Settlement

A settlement is a place where people live and carry out a range of activities – trade,
manufacturing, agriculture etc.
Settlements can either be rural or urban.
Settlements can either be temporary or permanent. Temporary settlements include things such as
refugee camps. Some temporary settlements have become permanent over time such as the
Rochina, the largest favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

A settlement could be anything from an isolated farmhouse to a mega city (settlement with over
10 million people).

Patterns of settlement

A dispersed settlement

Buildings are scattered around/spread out/separated from each other. It is typically an area
containing buildings rather than a single settlement. The population is sparsely distributed in a
dispersed settlement. There are usually no services in a dispersed settlement.
Dispersed settlements usually occur in:
 remote or mountainous regions
 areas where the land is predominantly used for agriculture
 areas with limited job opportunities
 locations with few, if any, job opportunities

NN2023
Linear settlement
It occurs where buildings are strung out along a line of communication. They typically follow a
main road, a river valley or a canal or dyke. This allows the settlement to utilise transport routes.
They can also occur along valley floors where the sides are very steep.

A nucleated settlement occurs in a circular shape with buildings mainly concentrated around a
common centre such as a road junction, park or service area. Most large cities are nucleated
indicating they are well planned. Nucleation occurs due to:
 flat relief which is easy to build on
 the site has a bridging point
 the site is a good defensive position
 a good water supply
 no restrictions to development in any direction
 good job opportunities
 effective public services
 good transport links

NN2023
What is the site and situation of a settlement?
The site of a settlement is the land upon which a settlement was built. There is a range of human
and physical factors that determine the site of a settlement. The factors that affect the site of a
settlement include:
 relief – the shape of the land affects where buildings are constructed and flat land is
preferable for building
 wet point site – these are sites close to a supply of water, essential for agriculture,
drinking, washing and cleaning
 dry point site – these are sites that avoided the risk of flooding
 defensive site – these were sites that were on high ground and allowed the inhabitants to
see enemies from a distance
 aspect – many settlements in the northern hemisphere are located on south-facing sides of
valleys where it is sunny
 quality of the soil – if the soil is fertile a settlement is more likely to develop
 shelter – away from rain and prevailing winds
 trading point – often settlements developed where natural training points meet such as
along rivers or natural routeways
 resources – many settlements developed close to where natural resources could be found.
 accessibility – accessibility can be increased by the presence of roads or water bodies,
allowing a settlement to grow through trade or migration.

After the establishment of a settlement, its growth may then depend on its situation, in relation to
the surrounding environment, the size and function(s) of surrounding settlements, access to
natural resources such as fuel and fertile soils and route-ways.

Situation of a settlement
The situation of a settlement is the description of the settlement in relation to physical features
around it and other settlements. The situation of a settlement is the most important in
determining whether it grows to become a large city or stays as a small town or village.

In the UK, London is an example of a city with an excellent situation. It is located on flat land
the River Thames, with excellent links by road and air.

NN2023
The importance of a settlement can increase and decrease as they fulfill different functions. The
situation of a settlement significantly influences which of these will happen.

What are the functions of a settlement?

The functions of a settlement are the activities that take place there.

Factors that affect the position, size, growth and function of a settlement
Wet point sites - these have a good water supply. Many settlements grew around wet point sites,
eg Niamey the capital of Niger.
Dry point sites - these are away from the risk of flooding,
Eg…………………..
Defensive sites - often found on higher ground so that in the past enemies could be seen from a
distance, eg Corfe Castle, Dorset, or in the loop of a meander, eg Durham.
Aspect - settlements are often found on the sunny side of a deep valley. This is common in
settlements in the Alps.
In the southern Hemisphere the Nort facing slopes are warmer than the south facing slopes.
Shelter - from cold prevailing winds and rain.
Gap towns - found in a gap between two areas of higher ground.
Resources – develop in areas where there is extraction of minerals leading growth of important
industries eg. Johannesburg
Trading centers - often settlements grow where natural route ways, which helps the
development of roads, railways, ports.
port – This was the original function of settlements such as Liverpool and Hull. Both are still
ports but the importance of the port has reduced and they are now multifunctional settlements.
market town – Originally, Watford was a market town. The market continues today but the area
is now a multifunctional centre.
resort – Coastal locations such as Blackpool, Southport and Scarborough benefit from tourism,
their main function is as a coastal resort.
Natural resources in the area led to Sheffield developing as an important centre for iron and
steel production. Although the iron and steel industry has declined over time the city is now
multifunctional.

