Urban Primacy before Mark Jefferson

Abstract

The phenomenon of urban primacy has been much studied in the social sciences since Mark Jefferson introduced the term in 1939. It is less well recognized that many European and American writers of stature from the late seventeenth century onward had discussed the same phenomenon under other names, often that of a "capital" or its cognates in other languages. Their work attests to the wide currency that the concept enjoyed and offered many important suggestions regarding urban primacy's causes and consequences. Jefferson nonetheless remains a central figure in the history of the idea for having inaugurated the coordinated academic study of the topic.

The patterns and driving forces of uneven regional growth in ASEAN countries: A tale of two Thailands' path toward regional coordinated development

“…The range of rank‐size distribution indicates that the regions are in the early stages of development when the absolute value is near 1 and in a balanced state when the absolute value is above 1 (Guérin‐Pace, 1995; Meyer, 2019). In the rank‐size distribution plots, the deviations indicate how far the regions are from the balanced state.…”

Boundary Demarcation and Amalgamation of Local Governments in Oromia Surrounding the Federal Capital of Ethiopia

“…The concept of urban primacy, also known as primate city, deals with how the first city of a nation continues to be the biggest city in terms of demographic size and influence in the intra-national urban system (Hussain and Imitiyaz, 2018). The concept of a primate city implies the existence of secondary cities, including a secondary capital city mainly in federal states where there is a decentralized urban system (Meyer, 2019;Kaufmann et. al., 2016).…”

“…Urbanization causes challenges to the existence, boundaries and structure of rural and small local governments surrounding big cities. Territories surrounding federal capitals are areas of urban expansion and sprawl which are associated with problems of demarcation and spillover and have aggregated regional consequences (Briffault, 1996;Meyer, 2019). The inevitable boundary disputes due to urbanization, and the significance of boundaries for the proper functioning of local government including cities makes having a fair procedure for boundary demarcation and amalgamation of local governments a necessary condition for their legitimacy (Meligrana and Razin, 2004;Paddison, 2004).…”

Mapping the hyperlinks and networks of Central and South American capital cities in three languages: consistencies and variations

“…This study builds on an interdisciplinary world city literature that has explored large cities and major cities for more than a half-century. It includes the early and later work on primate cities (Jefferson, 1939 ; Martin, 1961 ; Linsky, 1965 ; Mayer, 2019 ), world cities (Hall, 1966 ), hierarchies (Sassen, 1991 , 1994 , 2002 , 2004 , 2010 , 2018 ; Taylor, 1997 ), networks and structures (Amin & Thrift, 1992 ; Castells, 1996 ); information producer cities (Storper, 1997 ), connections and flows (Soja, 1989 ; Short et al, 1996 ; Kim, 1999 ; Short & Kim, 1999 ; Mitchelson & Wheeler, 1994 ; Smith & Timberlake, 1995 ), and hierarchies and systems (Beaverstock et al, 1999a , 1999b , 2000a , 2000b , Boulton et al, 2011a , b ; Taylor, 1997 , 2004 ; Krãtke and Taylor, 2004 ; Taylor & Deridder, 2004 ; Taylor et al, 2007 ; Taylor et al, 2015 ).…”