BOOK1 CH10 Human Settlements (Summary)
BOOK1 FUNDAMENTALS OF HUMAN GEOGRAPHY
CH10 HUMAN SETTLEMENTS
SUMMARY
Rural - Urban Dichotomy (Difference)
The human settlements can be differentiated in terms of rural and urban, population size, nature of activities, structure, functions, etc. There is no uniformity in the differentiation of the settlements. But, the basic difference between towns and villages is that in town the main occupation of the people is related to secondary and tertiary sectors, on the other side, in villages people are engaged in primary activities.
Types And Patterns Of Settlements
Compact of Nucleated Settlements - In these settlements, large number of houses are built very close to each other and they develop along the river valleys and in fertile plains. There are close knit communities and people here share common occupation.
Dispersed Settlements - In these settlements, house are spaced for apart and often interspersed with fields such as place of worship, a market that binds the settlements together.
Rural Settlements
Water supply - Rural settlements are located near water bodies such as rivers, lakes and springs as water is needed for irrigation, fishing, navigation and drinking.
Land - Fertile lands suitable for agriculture are places of human settlements like villages in rolling countryside in Europe avoiding swampy areas, low lying river valleys and coastal plains suited for wet rice cultivation in South - East Asia.
Upland - Dry points like uplands, terraces, leaves that are not prone to flooding are places of settlements. In tropical countries, people build their houses on stills near marshy lands to protect themselves from flood, insects and animal pests.
Building Material - Settlements are made in those places where building materials are available like cave dwellings in China, mud bricks houses in African Savanna and igloos with ice blocks in polar regions.
Defence - Places that from good defensive site are developed as settlements like defensive hills, islands, etc. In India, forts were built on hills.
Planned Settlements - Planned settlements are constructed by government by providing shelter, water and other infrastructure on acquired lands, e.g canal colonies in Indira Gandhi Canal Command Area in India.
Rural Settlements Patterns
(i) On the basis of setting, the main types are plain and size of villages, plateau villages, coastal villages, forest villages, desert villages, etc.
(ii) On the basis of function, there may be farming villages, fisherman villages, lumberjack villages, pastoral villages, etc.
(iii) On the basis of forms/shapes of the settlement, the villages are developed in geometrical forms and shapes such as:
Linear Pattern
Rectangular Pattern
Circular Pattern
Star like Pattern
Problems of Rural Settlements
1) Rural settlements in developing countries are large in number and have poor infrastructure. There is inadequate supply of water in these settlements.
2) Water borne diseases like cholera, jaundice etc. are a common problem. There is lack of irrigation facilities, problem of drought and flood in rural settlements. Inadequate sanitation facility, toilet and garbage disposal facilities cause health related problems.
3) Proper housing and separate shed for animals are not there. Rural settlements mostly lack metalled roads and modern communication network Health centers and educational institutions are less in number.
Classification of Urban Settlements
Common basis of classification are:
1) Population Size - It refer to the lower limit of the population for a settlement to be designated as urban. It is not universal and varies from country to country. In Columbia, a settlement having, population of 1500 is termed as urban, in Argentina and Portugal it is 2000,2500 in USA and Thailand, 5000 in India, 30,000 in Japan, 250 in Denmark, Sweden and Finland, 300 in Iceland, and 1000 in Canada and Venezuela.
2) Occupational Structure - In some countries, the major economic activities along with population size designate a settlement as urban. In Italy, settlements called as urban if more than 50% of its economically productive population is engaged in non - agriculture pursuits. India has sets its criterion at 75%.
3) Administration - Administration set up also designates a settlement as urban in some countries. In India, if an area has a municipality, notified area council, then it is considered urban.
4) Location - Location of urban centers is examined with reference of their function, e.g. strategic towns offering natural defence, mining towns industrial towns, tourist centers, that can provide proper living condition have the potential to develop into urban centres.
Function of Urban Centers
On the basis of the functions, urban settlements are classified into the following:
Administrative towns: National capitals having administrative offices like New Delhi, Canberra, London, Beijing, etc are called adminsistrative towns. Provincial (sub national) towns can also have administrative functions, e.g Victoria (British Columbia), Albany (New York), rtc.
Trading and Commercial Towns: Agriculture market towns like winnipeg, banking and financial centers like Frankfut, large inland centers like Manchester, transport nodes like Lahore, Baghdad, Agra are important trading centers.
Cultural Towns : Pilgrimage places like jerusalem, varanasi, jagannath puri, etc are considered cultural towns. Other centers like health and recereation (Miami), industrial (Pittsburgh and Jameshedpur), mining, quarrying, (Dhanbad) and transport (Singapore and Mughal Sarai) are also urban settlements.
