Settlement

Definition:
A settlement can be simply defined as a place where people stay. This can be a
small isolated dwelling unit, or it can be a large village, or it can be a city,
and indeed a large urban area.

Factors influencing the location of settlements

There are physical, economic, social, political, and sometimes cultural factors
which determine where people stay. Before we can look at these factors we need to
understand the meaning of the following terms:
a) Site of a settlement.
b) Situation of a settlement.

Site of a settlement

This is the actual point, that is, land on which a settlement is located.

Situation of a settlement

The relationship between a settlement and its surrounding areas is what constitutes
the situation of a settlement.

Physical factors

Water supply – people tend to settle in areas where there is a good supply of water
and they avoid areas where there is less or two much water.

Defense – This was the case in the past when settlements were located on highland
areas for defensive purposes.

Relief – generally, settlements tend to be located on low lying areas because it is

easy to build here and for purposes of agriculture.

Soil – where the soils are good, people are many, for example, the Nile River
Valley in Egypt has good and fertile soils hence many people settle here. People
will avoid areas where the soils are poor and infertile and where it’s generally
rocky and mountainous.

Temperature – when it is too hot or too cold people find it difficult to stay in
such places.

Rainfall – the rainfall should just be adequate for the seeds of the people. It
should not be too much or too little.

Economic factors

- Availability of resources, for example, minerals will attract a lot of

people such that those places with plenty minerals are characterized with many
people, for example, mining towns which have grown and continue growing because of
the availability of minerals.
- Fuel supply: In the past when wood and coal were, the main sources of fuel
or power, settlements would locate at or close to them. Communication: -Even now
people want to stay at or near lines of communication such as route centers like
roads. This is because lines of communication enable the easy movement of people
from one place to another.

Social and cultural factors

Sometimes people who have a common history and ties tend to settle close to each
other. This may be because there is a lot that they share or because there is
security that they feel when they are settled close to one another. For example,
the Fengu people at Mbembesi near Bulawayo city.

Political factors and government policy

The government may decide to settle people in certain places for certain
reasons. For example, during the colonial era people were removed by the colonial
government from places with fertile soils and thrown into the margins of the
country such as in certain places in Gokwe and Zambezi Valley where the soils were
and are still poor. After independence in 1980 up to now the government has
attempted to correct this historical injustice by resettling people on areas where
it’s good for farming.

Settlement patterns

The following are the common types of rural settlement patterns.

a) Haphazard / Dispersed / Scattered settlements

They it usually develops in areas where the soils are poor and as a result people
settle as far away as possible from each other to maximize on land which could be
used for agriculture. So, the homesteads are dispersed.


e.g. commercial farming area

b) Nucleated settlements: – usually develops where there is a limited

resource in a low-lying area with fertile soils, where people will cluster on this
area, hence buildings are closer to each other. It can also develop where there is
a shortage of land.

c) Linear settlement: – this is by far the most common settlement

pattern which develops because of both economic and physical factors, for example,
people settle along a river for purposes of water supply and they also settle along
the road for purposes of transport and communication.

e.g. along a road, river valley or along a range of mountains
d) Radial – dwelling units radiate outwards from a central point. This
kind of settlement pattern would develop from a growth point or service center
where roads go in different directions from this service center as shown below:

Urbanization

This is a process which describes an increase in the proportion of the number of

people who stay in urban areas in a country. For instance, if many people in a
country stay in urban areas, such a country will be urbanized.

Causes of urbanization

Why do increasing numbers of people stay in urban areas? The following is an

answer to this question.
- Mechanization of agriculture: – if machines replace human labour in rural
areas, the farm laborer will be unemployed, hence they will move to urban areas
leading to urbanization.
- Industrialization: – the growth of industries in urban areas has created
the need for labour such that people move from rural to urban areas.
- Increased education: – the more people are educated, the more they prefer
to stay in urban areas where they believe they can get jobs.
- Increased transport and communication: – this has led to a reduction in
distance between urban and rural areas. Because of improved and efficient transport
and communication systems, urban areas are no longer unreachable like was the case
in the past, hence many people are now staying in these areas.
- Services are better and more in urban areas which makes people prefer
staying here than in rural areas.
- Natural increase of population: – People staying in urban areas are
reproducing themselves leading to an increased rate of urbanization.

Results of urbanization

In developing countries like Zimbabwe, the results of urbanization have been more
negative than being positive.

