국토지리학회지 ISSN:1225-3766(Print) THE GEOGRAPHICAL JOURNAL OF KOREA

The purpose of this paper is to reexamine the problems which have been overlooked or misunderstood in studies that refer to Christaller’s Central Place Theory (CPT). First, the CPT has been consistently described as ‘static,’ but Christaller’s theory emphasized both static relations and dynamic processes. Second, various forms of premises or assumptions were presented because Christaller did not specifically mention the assumptions of CPT in Die Zentralen Orte in Süddeutschland (1933), except that “the geographer must return to von Thünen’s The Isolated State (1826).” The CPT is based on two categories of assumptions: assumptions about the land surface (homogeneous space), and assumptions about the population (rational economic man). Third, Christaller suggested three principles in the arrangement of the central places: the marketing principle, the transport principle, and the administrative principle. The three principles are listed side by side in most literature, but Christaller clearly mentioned the hierarchy of them. His final conclusion is that “the marketing principle is primary and chief law of distribution, and the transport and the administrative principles are only secondary laws causing deviations.”