Advances in the Theory of Market Areas

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to state general properties of theoretical market areas of cities. We consider two centers on the Euclidean plane, several models describing the spatial influence of a center, and a general, continuous, and strictly increasing transportation cost function. Derived properties of market areas concern area measure, topological bounds, emptiness, boundedness, connectedness, convexity, and the membership of a city to its own market area. In particular, it is shown how the shape of market areas changes with the transportation cost function. Finally, prospects for further research are presented.