August Lösch’s Locational Models

If Christaller lays down the principle of order, Lösch gives it a more realistic form

🔹 Who was August Lösch?

• A German economist and geographer, Lösch presented his ideas in his book:
  “The Economics of Location” (1940)
• While Christaller focused on settlement hierarchy, Lösch emphasized market forces—particularly demand and profitability.
• He sought to create a general theory of location in which the size and shape of market areas depend on maximum revenue potential.

🔹 Core Assumptions of Lösch’s Model

Just like any spatial model, Lösch also made some simplifying assumptions. Let’s understand these with clarity:

Assumption	Explanation
Isotropic Surface	The world is a flat, homogeneous plain—uniform in all directions.
Constant Supply	Goods are assumed to be produced at a constant rate.
Inverse Demand Relation	Demand decreases as price increases—especially due to transport cost with distance.

🎯 Key Insight: If goods become costlier with distance (due to transport), people farther away will demand less. This lays the foundation for the spatial structure of markets.

🔹 Market Area Concept

Lösch focused on revenue maximization. A firm’s market area is that space within which:

• People are willing to pay for the product (Range)
• There are enough buyers to make it viable (Threshold)

📐 Based on this, each function (economic activity) will have:

• Its own range
• Its own threshold
• And therefore, its own hexagonal hinterland

🧩 Unlike Christaller who grouped services into fixed hierarchical orders, Lösch treated each function separately.

🔹 Key Features of Lösch’s Model

Let’s now understand the distinct features of his theory:

a) Demand-Driven Framework

• Lösch was more focused on economics of demand than just spatial arrangement.
• Market areas are determined based on how far people are willing to travel and how much they are willing to pay.

b) Individual Hexagons for Each Activity

• Each function (e.g., bakery, doctor, bank) has its own hexagonal zone depending on its threshold and range.
• These hexagons do not overlap randomly but are arranged to maximize profit and minimize competition.

c) Clustered but Flexible Settlements

• Wherever possible, different functions were clustered in a settlement.
• However, not all higher-order places need to offer all the functions of lower-order ones (unlike Christaller’s rigid hierarchy).

d) Dynamic Market Areas

• As more producers enter the market (i.e., competition increases), the market areas shrink.
• Eventually, hexagonal market areas emerge naturally—to avoid:
  • Overlap (which causes duplication)
  • Gaps (which leaves areas unserved)

🔹 Why is Lösch’s Model Important?

📚 Lösch brought economic realism into the picture:

• He respected spatial logic, but grounded it in economic viability.
• His model is less abstract and closer to how real market forces behave.

He said, in essence:

“Market areas form not because we want beautiful patterns, but because people buy things, and businesses want to earn.”

📝 UPSC Mains Writing Tip

When writing about Lösch:

• Begin with Christaller as the base
• Show how Lösch introduced demand and economic flexibility
• Use comparative tables for clarity
• Always end with the practical relevance of the model in spatial economics and urban geography

📚 Comparison: Christaller vs. Lösch

If Christaller creates a system of services, Lösch fills it with economic realism.

🔸 Area of Study

Aspect	Christaller	Lösch
Empirical Base	Based on fieldwork in Bavaria, a small province in southern Germany.	Based on data from entire Germany—thus more broad-based and representative.

🎯 Key Insight: Lösch’s model had a more national perspective, hence more generalizable.

🔸 Scope of Model

Aspect	Christaller	Lösch
Focus	Focuses mainly on consumer and seller behavior, transport, and administration.	Focused on economic viability, demand, and profit through 150+ commodities and 40 market networks.
Breadth of Application	Narrower – limited to central goods/services.	Wider – includes manufacturing, industries, and urban functions.

🧠 Christaller simplifies reality; Lösch embraces its complexity.

🔸 Hierarchy and Functional Distribution

Feature	Christaller	Lösch
Settlement Hierarchy	Rigid and stepped hierarchy – higher-order centers contain all functions of lower ones.	Flexible hierarchy – larger centers may not contain all lower-order functions.
Functional Approach	Services are bundled into orders (low to high).	Each function is treated separately with its own threshold, range, and hexagon.

🔎 Christaller assumes perfect symmetry; Lösch allows functional diversity.

🔸 Model Flexibility & Realism

Feature	Christaller	Lösch
Restrictiveness	More restrictive due to idealized assumptions.	Less restrictive, more adaptive to real-world variation.
Spatial Patterns	Prefers fixed hexagonal pattern and fixed rules (K=3, 4, 7).	Allows organic development of market areas—hexagons emerge as result of demand dynamics.
Urban Form Prediction	Predicts a stepped pyramid of urban sizes.	Predicts interdependent urban networks, more aligned with actual city distribution.

🧭 Lösch brings spatial economics into geography.