SETTLEMENTS

But... What do we exactly

understand as a settlement?

1. SETTLEMENTS• A SETTLEMENT IS A

PLACE WHERE PEOPLE LIVE.

• A SETTLEMENT MAY BE AS SMALL AS A SINGLE HOUSE IN A REMOTE AREA OR AS LARGE AS A MEGA CITY.

• A SETTLEMENT MAY ALSO BE PERMANENT OR TEMPORARY (REFUGEE CAMP). AND A TEMPORARY SETTLEMENT MAY BECOME PERMANENT OVER TIME.

1.ASETTLEMENT SITE AND SITUATION

• The piece of land upon a settlement is built is the settlement site.

• There are many reasons why a site might be chosen for the development of a settlement and some factors will be more important than others. Also, the importance of this factors may vary over time.

What factors do you think

determined the election of these settlement sites?

SETTLEMENT SITE AND SITUATION

The situation of a settlement is its position in relation to the surrounding and physical features, many of which will have an impact on the settlement’s type, size and function.

However, the importance of many of the factors explained before diminish over time as technological advances enable people to overcome difficulties.

For example, a modern settlement does not need to be close to a river because drinking water is now piped to our homes and waterways are no longer important for transport.

1.B SETTLEMENTS AND FUNCTIONS

Most large settlements in MEDCs are multifunctional and perform a range of functions such as retail, education and industry.

However, when settlements first started to grow, most of them had only one distinct function, and others developed as the settlement grew.

EXAMPLES OF FUNCTIONS:

1.C SETTLEMENT HIERARCHIES

If we group and classify a number of settlements according to their size and shape the result is settlement hierarchy.

As you move up the hierarchy, the size of the settlement and the distance between similar sized settlements increases.

The number of services that a settlement provides increases with the settlement size.

SETTLEMENT HIERARCHY

A. SMALL SETTLEMENTS

• They will only provide low order services such as:– post offices– Doctors– Newsagents– Police stations– Shops– Restaurants

B. LARGE SETTLEMENTS

• Large towns, cities and conurbations will provide low and high order services such as:– Leisure centres– Chain stores– Hospitals– Etc.

BUT... WHY IS IT LIKE THIS?

SETTLEMENTS HIERARCHY• Larger settlements and

conurbations have a much larger sphere of influence than smaller ones. This means that they attract people from a wider area because of the facilities they offer.

• Cities such as London, Paris, Madrid or Berlin have a global sphere of influence, whereas a small hamlet or village may only have a sphere of influence of a couple of kilometres.

• Another reason why large settlements have a large sphere of influence is because many of them hold the Government Agencies and other governing departments such as:

– The Parliament– Defence Department– Foreign Office– Treasury Department– Etc.

SETTLEMENT HIERARCHY

• Finally, services such as department stores selling high order goods have higher threshold than those selling low order goods such as newsagents.

• This means they need a higher number of people to support them and make these services profitable, therefore they will only be found in larger settlements.

• Moreover, these kinds of services have a higher threshold because the range of a service or product is determine by the distance people are prepared to travel to purchase it. This range is much higher in items of furniture than a newspaper.

2. URBAN MODELS IN MEDCS AND LEDCS

• In the 20th century we have witnessed a constant growth of cities, which has been especially intensive during the second half of the century.

• The number of people living in cities has increased up to 50% of the world population. Therefore, cities are larger and more populated every year.

RIO DE JANEIROImpressive! Isn’t it?

2.A POPULATION EXPLOSION IN CITIES

• In 1975 there were 11 cities across the world with more than 8 millions citizens. Most of them were in developed countries.

• In the year 2000 there already were 24. Of them only 6 were in developed countries.

• UN population broadcast estimates that by 2015 24 of the 30 largest cities in the world will be in developing countries.

What are the factors and consequences of

this?

TRY TO FIND OUT THE ANSWER IN THIS TEXT

Why do people migrate to cities and what are the consequences of this

according to the text?

POPULATION EXPLOSION IN CITIES• We have seen that the number of cities increase faster in developing

countries. Countries that have more difficulties to provide the basic needs (jobs, housing, drinking water, etc.) to their population.

• Therefore, the chaotic urban sprawl that takes place in many developing countries comes to be another world inequality between MEDCs and LEDCs.

