The spread of development around Kuala Lumpur: A methodology for an exploratory test of some assumptions of the growth-pole model

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Robinson G and Kamal B. Salih (1971) The spread of development around Kuala Lumpur: A methodology for an exploratory test of some assumptions of the growth-pole model, Reg. Studies 5, 303–314. A development surface is visualized for a sector of the growth-space of Kuala Lumpur. Its nature is discussed and a trend-surface model postulated as a test of the form of surface expected from the operation of growth-pole processes. A set of hypothetical development levels is generated for 80 villages and simple trend-surfaces of polynomial form are fitted. From this it is shown how analysis could proceed and how regional and local spatial components might be interpreted when development levels are seen as the products of interaction between the forces producing backwash and spread effects. It is argued that where low-order trends and their deviations, postulated on a priori grounds, reasonably describe the distribution of development levels, the operation of growth-pole processes at the regional scale can be confirmed. Discussion then centres around testing for consistency between pattern and process, and its place in an overall programme for exploring the spread of development.