Abstract
Hexagonal shapes for market areas have been dominant in spatial economics ever since Christaller observed them and Lösch explained their emergence in terms of optimality. It is observed in the following that, though hexagons are best, the differences to for instance squares in terms of efficiency are negligibly small. As the existence of hexagonal shapes—in the space economy, as well as in beehives or other patterns of the physical world cannot be denied—a different cause for their emergence is proposed. Such an explanation is structural stability, which allows three market areas, but not four or six, to come together in each common vertex. The focus is hence the way market areas are organized in space, rather than their shape.
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Puu, T. On the Genesis of Hexagonal Shapes. Netw Spat Econ 5, 5–20 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11067-005-6659-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11067-005-6659-2