• Moreover in developed countries the urban growth rate tends to decrease, and in some developed countries the number of population living in cities has even decreased. On the contrary, in developing countries this rate is increasing constantly.

• As a result of this, nowadays urban population keeps increasing around the world but is growing twice as fast as in developed countries.

AN UNEVEN GROWTH

• Finally, we have seen that the urban population has rapidly grown during the 20th century but in an uneven way.

• Indeed, nowadays developed countries only hold 35% of the world urban population while the other 65% is in developing countries.

• Therefore, is in developing countries where we can really talk of a population explosion since the 1970s. For example the African urban population which was only of 22 millions in 1950, has grown up to 350 millions by 2005.

• In conclusion we can say that developing countries have taken over from developed countries in urban growth. However, this growth have brought poor conditions and low standards of living in LEDCs cities.

2.B URBAN MODELS IN MEDCs

The burgess or concentric model

THE HOYT MODEL

CBD: CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT• The Central Business

District (CBD) in the city centre is where most business and commerce is located.

Bullring Shopping Centre, Birmingham

THE INNER CITY:

• The inner city is also known as the 'twilight zone'. It is typically found next to the CBD 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.

Terraced houses in Brighton, East Sussex

THE SUBURBS:

• Suburban houses are usually larger than inner city terraces and most have a garden. Typically, they are detached or semi detached and the roads around them are arranged in cul de sacs and wide avenues.

Semi-detached house in Standish, Lancashire

URBAN RURAL FRINGE:

• This is found at the edge of a town or city and is where town meets country. It is common for this area to have a mixture of land uses such as some housing, golf courses, allotments, business parks and airports. Allotments in Ripon, North Yorkshire

2.C URBAN MODELS IN LEDCs

 LEDCs have similar land-use needs to MEDCs, but the pattern of land use in urban areas is different.

THE CBD AND HIGH-CLASS SECTOR• The CBD in an LEDC looks

very similar to a CBD in an MEDC. However, there is likely to be a more dramatic difference between the height of the buildings in the CBD and the height of the buildings in other zones.

• High-class housing can be found around the edge of the CBD and in a spine radiating out towards the edge of the urban area.

SAO PAULO CBD.

SHANTY TOWNS:• The fact that cities in LEDCs

are growing rapidly means that conditions can be poor. There are often great inequalities within LEDC urban areas and they are even more pronounced in LEDCs.

• Some of the worst conditions are found in the shanty towns on the edge of the city, near the CBD or along main transport routes.

SAO PAULO SHANTY TOWN

MAIN PROBLEMS IN SHANTY TOWNS

• Overcrowding - the settlement has a high population density.

• Fires - fires can spread quickly.• Overpopulation - the area does not have enough resources

to support the growing population.• Competition for jobs - jobs are in short supply.• Disease - poor sanitation and limited health care can lead

to the spread of disease.• Lack of space - the newest and poorest arrivals may be

forced to live on the worst quality land.• Infrastructure - services are poor, public transport is

limited and connections to the electricity supply can be limited and sometimes dangerous.

IMPROVING SHANTY TOWNS

• Site and service schemesThese give people the chance to rent or buy a piece of land. The land is connected to the city by transport links and has access to essential services (eg water). People build their own homes using money from a low-interest loan.

• Self-help schemesThese give people the tools and training to improve their homes. Low-interest loans may be used to help people fund these changes. People may be given legal ownership of the land.

• Rural investmentImproving the quality of life and creating greater opportunities in rural areas may prevent people from migrating to urban areas. Investment in rural areas may therefore help to improve conditions in the city as well.

3. Urbanisation in MEDCs

• Urbanisation means an increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas compared to rural areas. An urban area is a built-up area such as a town or city. A rural area is an area of countryside.

• As a country industrialises, the number of people living in urban areas tends to increase. The UK and many other MEDCs urbanised during the 18th and 19th centuries. People migrated from rural areas (due to the mechanisation in farming) to urban areas where there was employment in the new factories. The area of cities known as the inner city developed during this time as rows of terraced housing were built for workers.

3.A Problems of Urbanisation

• Urbanisation can cause problems such as transport congestion, lack of sufficient housing, over-rapid growth and environmental degradation. Many cities display particularly sharp inequalities in housing provision, health and employment.

• Some people try to escape these problems by moving away from the city - a process called counter-urbanisation. Long term, however, the solution must be to make cities more sustainable.

