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ABSTRACT
Gateway cities develop between areas of differing intensities or types of production; they are located towards one end of their tributary areas; and they are heavily committed to transportation and wholesaling. It is hypothesized that if the tributary area of a gateway city is large enough and productive enough to support the rise of large central places, then the gateway will be shorn of much of its previous hinterland and will itself come to function as a central place. The pattern of growth of Winnipeg fits the sequence set out in the hypothesis. Briefer case studies of Cincinnati, St. Louis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Cluj also support the hypothesis. The rise of gateways is dependent upon the presence of threshold values for distance, and levels of productivity. The gateway concept may help explain the existence of twin cities, but is in opposition to the basic spatial postulate of the von Thünen model.
