are under the influence of Portage la Prairie are then examined for hierarchical levels. This approach eliminates the problems arising from the preselection method and should produce more accurate results...