3.B Problems in the CBD

• As more people move to the edge of towns and cities, traffic congestion may get worse. Many people will drive their cars into the city centre to get to work.

• It is compounded by people being brought into city on large roads or motorways. These roads then link up with smaller, older, narrower roads in the city centre. This causes a bottleneck and congestion.

• Some cities have tried to manage this problem by introducing traffic management schemes. These schemes may include:– Park and ride schemes.– Cycle lanes.– Congestion charging schemes, such as those in Durham

and London.– Car-pooling, as used in the USA, to encourage people to

share cars.– Low Emission Zones, as in London.

• Local councils have also tried to make the roads in urban areas safer by introducing traffic calming, pedestrian zones, vehicle-exclusion zones and permit-only parking schemes.

Reducing congestions in cities:

• Park and ride scheme: People park in car parks on the edge of a settlement and catch regular buses into the centre.

• Pedestrian areas: Pedestrianised areas are designated as pedestrian only zones.

• Permit holder parking: This means that people must have a permit to park in that area. This reduces the number of people driving in to towns and cities as parking opportunities are restricted.

Reducing congestions in cities:

• Vehicle exclusion zones: certain types of vehicles are excluded from certain parts of a city, eg large vehicles may not be allowed to enter narrow roads or residential areas.

• Car pooling: people are encouraged to share cars. This has been used in a lot in the USA.

• Traffic calming: roads narrowing and speed bumps make traffic move slower around narrower streets. Narrow roads may restrict the type of vehicle that can enter certain parts of the city.

More Problems in CBD

• Another recent problem that we find in the CBD is the City Centre Retailing Decline: as Out-of-town shopping centres have become more common, shops in the CBD have had to close down. This have left a “hollow” or empty area called the “Doughnut effect” which makes unemployment to rise and can lead to neighbourhoods degradation.

3.C Problems in the inner city

• Inequalities exist in all urban areas. Inequality means extreme differences between poverty and wealth, as well as in people's well-being and access to things like jobs, housing, and education. Inequalities may occur in:– Housing provision– Access to services– Access to open land– Safety and security

• Often people who live in inner-city areas experience a poor quality of life. This is because the inner-city is typically a zone with older housing and declining industry. The diagram below compares the quality of life for someone living in an outer London borough with that of someone who lives in an inner London borough.

Graph showing quality of life in Inner London

Graph showing quality of life in Outer London

• Governments and planners often step in to help redevelop run-down inner-city areas. Inner-city redevelopments may improve the physical environment of the area and improve the quality of housing.

• However, it can also create even greater inequalities because the local residents may not be able to afford to live there anymore. Often the old industrial jobs are replaced by skilled jobs and new people move to the area.

3.D Problems in the urban rural fringe:• Social and demographic changes are leading

to a greater demand for housing. People are living longer, and choosing to marry later, and in recent years there has been a rise in the number of single-parent families. Added to this, Europe is experiencing immigration from other countries.

• The result is an ever-larger number of smaller households, all requiring accommodation.

• Building new affordable homes in urban areas is difficult. Land values are very high and land is in short supply.

• To solve this problem:• A. Some developers are building on sites that

have been built on before. These are called brownfield sites (example: Inner City)

• B. Other developers are building homes on the edge of the city on greenfield sites in the urban rural fringe. Land here is cheaper but greenfield development can cause conflict with local people and create environmental problems.

3.E Sustainable Cities:

• Many people are working towards trying to make cities more sustainable. A sustainable city is that city which offers a good quality of life to current residents but doesn’t reduce the opportunities for future residents to enjoy.

• A sustainable city will grow at a sustainable rate and use resources in a sustainable way.

3.E Key Features of a sustainable city:• Resources and services in the city are accessible to

all.• Public transport is seen as a viable alternative to

cars.• Public transport is safe and reliable.• Walking and cycling is safe.• Areas of open space are safe, accessible and

enjoyable.• Wherever possible, renewable resources are used

instead of non-renewable resources.

3.E Key Features of a sustainable city:• Waste is seen as a resource and is recycled wherever

possible.• New homes are energy efficient.• There is access to affordable housing.• Community links are strong and communities work

together to deal with issues such as crime and security.

• Cultural and social amenities are accessible to all.• Inward investment is made to the CBD.

END