Urban Hierarchy

There are two main paradigms in the urban hierarchy:

• Christaller Model. According to this model, a dominance relationship is established between several orders of the hierarchy. This relationship implies that a center of a lower order must rely on a center of higher order for goods and services not being supplied.
• Pred Model. Christaller's model was adapted by Pred in order to confer more flexibility. The hierarchical structure becomes less rigid, but more complex. The first point worth mentioning is that centers of the same order are not necessarily at the same hierarchical level. This shows that some centers offer more diversified goods and services than other centers, even if they are of the same size. Interdependency implies that central places can exchange similar goods and services. Complementarity enables several centers of a similar order to specialize in specific activities and supply themselves in goods and services they do not have from other centers. This implies the notion of economies of scale reinforcing specialization.

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