The hierarchical tendencies of shopping centres on the Copperbelt of Zambia

Hierarchical tendencies among service centres as implied in the central place theory have been studied and their existence verified in different regions of the world. The Copperbelt of Zambia is selected as an ideal area for extending similar studies to serve as an example in tropical Africa. This is because the Copperbelt offers a rare opportunity of having a high rate of urbanisation, a high concentration of population and a complex set of economies all confined in a small unit of space. Such a combination of factors is comparable to metropolitan areas found in developed countries. The study in its final analysis yields a five level hierarchical classification of service centres just as has been demonstrated in studies conducted in other regions of the world. The dissertation falls in five chapters. Chapter One introduces the intention of the dissertation. The second chapter reviews literature on studies conducted in both developed and developing countries. In both situations, case studies on intra-urban and regional approaches are reviewed. In the third chapter, the geography, history and contemporary situation of the study area are discussed in order to fit the area in the context of the study. The fourth chapter discusses the methodology of data collection, analysis of data and discussion of the findings. Chapter Five is the last one and makes a comparison of the findings with those of studies reviewed earlier in Chapter Two and draws the conclusion