City Analysis: Clermont-Ferrand

1. Where does your city fall in the hierarchy of Central Places? 

Clermont-Ferrand is a city and a commune of France, with a population of 141,000. It has a metropolitan area with over 467,178 inhabitants and is the capital of the Puy-de-Dome department. 
Clermont-Ferrand is surrounded by a major industrial area, along with a chain of volcanoes that surround the city. Clermont-Ferrand is also France's first city to get a new Translohr transit system which links the city's north and sounth neighbourhood. Therefore, I can assume that Clermont-Ferrand is among the top in the hierarchy of Central Places.
More data:
Urban area: 300km^2 population: 467,178
Metro area: 1,3431 km^2 Population: 467,178
Land area: 42.67 km^2 Population: 140,957

2. What does your city offer that wouldn't be available in a smaller place? 

Clermont-Ferrand is a big enough city that it has many accomodations that other, smaller cities may not.  This is is especially true since Clermont-Ferrand is quite the tourist attraction (second to Paris and Lyons). Clermont-Ferrand has many museums and historical monuments, such as the Notre-Dame-Du-Port Basilica. It also offers the unique attraction that it is a city on a volcano, and is home to one of the biggest Michelin factories. Clermont-Ferrand also has an extensive train network, as well as an airport and relatively big business district. 

Though the city is pretty high up on the hierarchy of Central Places, it is not as big of a city as others, like Paris, Lyons, or Strasbourg. Because of that, Clermont lacks some of those big-city aspects like a fashion district or the night-life to accompany big cities.