Yes considerable literature in locational and economic geography as Iain
notes but hardly cutting edge of modern geography. Useful for very basic
models but has to be balanced against other political and economic
factors such as capitalisation, trade connections and uneven
development. I have just written a chapter on urbanism for the
early-modern volume of the Gwent County History (SE Wales) which shows
urbanism amd markets skewing notably to eastern  margin of county
reflecting neo-colonial economy (raw materials out,consumer goods in).
The whole pattern was then turned upside down by coal boom of 19th
century with Gwent's failing town (Newport) suddenly becoming the
largest. Site catchment archaeologists all converted to Braudel about
time regional historians had heavily critqued those very aspects of his
environmemntal determinism that attracted archaeologists.

paul


Iain Stuart wrote:

>This sounds like a question likely to have been addressed by geographers especially the spatial geographers of the 1960s and earlier geographers looking at why spatial patterns occur. A good introduction to these questions as they relate to land use is
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>Chisholm, Michael. Rural Settlement and Land Use. London: Hutchinson & Co, 1968.
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>This text was very influential on some of the models of prehistory land use particularly site catchment analysis, even though it was based on more contemporary observations.
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>A search of the geographic literature should go a long way to helping you with your research.
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>Iain Stuart
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