Central Functions of Small Mexican Towns

CENTRAL FUNCTIONS OF SMALL MEXICAN TOWNS Peter A. Doherty and John M. ?a?G An important area of research in urban geography involves the analysis of cities as centers of goods and services for the surrounding trade area. Much of this research has taken place in developed nations. (1 ) There is, however, a considerable need for work in other areas of the world, especially the developing economies where factors related to this development could conceivably affect the relationship of central place theory. (2) This paper is a preliminary investigation into the central functions of a sample of small towns in Mexico. Using the structural framework of central place theory we seek to identify tentative explanations to account for city-size relationships of central places in Mexico. Such explanations can be viewed as hypotheses which will be more rigorously tested in a major research effort. SOURCE AND ANALYSIS OF DATA. Data for this study were collected during a research project on migration of people in Mexico. During field surveys in 1967 and 1968, seventy rural municipios were visited (Fig. 1). (3 ) Information on selected functions was gathered in the cabecera, or central city, of each municipio, and is used as the basis of this study. (4) Although a complete inventory of all functions was not made, the thirty selected are considered representative of the functional complexity of the centers. Of these thirty, twenty-six are central functions which provide goods or services to the towns and tributary regions on a permanent basis. The remainder are non-central functions which are included since they contribute significantly to the importance of the enters (Table 1 ). Mexico includes some 2,357 municipios, each of which usually contains a number of settlements of varying size. With only rare exceptions the principal settlement, whether it be a large metropolis, a city, or a village, acts as the cabecera. The population of those cabeceras studied ranges from 600 to 13,000 at the time of the visits. Although there is no "Middletown, Mexico," there are several basic similarities among the centers studied. Most study sites retain the colonial grid street pattern, with a central plaza, around which the municipal buildings, church, and main shops (if any) are located. Within the cabeceras are the offices and personnel concerned with administering the municipio. (5)»Mr. Doherty is a research assistant in geography at the University of Georgia, Athens; and Dr. Ball is professor of geography at Georgia State University, Atlanta. The paper was accepted for publication in September 1970. Vol. XI, No. 1, 197121 In analysing the central functions of small Mexican towns, several questions are of particular concern: (1) Central place theory implies that a strong positive relationship exists between the number of central functions and the population size of centers. How close is this association in Mexico where the development of cities is historically dissimilar to that of cities in other parts of the world? (2 ) Central place theory holds that there are threshold populations of the centers at which a central function first appears. How high are these thresholds in Mexico? (3 ) Does the periodic market and other manifestations of the folk economy in Mexico significantly affect central place relationships? TABLE 1 SELECTED CENTRAL FUNCTIONS Functions__________________________________Centers Served (percent) Primary School100.0 Catholic Church100.0 General Store100.0 Bus98.6 Post Office98.6 "Electricity92.9 Physician82.9 Health Center or Hospital77.1 0First or Second Class Highway72.8 Telephone71.4 Resident Priest71.4 Taxi70.0 "Potable Water68.5 Cinema65.7 Pharmacy64.3 Secondary School61.4 Restaurant57.1 Telegraph57. 1 Gasoline Station55.7 Auto Repair Shop54.3 Hotel44.3 Railroad Station41.4 Technical or Preparatory School37.1 "Sewers34.2 Bank27.1 Dentist24.3 Lawyer8.6 Veterinarian7.1 Airport7.1 Local Newspaper_____________ 2.9 *Non-central functions 22Southeastern Geographer RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CENTRAL FUNCTIONS AND POPULATION SIZE. A scatter diagram of functions against population was constructed with a best fit regression line (Fig. 2). The regression equation is CF = A + B (log P), where CF equals the number of central functions and P the population size. Thus the population of the towns displays a loglinear relationship with the number of central functions. (6 ) The coefficient of correlation for central functions...