Final answer:
Central Place Theory explains urban patterns based on consumer behavior, with cities providing economies of scale. Walter Christaller developed this theory to describe the hierarchical organization of cities based on their ability to offer goods and services and advantages like location.
Step-by-step explanation:
Central Place Theory explains the relative size and spacing of urban centers based on consumer behavior and economies of scale. This theory posits that urban centers serve as central places that provide goods and services to the surrounding area and that these centers are organized in a hierarchical pattern. People tend to travel to the nearest small center for lower order goods, but for higher order goods, they will travel to larger urban centers. The theory was developed by Walter Christaller and is based on the notion that towns and cities arise out of the necessity for a central place that could provide services and goods that are not reachable within the local vicinity.
Advantageous situation factors such as a central location relative to other competing marketplaces contribute to the growth of certain market cities over others. Cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Houston grew larger because they had situation factors improving their competitive advantage in commerce and industry. This shows the impact of central location as well as the importance of economies of scale, where cities benefit from having a large number of nearby customers, workers, and suppliers, allowing businesses to operate more efficiently and at larger scales.