Classification of Towns on The basis of Forms
Addis Ababa - Established in 1878, it is capital of Ethiopia and is located in hill valley topography. It is a large nodal center, has large markets and government headquarters. The city has witnessed rapid growth and expansion in all direcctions.
Canberra - Established in 1912, it is the capital of Australia. It is a garden city with wide open spaces, parks and gardens. Initially, it was built to accommodate 25,000 people but now it has expanded to accommodate many satellite towns.
Types of Urban Settlemnts
Towns - These can be well understand with reference to "village" specific function such as manufacturing, retail and wholesale trade, and professional services exist in towns.
City - They are larger than towns, have greater number of economic function, tend have transport terminals, major financial institution and administrative offices. in the words of lewis mumford. "The city is in fact the physical form of the highest and most complex type of associative life".
Conurbation - The term conurbation was coined by Patrick Geddes in 1915. This is applied to a large area of urban development that resulted from the merging of originally separate town or cities like greater London and Tokyo.
Megalopolis - Popularised by jean gottman (1957), this signifies super metropolitan region extending as union of conurbations, e.g - urban landscape stretching from Boston to Washington.
Million City - It refers to a city whose population reaches more than one million , eg by Paris in 1850 and by 1950 there were around 80 such cities.
Distribution of Mega Cities - The number of mega cities or megalopolis has been rising rapidly. The number of mega cities is 25 currently. At present, the number of mega cities is 25 currently. At present, the number of million cities in Europe is 58, 206 in Asia, 79 in North and Central America, 43 in South America, 46 in Africa and 6 in Australia. They are also inadequate in infrastructure such as electricity sewage, disposal, health and education facilities.
Problems of Urban Settlements
Economic Problems - The decreasing employment opportunities in rural areas push the unskilled and semi - skilled labour force to migrate to urban areas which is already saturated.
Socio - Cultural Problems - Cities in developing countries suffer from several social ills. Lack of financial resources fail to create adequate social infrastructure. Lack of employment and education tends to aggravate the crime rates. Male selective migration to the urban areas disorts the sex ratio in these cities.
Environmental Problems - Urban settlements in developing countries suffer from improper sewage system, massive use of fuel that cause air pollution. Lack of clean drinking water, dumping of untreated wastes and huge concrete structures that aggravate the environmental problems.
Health City
The World Health Organisation suggest that a healthy city should have clean and safe environment, meet the basic need of all his inhabitants, involve the community in local government and provide easily accessible health service.
Urban Strategy
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) outline the urban strategy that aims to increase shelter for urban poor, provision of basic services like primary healthcare, drinking water, education, sanitation, government facilities, upgrading energy use, alternative transport system and reducing air pollution.
Compact of Nucleated Settlements - In these settlements, large number of houses are built very close to each other and they develop along the river valleys and in fertile plains. There are close knit communities and people here share common occupation.
Dispersed Settlements - In these settlements, house are spaced for apart and often interspersed with fields such as place of worship, a market that binds the settlements together.
Rural Settlements
Water supply - Rural settlements are located near water bodies such as rivers, lakes and springs as water is needed for irrigation, fishing, navigation and drinking.
Land - Fertile lands suitable for agriculture are places of human settlements like villages in rolling countryside in Europe avoiding swampy areas, low lying river valleys and coastal plains suited for wet rice cultivation in South - East Asia.
Upland - Dry points like uplands, terraces, leaves that are not prone to flooding are places of settlements. In tropical countries, people build their houses on stills near marshy lands to protect themselves from flood, insects and animal pests.
Building Material - Settlements are made in those places where building materials are available like cave dwellings in China, mud bricks houses in African Savanna and igloos with ice blocks in polar regions.
Defence - Places that from good defensive site are developed as settlements like defensive hills, islands, etc. In India, forts were built on hills.
Planned Settlements - Planned settlements are constructed by government by providing shelter, water and other infrastructure on acquired lands, e.g canal colonies in Indira Gandhi Canal Command Area in India.
Rural Settlements Patterns
(i) On the basis of setting, the main types are plain and size of villages, plateau villages, coastal villages, forest villages, desert villages, etc.
(ii) On the basis of function, there may be farming villages, fisherman villages, lumberjack villages, pastoral villages, etc.
(iii) On the basis of forms/shapes of the settlement, the villages are developed in geometrical forms and shapes such as:
Linear Pattern
Rectangular Pattern
Circular Pattern
Star like Pattern
Problems of Rural Settlements
1) Rural settlements in developing countries are large in number and have poor infrastructure. There is inadequate supply of water in these settlements.
2) Water borne diseases like cholera, jaundice etc. are a common problem. There is lack of irrigation facilities, problem of drought and flood in rural settlements. Inadequate sanitation facility, toilet and garbage disposal facilities cause health related problems.
