Centrality is a vital concept in Urban Systems. cities are central places providing services and functions .There are many types of Centrality.

Important types of centrality are:

The Centrality of

Services

Flow of Goods

Pattern of Flow of goods is vital in deciding the centrality node location.

Nodes and

The arrangement of nodes in city is a vital determinant to decide and define central and hierarchical position of hubs of a particular service.

Transport

Transport network often decides the position of central hub of services.

Centrality is not only about distances, the location. It is about

Population

Accessibility

Feasibility and

Viability of the place

Population

Centrality often decides Hierarchy of urban systems. They can be described as being part of the urban hierarchy. Where they stand on the hierarchy depends on many factors, the main ones being population, the number of services a settlement has and its sphere of influence.

The most obvious way of deciding where a settlement ranks on the urban hierarchy is by using the population of that settlement. The larger the population, the higher the settlement is placed on the hierarchy.

Services and Functions

Services are things such as retailers(shops), professionals (doctors, lawyers, etc), entertainment, government functions, and leisure. The theory goes that the larger a settlement is, and therefore the higher it is on the urban hierarchy, the more services and functions it will have.

Links:

Basic and Non Basic Functions of City