Corporations seek to answer four main questions concerning strategic decision-making; what to produce or sell, in what quantity, how, and where? The first two questions are related to the economic strategy of the firm, mostly dependent on markets (demand) and the planning of production. The third question underlines the technological
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10.4 – Future Transportation Systems
Author: Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue Transportation changes are either incremental or revolutionary. The future of transportation will be influenced by a higher integration between physical and information systems. 1. Past Trends and Uncertain Future Where are the flying cars? Where are the supersonic passengers jets? Just around the corner… Throughout history,
2.3 – Transport and Location
Author: Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue The location of economic activities is related to their nature and function, with each activity having a dependence on transportation. 1. The Importance of Transport in Location The location of activities encompasses the concepts of the site and its situation. The site relates to the characteristics
Land Use Values by Activity Sectors
Source: adapted from R.L. Morrill. (1970) The Spatial Organization of Society. In an urban area, land use value tends to vary according to the distance from the point of maximum accessibility, usually the central business district (CBD). Therefore, for each activity sector, such as commercial, multi-family, or single-family residential, land
Central Places in Urban Areas
The spatial organization of cities tends to follow a central places structure as the goal is to provide a hierarchy of services to the whole urban population. This is particularly the case when looking at large metropolitan areas composed of a variety of nodes where commercial and service activities are
Growth Poles Theory
The French economist Perroux outlined in the 1950s that economic development, or growth, is not uniform over an entire region but takes place around a specific pole (or cluster). This pole is often characterized by core industries around which linked industries develop, mainly through direct and indirect effects. Core industries
Variations of the Central Places Theory
In central places theory, the k value is often used to define the geographical relationship between different orders. With a k=3 relationship, each market area of a higher order contains three market areas of a lower order. Several other values of k are possible in regional representations of urban hierarchy,
Market Size / Area Relationships in the Central Places Theory
The importance of a central place is determined by the order of goods and services being offered. In other words, there is a hierarchy of service activities, ranging from low-order services found in every center to high-order services found only in major centers. Therefore, the size of a market area
Central Places Theory (Market Principle)
Central places theory is derived from the work of the German geographer Walter Christaller who investigated the urban system of Southern Germany during the 1930s. He was mainly looking for relationships between the size, the number, and the geographic distribution of cities. Although his work is mostly empirical, the theoretical
Conceptual Corridor Development
Source: adapted from Taaffe, E.J., H.L. Gauthier and M.E. O’Kelly (1996) Geography of Transportation, Second Edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. The development of transportation networks commonly leads to the creation of corridors through the spatial concentration of flows along a core axis. A corridor development model has been developed