3) Proper housing and separate shed for animals are not there. Rural settlements mostly lack metalled roads and modern communication network Health centers and educational institutions are less in number.
Classification of Urban Settlements
Common basis of classification are:
1) Population Size - It refer to the lower limit of the population for a settlement to be designated as urban. It is not universal and varies from country to country. In Columbia, a settlement having, population of 1500 is termed as urban, in Argentina and Portugal it is 2000,2500 in USA and Thailand, 5000 in India, 30,000 in Japan, 250 in Denmark, Sweden and Finland, 300 in Iceland, and 1000 in Canada and Venezuela.
2) Occupational Structure - In some countries, the major economic activities along with population size designate a settlement as urban. In Italy, settlements called as urban if more than 50% of its economically productive population is engaged in non - agriculture pursuits. India has sets its criterion at 75%.
3) Administration - Administration set up also designates a settlement as urban in some countries. In India, if an area has a municipality, notified area council, then it is considered urban.
4) Location - Location of urban centers is examined with reference of their function, e.g. strategic towns offering natural defence, mining towns industrial towns, tourist centers, that can provide proper living condition have the potential to develop into urban centres.
Function of Urban Centers
On the basis of the functions, urban settlements are classified into the following:
Administrative towns: National capitals having administrative offices like New Delhi, Canberra, London, Beijing, etc are called adminsistrative towns. Provincial (sub national) towns can also have administrative functions, e.g Victoria (British Columbia), Albany (New York), rtc.
Trading and Commercial Towns: Agriculture market towns like winnipeg, banking and financial centers like Frankfut, large inland centers like Manchester, transport nodes like Lahore, Baghdad, Agra are important trading centers.
Cultural Towns : Pilgrimage places like jerusalem, varanasi, jagannath puri, etc are considered cultural towns. Other centers like health and recereation (Miami), industrial (Pittsburgh and Jameshedpur), mining, quarrying, (Dhanbad) and transport (Singapore and Mughal Sarai) are also urban settlements.
Classification of Towns on The basis of Forms
Addis Ababa - Established in 1878, it is capital of Ethiopia and is located in hill valley topography. It is a large nodal center, has large markets and government headquarters. The city has witnessed rapid growth and expansion in all direcctions.
Canberra - Established in 1912, it is the capital of Australia. It is a garden city with wide open spaces, parks and gardens. Initially, it was built to accommodate 25,000 people but now it has expanded to accommodate many satellite towns.
Types of Urban Settlemnts
Towns - These can be well understand with reference to "village" specific function such as manufacturing, retail and wholesale trade, and professional services exist in towns.
City - They are larger than towns, have greater number of economic function, tend have transport terminals, major financial institution and administrative offices. in the words of lewis mumford. "The city is in fact the physical form of the highest and most complex type of associative life".
Conurbation - The term conurbation was coined by Patrick Geddes in 1915. This is applied to a large area of urban development that resulted from the merging of originally separate town or cities like greater London and Tokyo.
Megalopolis - Popularised by jean gottman (1957), this signifies super metropolitan region extending as union of conurbations, e.g - urban landscape stretching from Boston to Washington.
Million City - It refers to a city whose population reaches more than one million , eg by Paris in 1850 and by 1950 there were around 80 such cities.
Distribution of Mega Cities - The number of mega cities or megalopolis has been rising rapidly. The number of mega cities is 25 currently. At present, the number of mega cities is 25 currently. At present, the number of million cities in Europe is 58, 206 in Asia, 79 in North and Central America, 43 in South America, 46 in Africa and 6 in Australia. They are also inadequate in infrastructure such as electricity sewage, disposal, health and education facilities.
Problems of Urban Settlements
Economic Problems - The decreasing employment opportunities in rural areas push the unskilled and semi - skilled labour force to migrate to urban areas which is already saturated.
Socio - Cultural Problems - Cities in developing countries suffer from several social ills. Lack of financial resources fail to create adequate social infrastructure. Lack of employment and education tends to aggravate the crime rates. Male selective migration to the urban areas disorts the sex ratio in these cities.
Environmental Problems - Urban settlements in developing countries suffer from improper sewage system, massive use of fuel that cause air pollution. Lack of clean drinking water, dumping of untreated wastes and huge concrete structures that aggravate the environmental problems.
Health City
The World Health Organisation suggest that a healthy city should have clean and safe environment, meet the basic need of all his inhabitants, involve the community in local government and provide easily accessible health service.
Urban Strategy
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) outline the urban strategy that aims to increase shelter for urban poor, provision of basic services like primary healthcare, drinking water, education, sanitation, government facilities, upgrading energy use, alternative transport system and reducing air pollution.
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