What is a settlement hierarchy?

NN2023
 A settlement hierachy
A way of arranging settlements into order/importance based upon their population/size/services
provided etc.

As you move up the settlement hierarchy the size of the settlement increases, as does the
population and the range of services available.

The range of a service or product is the maximum distance people are prepared to travel to
purchase it. The range of a newspaper is much lower than that of furniture.
Smaller settlements tend to provide only low order services such as a post office and newsagents.
Whereas, larger settlements have more high order services such as leisure centres and chain
stores. As a result of this the larger the settlement, the greater the range of services and sphere of
influence. A sphere of influence is the market area that a settlement services (the distance people
will travel to use services). Cities such as London have a global (very large) sphere of influence,
whereas a small hamlet or village may only have a sphere of influence of a couple of kilometres.

NN2023
High order services usually have a high threshold. This means they need a higher number of
people to use the service in order to remain profitable. This means high order service such as
department stores need a greater number of customers than a low order service such as a
newsagent. This is why there are so few department stores in villages!

The size of a sphere of influence will depend on factors such as:

 the number and types of services it provides
 the accessibility of the settlement including transport facilities
 the amount of competition from surrounding areas

Services and goods have a threshold population to support them. Examples of threshold
populations include:
 a village shop needs 350 customers
 a doctor needs 3500 patients
 a secondary school or Boots chemist needs 10,000 people
 a Marks and Spencer store requires 50,000
 a large, national supermarket chain such as Tesco or Asda needs 60,000

High Order Goods (Comparison): Goods that people buy less frequently. They tend to be more
expensive and people will normally compare quality and price before purchasing e.g. a car
Low Order Goods (Convenience): Goods that people buy every day. They don't usually cost
much money and people would not normally travel far to buy them e.g. bread and milk.

Rural area
It is an area of countryside and consist of farmland and not built up areas eg hamlet, village and
small market town
An area that has a small population with a low density housing and with a main primary function
such as agriculture, mining as main source income.
Villages and hamlets will usually have a lower population density and smaller settled areas

Characteristics of rural areas

-Small population/not many customers (for other services);
-Usually provide low order services;

-It sells convenience goods (convenience goods are those that the customer purchases frequently,
immediately, and with minimum effort eg soaps, newspapers, most grocery items, and gasoline.
-It will be used regularly/every few days.

NN2023
- homes and businesses are located far away from one another.
- primary industry is the most common economic industry eg Agriculture.

Urban Settlements
Urban area is a built up area with a population of over 10 000 people living within its boundaries

Urban land use

This refers to activities that are found in towns and cities

Characteristics of Urban Land Use

 All urban settlements have recurring features:

o A central core or central business district (CBD)

o Industrial areas - inner-city ring
o Different residential districts (low class, middle class and high class)- suburban ring
o Outer zones of suburban expansion - urban fringe
 All towns and cities tend to grow outwards, from a historic centre or core to an urban
fringe
 Each zone grows due to the needs of the city during its development, over time
 As a general rule, all towns and cities, regardless of place or level of development, show
the same four features:

NN2023
Central Business District (CBD):
It is the central core and the oldest part of a city which contains the main shops, offices and
financial institutions of an urban area

 Government/public buildings eg administration offices, town hall

 High-order retail services, such as departmental stores in the middle of the CBD and highly
specialist shops on the outskirts
 Offices, including major company headquarters
 Entertainment facilities eg theatres, hotels and restaurants.
 Commercial facilities e.g. banks, insurance and shopping malls
 Cultural/historical buildings, museums and castles.
 High/multi-storey buildings due to lack of space and high land values.
 Concentration of public transport services including buses and railway stations (bus and train
station).
 Low residential population/few residents – the number of people in the CBD at night is low.
 Pedestrianisation for high footfall (pedestrian precincts)
 Traffic restrictions for private vehicles
 High number of pedestrians and cars
 Multi-storey car parks and parkades
 Vertical zoning eg retail on the lower floors, offices on upper floors.

NN2023
The CBD is located in the centre because it is:
 A central location for road/railways to converge.
 The most accessible location for workers.
 Accessible to most people for shops and businesses

Suggest why banks and hotels are located in the CBD of the city.
- Better access/more transport routes
-Larger sphere of influence/people come from larger area.
-More customers in CBD/higher threshold population/demand
-More chance to make money/profit/income
-shops / hotels /restaurants attracts tourists.
-Centre of economic activity so banks locate there.

