2. FACTORS AFFECTING THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF SETTLEMENTS
• Physical Factors
- Water supply: wet point settlements, spring line settlements
- Land: dry land; dry point settlements
- Shelter
• Health Factors
• Social Factors
• Security Factors: defence
3. Rural Settlements (farms, hamlets, villages) Urban Settlements (towns and cities)
Predominant employment in agricultureor forestry Predominant employment in commerce, services and
manufacturing
Land use character, i.e., open land between settlements Congested settlements, particularlynear the centreof
the city, where most commercial activities tend to
operate
Social homogeneity, e.g common customs, preservation
of religion, the idea of extended family, mutual
exchange of labour
Social heterogeneity
Density of populationis relatively low Higher density of population
Higher proportionof old peopleand children;young
peoplemigrate to urban areas for employment
Higher proportionof young married couplewith young
children
Mostly the village is original place of people Large proportion of peopleborn outside the urban area
Difference between Rural and Urban Settlements
4. Types of Settlement
Settlements are divided into two broad categories:
1. Rural Settlements
2. Urban Settlements
1. Rural Settlements:
• Commonly classified according to their pattern, shape and form
• Functional classification of rural settlements is often difficult since there is usually not
much variation to be found
• Criteria of classification cannot be universal
i) Compact or nucleated settlement
ii) Dispersed settlements
iii) Hamleted /Fragmented settlements
5. 1. Compact or nucleated settlement
• Settlements in which all the dwellings are built in close proximity to each other without much-
intervening space
• Settlements of this type develop in plain areas with fertile soils (based on farming and allied
activities). Huge population living at one point can be fed by the land surrounding the settlement
• Mostly found in highly productive alluvial plains like the Indo-Gangetic Plains, the Hwang Ho
Valley of China, and the Valley of Nile.
• Houses are compact and congested with narrow plains
• Overall size of nucleated settlements reflects the land fertility
6.
7. Dispersed Settlements (Scattered):
• When all the dwellings in a settlement are not located at one point close to each other, and they are separated from
one anotherby large open spaces
• Generally found in hills, plateausand grasslands.
• These are found in areas where it is necessary for the farmer should live on his own land.
• A maximum degree of dispersal is observed when peoplesettle down on their agricultural plotsor farms, building
individual homesteads
• Also found in areas of extreme climates or inferior qualities of land in mountainousareas (livestock rearing is
practised) eg USA, Canada, Australia
• Also developed in areas where the amount of rainfall is high and water is available everywhere
• Steppegrassland of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan etc., Prairies, pampas, downs, and velds are regions of dispersed
settlements
• Dispersed settlementsrange from a scattered to an isolated pattern.
8.
9. Hamleted Settlements
• Sometimes a settlement is divided into a number of clusters or hamlets, all located at a little distance
from the main settlement. These type of settlements are called fragmented settlements
• Hamlets are tiny settlements, fragmented into several small units.
• collection of houses, perhaps centred around a few farms. .
• On the basis of their socioeconomic condition two sub–types of hamlets may be distinguished.
Traditional Hamlet and latifundium type.
• Traditional Hamlet belongs to primitive people or aboriginal tribes like those of Tharus, Bhills etc. The
latifundium-type hamlets are associated with agricultural farm estates or plantations.
