Urban planning theory often used to explain a country with a single dominant city is:

• A. Primate city concept
• B. Central Place Theory
• C. Concentric Zone Model
• D. Edge City concept

Answer: (A)

The primate city concept describes a country where one city dominates in population, political power, and economic activity, far more than any other city. This creates an uneven urban hierarchy, with resources, investment, and migration funneling toward that single center. In planning terms, it helps explain why a country might rely heavily on one metropolis for national functions and why other cities remain comparatively small. The idea is a natural fit when a country truly has a single overwhelming urban hub, unlike theories that describe regular patterns of settlements or land-use arrangements. For example, other theories focus on how services are distributed across a region or how urban areas expand in rings or suburbs, not on the dominance of one city over all others.