ABSTRACT
Central places come in very different guises. They range from bustling metropoles to sleepy crossroads. They may be concentrations of the headquarters of important companies and aggregates of providers of advanced business services; or places with many political offices; or palaces of major religious dignitaries and their support staff; or all of them together. With the compression of space-time there are perhaps also virtual central places where some of these functions are very directly linked despite physical distances, but the question remains unresolved how indispensable the opportunity for unmediated, direct personal contact still is. Central places in some way dominate their geographical environment or are well connected parts of networks linking divergent places. Many have both features.
