Settlement, services and urban growth

Last time

Before we start: last time, in Population growth, change and density, you learned these points. Here they are again on one card. Keep them in mind, because today builds on them.

Villages, towns and cities

More than half the world's people now live in towns and cities. Settlements grow where the site is good, and offer services that draw people in. This lesson covers settlement sites, patterns and hierarchy, urban land use, and the effects of urban growth.

Site and situation

The site is the land a settlement is built on: a water supply, flat dry land, defence, or a bridging point on a river. The situation is its position compared with the area around: on a route, near resources, or at a coast. A rural settlement is a village or hamlet in the countryside; an urban settlement is a town or city.

Settlement patterns

Dispersed: buildings spread out, as on farms in thinly populated areas. Nucleated: buildings grouped together, often around a crossroads or water source. Linear: buildings in a line, along a road, river or valley.

Settlement hierarchy

Settlements can be ranked from hamlet, village and town to city and capital city. Larger settlements have more and higher-order services, such as hospitals and universities. Small ones have low-order services, such as a corner shop. The sphere of influence is the area served by a settlement's services; it is larger for bigger settlements.

Urban land use

The central business district, or CBD, has shops, offices and high land values. Around it are older inner-city housing and industry, then newer suburbs further out. At the edge, the rural–urban fringe has newer developments, retail parks and some farmland.

Urbanisation

Urbanisation is the growth in the percentage of people living in towns and cities. Rural–urban migration: push factors, such as poverty and lack of services, and pull factors, such as jobs, education and health care. Natural increase in cities, with many young people, adds to growth.

Effects of urban growth on rural areas

Farmland is lost to housing, roads and industry: urban sprawl. Villages near the city become commuter villages; house prices rise and local services may close. More traffic, pollution and waste. But some rural people gain jobs and markets for farm produce.

Problems in fast-growing cities

In many LEDC cities, people build squatter settlements on unwanted land, with poor housing, water and sanitation. Problems: congestion, pollution, unemployment and informal work. Solutions: self-help schemes, providing basic services, new towns, and better public transport.

Settlement terms

The key terms for settlement questions.

Mistakes that lose marks

Mistake one: confusing site and situation. Mistake two: in a named-example answer, giving no named place. Mistake three: listing impacts without describing them. The fix: precise terms and a named, detailed example.

The full-marks tip

The full-marks tip: for named-example questions, name the city and give place-specific detail. Describe impacts, both positive and negative, on people and the environment.

On one card

So, on one card: settlement. Keep it for revision.