Explain why the CBD of a city has a large sphere of influence.

people travel long distances to use services/work;
high order services available;
specialist goods/services;
good transport links;
shops selling comparison goods;
larger shops/wider choice of product;
entertainment or examples etc.

o An inner-city or twilight zone:

 It is typically found next to the CBD (core) and has mainly terraced houses
in a grid like pattern.
 . These were originally built to house factory workers who worked in the
inner city factories. They are older, compact, terraced 'worker' housing
to support a growing population density
 Surrounded by older industrial areas. Many of these factories have now
closed down.
 Areas are centred around transport links and access for
manufacturing

NN2023
  Available land increased with distance, so cost reduces
 Residential land is in direct competition with commercial use
Advantages of living in the inner city

 Close to CBD for employment/shopping;

 Well served by public transport;
 Cheap housing;
 Local shops/amenities;
 Close knit communities
 Nearer to industrial areas for jobs;

Disadvantages of living in the inner city

 Congested roads;
 Limited space/overcrowded houses;
 Noise from works/traffic;
 Lack of off road parking/garages;
 No gardens;
 Air pollution from traffic/factories;
 Houses in need of repair or poor quality/dilapidated houses.

o A suburban zone/residential area:

Areas where people live/areas of housing.

 Emergence of segregated residential zones based on wealth, ethnicity,

choice or government policy (e.g. social housing)
 Semi and detached housing with gardens
 Tree-lined avenues and cul-de-sacs
 Smaller retail premises
 Cost of land decreases but the size of the property increases with the
distance
o An urban fringe: outer edges of the city:
 Countryside is eroded through the urban spread/sprawl
 Housing is clustered into estates, which increases 'spot' density
 Some industrial land uses
 Accessibility is best


NN2023
  Other similar characteristics of modern urban settlements include:
o Age of the built-up area decreases from the core to the fringe
o Density of building developments decreases from core to fringes
o Grandeur, function, design and style changes across the zones
o Over time, population density and land use changes

Based on Burgess Concentric Ring Theory

 The model above is a simplification, but shows there is a core where most of the
commercial activity is found
 The CBD is usually the most accessible (public transport) with the highest land value
 High-rise buildings are seen here due to the high demand for land, but there is a
lack of space to satisfy that demand e.g. Singapore, New York and Hong Kong are
known for their 'skyscrapers' and land prices are amongst the highest in the world

were:

NN2023
Delimiting the CBD
It is a way of determining the size/extent of the CBD.

• Mapping land use

• Pedestrian counts
• Sphere of influence
• A survey of building heights

Two reasons why their teacher split the class into groups before doing a survey/fieldwork
- to ensure student safety
- to divide up the tasks within each group
- to collect more data / get wider range of results / cover wider area
- to check that recording / fieldwork is done accurately / results are reliable
- to compare results
- to work faster and save time

Classify the buildings in the CBD

The buildings can be classified according to:
Age (old, recent or new)
Function (eg specialist shop, bank, departmental store etc)
Height (single storey, double storey)
Colour of building

Why is it difficult to classify buildings according to age (old, recent, new)

- the opinion of what is old, recent or new is subjective as people have different judgments
-there is no date of when building was constructed to make a decision
- there is no age criteria of what is new, recent, old
- Descriptions are vague – recent and new
- Old buildings could be renovated making them to look new
- New buildings could have old style / have new extension/be poorly built

NN2023
Changes that can occur in a city over time
- the city can expand (urban sprawl)
- Population increase (urbanization) as more people moving to city
-Expansion of commercial / services / houses / industry

Describe how the students can find the height of buildings

- Go to fieldwork area
- Count number of storeys OR measure distance from building and measure angle to top of
building to calculate height OR look at plans / records / documents that show height
- Calculate average number of storey / average height
-Record number of storeys / height of buildings on transect diagram / map / plan / chart / table
-Plot results on a bar / pie / divided bar graph
- Compare results

Reasons why building height varies in different areas of a city

-Demand for land can vary
-Value for land/ cost of land vary
-Less space for buildings mean they have to be high while more space means buildings can be lower.
-Government or planning rules limiting height/zoning laws.
-Different land uses
-Nature of foudations/ground may vary.

