Identification of the question.
The general theory states that settlements are ordered by population and the type of services offered. At the top of the hierarchy the settlements there will be a larger population and greater service provision, i.e. supermarkets and furniture shops. At the bottom of the hierarchy the settlements will have only basic service provision such as churches and general stores and a small population to match. As providers of goods and services these settlements are known as Central Places. Central Places with high order services such as electrical retailers will have higher threshold populations as people are willing to travel much further for the service than they are for services such as a general store. If so then there must be in any part of rural England there must be a hierarchy of central places. Christaler suggested that these sphere's of influence would be hexagonal. This hypothesis has been created to test this expectation: Dorking and the villages in the area roundabout all have a place in the hierarchy of the area with Dorking at the top and the others ranked according to size of population and the number of services.
Development of a Strategy
Dorking is situated in the Mole river valley on the crossroads of the A24 and A25 Roads. Dorking is 22 miles to the south of London, in the south east of England. Dorking has a population of around 10,000 inhabitants. The town has two rail lines running through it, the Redhill to Guildford and the Dorking to London Waterloo and Victoria services. It lies south of the North Downs in what used to be a rural area but is now an urban area. Dorking is an Antiques centre of the world. Dorking is influenced by Reigate and Guildford. The data was collected on survey sheets like the one enclosed under figure 1. The higher the number after the totalling of the scores given indicates that the shopping environment is a good one. The Population was given to us as background information. The risk assessment for this investigation was mainly in having contact numbers if anything was to go wrong, a first aid box and knowledge of basic first aid and the green cross code.
The general theory states that settlements are ordered by population and the type of services offered. At the top of the hierarchy the settlements there will be a larger population and greater service provision, i.e. supermarkets and furniture shops. At the bottom of the hierarchy the settlements will have only basic service provision such as churches and general stores and a small population to match. As providers of goods and services these settlements are known as Central Places. Central Places with high order services such as electrical retailers will have higher threshold populations as people are willing to travel much further for the service than they are for services such as a general store. If so then there must be in any part of rural England there must be a hierarchy of central places. Christaler suggested that these sphere's of influence would be hexagonal. This hypothesis has been created to test this expectation: Dorking and the villages in the area roundabout all have a place in the hierarchy of the area with Dorking at the top and the others ranked according to size of population and the number of services.
Development of a Strategy
Dorking is situated in the Mole river valley on the crossroads of the A24 and A25 Roads. Dorking is 22 miles to the south of London, in the south east of England. Dorking has a population of around 10,000 inhabitants. The town has two rail lines running through it, the Redhill to Guildford and the Dorking to London Waterloo and Victoria services. It lies south of the North Downs in what used to be a rural area but is now an urban area. Dorking is an Antiques centre of the world. Dorking is influenced by Reigate and Guildford. The data was collected on survey sheets like the one enclosed under figure 1. The higher the number after the totalling of the scores given indicates that the shopping environment is a good one. The Population was given to us as background information. The risk assessment for this investigation was mainly in having contact numbers if anything was to go wrong, a first aid box and knowledge of basic first aid and the green cross code.
