This is Volume III of thirteen in a collection on Urban and Regional Sociology. Originally published in 1967. A basic feature of the life and organization of advanced societies is the cohesion of socio-geographic groups at various levels. There are many aspects to this field of study. For this work is selected for examination the role of the central place-be it hamlet, village, town, city, or metropolis-as a focus of human activity and organization and leadership in the service of a surrounding tributary area. This field of study has been called 'human ecology' in the United States and 'social morphology' in France.