How to investigate housing conditions in the area/town.

- Talk to people who live in settlement (suburb/squatter settlement) / interview them about ....
- Use a questionnaire to get information about housing conditions
- Take photos (of different houses to show varying conditions)
- Collect secondary data from internet / local government records / census
- Make a blog to get peoples’ opinions about conditions
- Make a podcast / video to show housing conditions
- Draw field sketches (of houses) and label them to show conditions
- Do a housing quality survey / bi-polar survey

NN2023
- Count / tally different types of building materials / number of brick-built houses
- Observe / look at / make notes on / write a description of / walk round something e.g. housing
conditions

Traffic/pedestrian count
How to carry out a field work task to find out the number of pedestrians/traffic in the CBD
Planning
-When to do the count/several times a day
- How long to do each count
- All start to count at the same time
-Count for same length of time
-Decide where to count/location of counting points/choose sites
- How many different counting points to have.
-Do it as a group or pairs
-Count on more than one day/weekdays and weekends/different days
-Use recording sheet

Carrying out the survey

- specify the jobs of student in each group eg two students count or one student shouts out data
and another student records it / one student counts one way and the other student counts the other
etc
- Use equipment such as stopwatch / counter / clicker / timer
- Synchronise timing / start and finish at same time
- Use tally method / record on tally sheet

Ways which can make traffic survey data more reliable.

- Use a stopwatch to get exact time
- Count for same length of time
- Survey all locations at same time
- More than one student to count / record at each location
- Use a tally method
- Use a clicker/counter

NN2023
- Take more readings and average/take readings on different days/seasons

Sphere of influence
It is an area served by a settlement or service.
Bigger settlements usually have a larger sphere of influence because:
- they provide high order services/high order goods
-they provide comparison goods
-they have many/larger variety of services/big choice/lots of shops/larger stores/more shops/more
services
-they provide specialised services/specialised goods
-they provide specific functions e.g. administration, business, tourism, university, bank/people go to
work there
-they have easy access/good road or rail links/good transport links
-There are few big settlements
- People travel further/long way to buy the goods/infrastructure

Hypothesis: Height of buildings decrease as distance from centre increases

Count number of storeys of buildings along a transect
Get the average if there are buildings with different number of storey in same section
Record number of storeys per section / building on transect diagram
Do this along different transects / roads from centre
Plot a graph to show average number of storeys / number of building with each number of
storeys along the transect
Compare results of different roads to see if they support hypothesis

Hypothesis: Land use becomes more residential as distance from centre increases
-Record the ground floor land
-use of buildings along a transect
Do this along different transects / roads from centre
Classify different types of land use
Plot the classified data on a map showing the transects / roads from centre

NN2023
 Compare results of different roads to see if they support hypothesis

Hypothesis: Environmental quality improves as distance from centre increases

Devise an environmental quality index
Survey building condition, open space, noise, air pollution along a transect
Decide whether to survey individually or in a group
Decide when would be best time to do the survey
Plot the results on graphs to show change in environmental scores along transects / roads from
centre
Compare results of different roads to see if they support hypothesis

Evaluating hypotheses
For each hypotheses:
1. State whether it is true, partially true or false.
2. Give a reason for your answer
3. Use statistics to support your answer
4. State any anomalies
5. Support anomalies using figures (data)

How surveys can be improved

r two hours

Exam Tip

 Every model is a simple representation and applies to virtually all urban areas
across the globe, BUT each zone varies in character, use and people depending on
circumstances and where they are found.

NN2023
  In LEDC cities, the urban fringe has illegal squatter settlements or shanty towns as
its 'housing estates'.
 But, in MEDC cities, the poorer zones are the inner city with industry at the fringes,
for ease of access to motorways.
 Gentrification and redeveloped in inner cities are more common in MEDC cities
 Same features but different characteristics/uses.

Bid-rent theory

 Also known as 'distance decay theory', where the price and demand for land
change as the distance from the CBD increases
 Different land uses will compete for desirable plots to maximize their profits
 Accessibility increases the potential for more customers
 There is a trade-off between accessibility and the cost of the land
 The closer to the CBD the more desirable land is to retail and the higher the price
charged/paid
 Industry cannot compete with high prices moving further away from CBD
 Residential land is outpriced across the zones, but competition is less so value
decreases as more space become available

Bid-Rent Theory

NN2023
NN2023