Another content of regional planning is the study of rural areas. American Personality Root's Social Analysis of Rural Communities is the earliest achievement in this field. 1933, German geographer Christaller analyzed the market center and service scope of villages in this area in his book "Regional Center in Southern Germany" and put forward the famous "central place theory". Based on this theory, he explored the distribution of rural centers, urban commerce and service industries, and the urban system in regional planning.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Geddes put forward the "life schema", which comprehensively analyzed the relationship among people, land and work from the perspectives of geography, economics and anthropology. His famous saying "investigation precedes planning, diagnosis precedes treatment" has become the motto of urban planning. This working procedure of investigation-analysis-planning has been widely adopted.