This is REV4.0
Check our Blog page and Social Media Platforms to learn about this new fun Update!
Friedman's Core-periphery Model
Characteristics, Stages
Author:
Syed Ali
Edu Level: Unit2
Date: Aug 15 2025 - 3:27 AM
⏱️Read Time: 2 min
Local Disparities in Development – Friedman’s Core–Periphery Model
The Core is a prosperous, highly developed, and urbanised region. It often contains the capital city, major ports, and key industrial zones. The Periphery consists of areas located away from the core, with lower wealth, fewer economic activities, and less development.
Characteristics of the Core
- Economic activities are well established and continue to grow.
- Attracts new industries, services, and investments.
- Increased capital and technological advancement.
- Well-developed services: schools, hospitals, shopping centres, quality housing, and efficient transport systems.
- Pull factors encourage rural-to-urban migration.
Characteristics of the Periphery
- Limited job opportunities, mostly in low-paying, unskilled, primary-sector work.
- Services and government investment are scarce.
- Push factors encourage migration away from the area.
Over time, industries, wealth, and development spread outward, leading to the growth of secondary core areas. This reduces the dominance of the original core, although some peripheral areas still remain.
Friedman’s Four-Stage Core–Periphery Model
Stage 1 – Pre-Industrial (Pre-Colonial)
- Many small, self-sufficient villages with no hierarchy or surplus production.
- Each settlement functions independently.
- Example: Pre-Columbian Caribbean when Indigenous peoples occupied the islands.
Stage 2 – Traditional (Colonial)
- A single dominant core emerges, often due to external influences like colonialism.
- Economic and manufacturing growth is concentrated in one region, leading to urban primacy.
- Example: The relationship between Port of Spain, Trinidad and the United Kingdom during colonial times.
Stage 3 – Industrial (Multinuclear)
- One main national core remains, but strong peripheral sub-centres develop.
- Initially, regional inequalities exist, but as the economy grows, the periphery also develops.
- Example: In Trinidad, towns such as Arima, Sangre Grande, Chaguanas, San Fernando, and Point Fortin grew alongside Port of Spain.
Stage 4 – Post-Industrial (Reduction)
- An interdependent system of cities forms, and peripheral areas become integrated.
- Backwash effects (draining resources toward the core) and spread effects (sharing benefits outward) reach a balance.
- No country has fully reached this stage, but some regions show signs of it.
Example: East–West Corridor in Trinidad, where continuous urban growth connects Arima, Port of Spain, and surrounding valleys such as Maraval, Diego Martin, and Petit Valley.