- Overpopulation: – this is because there has been an increased number of

people in relation to the available resources in urban areas.
- Overcrowding: – especially in old residential zones like Makokoba in
Bulawayo and Mbare in Harare where many people are crowded in smaller houses.
- Unemployment: – the many young and sometimes middle-aged people who move
from rural areas in Zimbabwe to the two main towns Harare and Bulawayo in the hope
of finding jobs have found life tough in urban areas. This is because jobs are not
there, hence they become unemployed. This lack of employment especially in Harare
and Bulawayo has contributed to a lot of social ills like prostitution, increase in
the number of pickpockets. Significant unemployment in Harare and Bulawayo has led
to the growth of the informal sector such as street vending and flea markets. It
is at these informal sector sites that lot of illegal and sometimes criminal
activities are done.
- Pressure on public facilities and services: – increased numbers of people
have led to serious pressure on hospitals and schools which are failing to
cope. Primary and secondary schools in towns may have an excess number of pupils
because of urbanization, so is the case in the clinics and hospitals.
- Congestion: – this refers to both the vehicles and human traffic. In
Harare, especially during the morning and evening rush periods, there is a lot of
congestion of vehicles and people and this shows that there is an excess of people
- Pollution – in Bulawayo the most evident form of pollution is land
pollution where garbage is dumped where it is not supposed to be. This may
indicate the fact that the city council is not coping since there are many people
relative to the capacity to properly collect and dispose garbage.
- Shortage of housing is a serious result of over urbanization and it is
shown by an increasing number of tenant’s common called (lodgers). These people
cannot get accommodation because there are just too many. This shortage of housing
has also led to the growth of squatter settlements in Bulawayo such as those in
Killarney and Ngozi Mine near Cowdray Park. These people have decided to stay, in
these shacks because they have nowhere else to stay because they cannot afford
proper accommodation.

Solutions to the urban housing problems in Zimbabwe

a) Site and service scheme (stands): – people buy these stands and
develop them at their own time, for example, Emganwini and Cowdray Park in Bulawayo
b) Building societies: -they have also tried to provide housing in
Zimbabwe by helping people to purchase houses: -
c) Operation Hlalani Kuhle / Garikai: – this helped many people
throughout the country to get stands and houses and this has helped reduce the
number of homeless people.

Urban structure

As cities grow, they do so forming different types of shapes and geographers have
tried to explain how cities grow. Because of this, three theories can be
identified.

a) The Concentric model by (Burgess in 1924):

b) The Sector Model by (Hoyt in 1939)
c) The Multi Nuclei Model by (Harns – Ulman in 1945)

Concentric Model

It states that a city grows outwards in the form of rings or circles of land use
around the central part of the city (Central Business District [CBD]). This is
shown in the fig below:

Concentric model- Burgess


Zone 1. Central Business District (CBD)
Zone 2. Light industries, old private houses and residential flats
(immigrant ghettos)
Zone 3. High Density residential (Low class housing)
Zone 4. Medium density (middle class housing)
Zone 5. Low density (high class housing)
Zone 6. The commuter zone
However, it is very rare to find a city with circular or uniform land-uses around
the CBD.

Sector Model

It states that a city grows outwards in the form of sectors of land-use, for
example, in Bulawayo there is a sector of industrial land-use in the Belmont area,
a sector of high density residential in the western areas, a sector of low density
in the eastern parts of the city and a sector of medium density in the northern
suburbs of the city.

The diagram below illustrates this theory

Major transport roots

(1) CBD
(2) Wholesale and light industry
(3) Working class
(4) Middle class
(5) High class and commuter zone

Multi Nuclei

It states that a city grows from several CBDs, not one. For example, in Bulawayo we
have smaller CBDs like Hillside, Bellevue, Ascot, Nkulumane and Entumbane shopping
complexes.
- According to this theory, the city will grow from these several smaller
CBDs (nuclei) till one large city is formed.
The diagram below shows this theory:

1) CBD
2) Wholesale light manufacturing
3) Low class residential
4) Medium class residential
5) High class residential
6) Heavy manufacturing
7) Outlying business District
8) Residential suburb
9) Industrial suburb

This theory is realistic and can fit the structure of those big cities in developed
countries.

When we study these theories of urban structure, we should try and apply them to
cities of which we have personal knowledge.

Urban sphere of influence