Practice question · Multiple choice
A country's largest city is eight times the size of its second. What does that departure from the rank-size rule usually indicate?
Hints
- Ask what would draw eight times as much into one city as into the next.
- The rule describes a graded system. What kind of system produces one giant instead?
Show the answer
B. Concentration of power or extraction in one place
Why
A rank-size distribution grows out of many interacting centres, and primacy signals that one node captures administration, trade or extraction disproportionately, colonial capitals are the classic case. It is a diagnostic rather than a law, which is why the interesting work is explaining the departure.
Practise Urban Geography and City Systems
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