City Size Distributions and Spatial Economic Change

Sheppard, E. (1982). City Size Distributions and Spatial Economic Change. IIASA Working Paper. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: WP-82-031

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Abstract

The concept of the city size distribution is criticized for its lack of consideration of the effects of interurban interdependencies on the growth of cities. Theoretical justifications for the rank-size relationship have the same shortcomings, and an empirical study reveals that there is little correlation between deviations from rank-size distributions and national economic and social characteristics. When interdependencies are considered, there is little reason for city sizes to evolve into a rank-size or any other relationship. Thus arguments suggesting a close correspondence between city size distributions and the level of development of a country, irrespective of intranational variations in city location and socioeconomic characteristics, seem to have little foundation.

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