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Types of Rural Settlement Patterns

There are several types of rural settlement patterns that are influenced by physical geography and socio-cultural factors. The main patterns include rectangular, linear, circular/semi-circular, star-shaped, and triangular depending on the landscape. Rectangular settlements are common on flat plains while linear develop along transportation routes. Circular/semi-circular form around coastal and river areas. Star-shaped occur at road intersections and triangular at river confluences. Sociologists further categorize villages as migratory agricultural, semi-permanent agricultural, and permanent agricultural based on residency patterns.

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2K views7 pages

Types of Rural Settlement Patterns

There are several types of rural settlement patterns that are influenced by physical geography and socio-cultural factors. The main patterns include rectangular, linear, circular/semi-circular, star-shaped, and triangular depending on the landscape. Rectangular settlements are common on flat plains while linear develop along transportation routes. Circular/semi-circular form around coastal and river areas. Star-shaped occur at road intersections and triangular at river confluences. Sociologists further categorize villages as migratory agricultural, semi-permanent agricultural, and permanent agricultural based on residency patterns.

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SAMEER AHMED
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Types of Rural Settlement Patterns:

The pattern of rural settlements is influenced by the physical


environment and socio- cultural factors like caste, religion and
functional needs of people.

The different types of rural settlement patterns depending on their


shape are as follows:

a. Rectangular Pattern:
This is the most common pattern observed in rural settlements.
Rectangular settlements are developed over flat, fertile, alluvial plains
and wide valleys. The streets in rectangular settlements are straight
and at right angles to each other. The examples of this are villages in
Sutlej-Ganga plain, planned settlements of Germany, Malaysia, Israel,
France, etc.

b. Linear Pattern:
The houses are aligned along the sides of a road, railway line, river,
canal or valley. The physical restrictions associated with these sites
give rise to the linear pattern. The example of it can be settlement
along the roads of Ganga-Yamuna plain and in valleys in Alps and
Rocky mountains.

c. Circular and Semi-circular Pattern:


Settlements along seacoasts, around lakes, over mountain-tops and
along meandering rivers, develop circular or semi-circular pattern. The
population is mostly engaged in fishing, salt production and tourist
services like boating, providing boarding and lodging.

d. Star-shaped Pattern:
At places where roads converge, radial or star-shaped settlements
develop. The new parts of settlement grow along the roads in all
directions. The examples of it can be plains of Yangtzekiang, Punjab
in India, and parts of Northwest Europe.

e. Triangular Pattern:
Points, such as meeting place of rivers give rise to a triangular pattern
of settlements.

f. Nebular Pattern:
It is a circular pattern developing all around a centre. This centre could
be anything ranging from a temple to a landlords house, etc. Rural
settlements can be classified based on the size and pattern or shape

Many factors influence the origin and character of a rural settlement.


Wherever possible, these factors should be considered while
classifying the settlement patterns. Let us now deal in detail with the
above-mentioned village settlement patterns.

i. Shapeless Clusters:
In such type of villages, one can notice a tortuous or irregular road,
which is not a part of the original design but emerged as a result of
local requirements and convenience of the village people. Such
shapeless clusters are enclosed with stonewall or wooden palisade,
which is meant for the purpose of defence. If a cluster lies on the top
of a narrow ridge of a mountainous area, such palisade or stonewall
may take an elongated form. Linear clusters may also grow as the
population increases in the village.

Parallel streets and roads set at right angles may be added to the
existing streets that may eventually form a square, which may appear
from a distance as a shapeless cluster. The presence of open streets
as an integral part of the design and occurrence of simpler linear
forms in the same neighborhood, when the settlement is of small size,
would help us in regarding the square genetically related to linear and
unrelated to massive cluster, which may by accident approximate to a
square.
Most of these shapeless clusters are found in the Gangetic plain,
Rajasthan, the Malwa Plateau and portions of Maharashtra. In the
districts of Western Rajasthan, these clusters occur along with the
villages of dispersed types. The dispersed clusters can also be seen
in eastern Uttar Pradesh, portions of Madhya Pradesh and the
Himalayan or Sub-Himalayan districts in the north of Bihar and almost
in the whole of Brahmaputra Valley.

ii. Linear Clusters:


Linear settlement patterns consist of open space or straight streets
provided between the parallel rows of houses. This type of clusters
can be seen in (coastal districts of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh,
villages of Gujarat, Kutch and Saurashtra and also in some of south of
Rajasthan to Surat district.
iii. Square or Rectangular Clusters:
These types of clusters are formed with straight streets running
parallel or at right angles to one another. Such square clusters also
result in the development of linear clusters. These clusters can be
seen in most of the parts of Madras (Chennai), in dry districts of
Rayalaseema, and in districts of coastal Andhra.
A significant feature, which has been noticed in the coastal areas of
Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, is that the houses in these villages are
located in a continuous line, adjacent to one another and most often
sharing a common wall. Towards the south of Madras, the arrange-
ment is same, but houses are located separately.

iv. Isolated Homesteads:


Isolated farmhouses or homesteads are found in different parts of
India irregularly. Such settlements are found in the western Malwa
Plateau, where they occur in association with dispersed clusters.
These are also found in areas of Western Ghats stretching from
Satara towards Kerala high lands and also in some portions of
Himalayan ranges in Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh. These isolated
homesteads are also found unoccupied due to frequent floods in
eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar districts. Thus, isolated homesteads
seem to grow according to the exigencies of local circumstances.

Other Forms of Rural Settlement Patterns:


Sociologists have also classified the settlement patterns into
the following types:

i. Migratory Agricultural Villages:


In these villages, people live in fixed abodes only for a few months.

ii. Semi-Permanent Agricultural Villages:


People reside in such villages for a few years and then migrate to other
places due to the loss of fertility of the soil or due to soil erosion. These
villages are again classified into nucleated and dispersed. In nucleated
villages, the farmers inhabit in a single village site, due to which they
develop a compact style of life; whereas in dispersed villages, the farmers
reside separately in their respective farms. The social life of the inhabitants
of these villages assumes a different form due to their separate habitats.

iii. Permanent Agricultural Villages:


In permanent agricultural villages, villagers are settled and live in the same
village for generations and even for centuries. These villages are also
classified on the basis of social differentiation, mobility and land ownership
pattern.

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Some of the other types of villages as classified by Irawati Karve are


as follows:

a. Tightly Nucleated Villages:


In such villages, the habitation area is clearly defined from those of the
cultivated areas. Though the habitation area is well-marked, the boundaries
of the village along with the fields are never clear. Often, the fields owned
by one village merge into another. They can only be viewed separately
except when a hill or a stream forms the boundary of the village. Most of
such villages are situated in the high plateau of Deccan.

b. Villages on Both Sides of a Road:


Such types of villages are found in the western coastal belt of Konkan. The
villages are spread on both sides of the roads. The houses are situated in
their own compounds with fruit and coconut trees. Each house is fenced on
all sides. One can walk or drive through these fences.

c. Clustered Village:
In these villages, houses are situated in clusters of two or more huts in their
own fields. These houses belong to a single close kinship group such as
either to a father and his grown-up sons or brother and their families. The
other clusters may be about a furlong or two away from each other.
Among these villages, the cultivation areas are not distinguished from the
habitation area. Most often, due to such wide scattering of houses, houses
of one village are more nearer to the houses of their neighbouring villages
than to that of their own village.

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