Patterns of Settlement (Cambridge International IGCSE Geography)

Patterns of Settlements

Spec point — 1.5.1 · Explain the patterns of settlement

Categorising settlements

• A settlement is a place where people live and carry out a range of activities—trade, manufacturing, agriculture, etc.

• They can be categorised through their pattern

• However, there are other factors that influence settlements, such as their:

  • shape or form
  • site and situation
  • function and hierarchy
  • change and growth: modern-day settlement patterns are changing due to population change, technological developments, changing lifestyles and expanding urban limits (rise of the megacities and urban sprawl)

Pattern

• Settlements come in different shapes and sizes called patterns and the physical geography of an area dictates these patterns
• These patterns range from isolated buildings in rural regions to urban megacities of over 10 million people
• Urban towns, cities, conurbations and megacities are usually densely populated over a smaller area
• Rural towns and fringe areas are usually densely populated over a larger area
• Villages and hamlets usually have a lower population density and smaller settled areas

Settlement Patterns

Form or shape?

• When it comes to describing the pattern, both mean the same thing—it is how the settlement is laid out

• A river, railway, or major road, for example, would support linear growth along this route to bring in trade

  • A linear settlement will also form because of poor drainage or the position of a mountain

• Circular shapes grow around a central feature, like a village green or lake, and are set up so that the middle is still easy to get to

• When several roads meet and homes are built along those roads, they make a star- shaped settlement

• T-form settlements happen where two roads meet

• Y-form towns happen where two roads meet, and homes are built along these roads

• Cruciform shapes happen at cross-roads, where homes group together (nucleate) and spread out in all four directions

• Cross-shaped is like a cruciform, but the houses will line up along the road instead of being clustered around it

Diagram showing various settlement patterns

• Dispersed

  • Where isolated houses or farms are spread out in fields or along roads instead of all being in one place
  • Found in rural areas with few people, like the Sahel region of Africa, the outback of Australia, or the mountainous parts of Scotland and Wales
  • In England in the 1600s and 1700s, settlements were dispersed because big rural estates were broken up
  • Extreme weather—too hot, wet, cold, or dry—also leads to dispersed villages because it makes settlement growth less likely

• Linear

  • Because of the way the land is shaped, villages tend to line up along a river or trade and transport route

• Nucleated

  • These form when a lot of towns are close together around a central feature like a church, a village green, a crossroads, or something else

  • Further out, there are fewer buildings. These small towns are called hamlets or villages, based on their size and purpose

  • There are many reasons for the development of nucleated settlements, such as:

    • defence
    • trade
    • co-operative community: agriculture, water, work
    • floodplain: safer to group on a hilltop

Exam Hint Make sure you can define the terms urban and rural. You might think it is easy, but as settlements change, so does their position in the hierarchy.

• Rural: an area with less than 10,000 people living within its boundaries
• Urban: an area with more than 10,000 people living within its boundaries

This use of a figure helps to keep the definition clearer and it is easier to discuss the types of settlements found within.

• Rural: dispersed, hamlet, village and small market town
• Urban: large towns, cities, conurbations and megacities