Losch, August

Losch, August (1906-1945), German economist best known for his work on central place theory, the quantitative analysis of settlement distribution and structure originated by his compatriot and contemporary, Walter Christaller. Like Christaller, he searched for a logical and scientific explanation of settlement patterns, believing that the fundamental principles of zoological, botanical, and economic location theory were similar. His work focused on modifications to Christaller's central place model aimed at giving a more realistic representation of the relationship between settlements of different sizes. Christaller's theory defined the hexagonal market areas around settlements, or central places, in a fixed and rigid fashion such that all places of a particular size, or order, had identical functions, and all places of a higher order performed all the functions of lower-order settlements, and more besides.