Settlement Geography: Primate City

Concept of primate city was given by Mark Jefferson in 1939.Primate city  refers to largest city in a country or a region which is disproportionately larger in  population from the second ranked city in that country or the region.

This concept  was based on inductive study done by Jefferson over 51 countries.He compared the population of largest and second rated cities and made following observations:

For 27 countries: P1/P2 > 2

For 18 countries: P1/P2 > 3

For 6 countries: P1/P2 > 1.2   ; where :  P1 and P2 are populations of first and second ranked cities.

Thus, in most of the countries he found that 1st ranked city was disproportionately  larger than second ranked city.This he named primate city. Thus, mathematically, it was expressed as:

P1/P2 >= 2

Examples

INDIA: No Primacy if country as a whole is considered.If divided into regions then primacy is witnessed i.e:

• MEXICO: P(Mexico city)/P(Cancun) > 17
• URUGUAY: P(Montevideo)/P(Paysandu) > 17

Cause of Primacy

Mark Jefferson didn’t provide cause of primacy.Later, Gunnar Myrdal gave Cumulative causation theory which explains reason for primacy.

Linskey have provided criteria which leads to primacy.

Through these criteria, Linskey seems to be concluding that primate city is developing country phenomenon.

However, not necessarily all developing countries exhibits primacy.For example, in india there is no primacy as delhi,chennai,mumbai,kolkata are comparable. This is because india has large territorial extent and great cultural diversity.One centre is not able to fulfill cultural,economic and historical aspirations of people.

Impact of Primacy

POSITIVE

In case of countries with smaller territorial extent, it is more desirable to concentrate resources and amenities to develop one urban complex that distributing resources with other cities.for example, UK and Malaysia

In case of un-developed countries, primate city is a desirable as it can serve as growth pole or centre for development.

NEGATIVE

Countries with large territorial extent can have negative impact of primate city as this can lead to disparity.for example, primacy of Sao Paulo in brazil has led to underdevelopment of other regions in brazil; Primacy of Moscow in russia as led to underdevelopment of siberia.