2. Introduction:
More than "one billion human beings still lack
adequate shelter. They are living in unacceptable
conditions of poverty” thus reports the UN
Habitat Agenda, in a specific context.
The vast majority of these people live in
developing countries and an increasing number of
people live in urban areas.
2
3. 3
Indeed, the sprawling informal settlements and
slums of developing countries are the most visual
manifestations of poverty itself.
According to an old UN-HABITAT report, some
924 million people were living in slums and
informal settlements during 2001 all over
the globe.
4. 4
This is a major reason why the improvement of
living conditions of slum dwellers was identified
as a major target area in the Millennium
Declaration, adopted by world leaders in 2000.
It is here, the subject of settlement geography
plays an important role.
The primary aim of studying settlement
geography is to acquaint with the spatial and
structural characteristics of human settlements
under varied environmental conditions.
5. 5
It is also to enable people to diagnose special
issues related to rural and urban settlements.
An understanding of this subject will certainly
help to develop the socio-economic well-being of
human communities and planning of human
settlements.
The subject of settlement Geography contains 5
major areas of study as:
1. Definition of Rural and urban settlements-
merits and limitations
6. 6
2.Settlement site and structure- Internal
morphology and external form, field patterns,
functions and house-types.
3.Spatial organization- size, spacing and hierarchy
of settlements, emergence and characteristics of
urban settlements.
4.Settlement-environment relationship- global and
regional pattern, policies and programmes.
5.Salient Features of Human settlement in India.
7. 7
1. DEFINITION OF RURAL AND URBAN
SETTLEMENTS- MERITS AND LIMITATIONS
Human beings in the process of settling, occupy a
land and construct a structure for shelter.
Human settlement means cluster of dwellings of
any type or size where human beings live. For this
purpose, people may construct houses and
command some area or territory as their economic
support-base.
8. 8
Urban settlements are generally compact and
larger in size. They are engaged in a variety of
non-agricultural, economic and administrative
functions. They are functionally linked to all rural
areas around them. Thus, they are connected
directly as well as indirectly with the villages and
also with each other.
Urban geography deals with the study of the site,
evolution, morphology, spatial pattern, and
classification of towns. Historically, three themes
may be distinguished:
9. a)the quantitative, descriptive approach,
establishing the spatial organization of the city;
b)the behavioural method, emphasizing the
decision‐making process within the perceived
environment; and
c)the radical tradition, which stresses not only the
spatial inequalities within a city and the inequitable
distribution of resources, but suggests strategies to
remedy these inequalities. Some geographers look
for diversity of the urban form, modelling urban
morphologies.
9
10. This subdiscipline of geography examines the
places we live, the structure of our cities, and the
pattern of cities on the landscape.
Urban geography is generally categorized as part
of human or cultural geography and is closely
related to economic geography, transportation
geography, and rural geography.
Urban geography is the study of areas which have
a high concentration of buildings and
infrastructure.
10
11. 11
These are areas where the majority
of economic activities are in the secondary sector
and tertiary sectors. They often have a high
population density.
The basic differences between urban and rural
settlements are:
a) The rural settlement derive their life support
or
basic economic needs from land based materials
and manufacturing of finished goods on the one
hand and a variety of services on the other.
12. 12
b)Cities act as nodes of economic growth.
Urban settlements provide goods and services to
the people of rural settlements and in turn, the
rural settlements provide food and raw
materials. This functional relationship takes place
through transport and communication network.
c)Rural people are less mobile and therefore social
relations among them are intimate.
13. 13
In urban areas, on the other hand, way of life is
complex and fast, and social relations are formal.
d) Rural settlements are small in size because
they depend on extensive land for cultivation,
whereas, urban settlements are large and compact.
There are three factors and conditions responsible
for having different types of settlements in rural
areas in India.
14. 14
They are
1)Physical factors
2)Cultural and ethnic factors
3)Security factors.
The physical factors include nature of terrain,
altitude, climate and availability of water.
The cultural and ethnic factors include, caste and
tribal structure and Religion.
The security factors include, defense from
invasions and wild animals.
15. Factors affecting settlement location are:
a)Water supply
b)Building materials
c)Dry point for construction
d)Flat land
e)Fertile land
f)Bridging point
g)Defense settlements.
The study of settlement patterns is one of the most
important aspects of urban geography.
15
16. Settlements can range in size from a small village
with a few hundred residents to a metropolitan
city of over one million people.
Geographers often study the reasons behind why
such cities develop where they do and what
factors lead to their becoming a large city over
time or remaining as a small village.
16
17. Some of the reasons behind these patterns are
thought of in terms of the area's site and its
situation - two of the most important concepts in
the study of urban geography.
2. SETTLEMENT SITE AND STRUCTURE-
Settlement site is the actual land in which a
settlement is built upon.
Situation is the environment / land surrounding
the site.
17
18. The site is the actual location of a settlement on
the earth and is composed of the physical
characteristics of the landscape specific to the
area.
Site factors include things like landforms ,
climate, vegetation types, availability of water,
soil fertility, minerals, and even wildlife.
The site of an area can also create challenges for
its population and the small Himalayan nation of
Bhutan is a good example of this.
18
19. Located within the world's highest mountain
range, the terrain of the country is extremely
rugged and hard to get around.
Situation is defined as the location of a place
relative to its surroundings and other places.
Factors included in an area's situation include the
accessibility of the location, the extent of a place's
connections with another, and how close an area
may be to raw materials if they are not located
specifically on the site.
19
20. Though its site has made living in the nation
challenging, Bhutan's situation has allowed it to
maintain its policies of isolation as well as its own
highly separated and traditionally religious
culture.
As nations around the world continue to develop,
their sites and situations will play a large role in
whether or not they will be successful.
Today's ease of transportation and new
technologies like the Internet are bringing nations
closer together.
20
21. The physical landscape of an area as well as its
location in relation to its desired market will still
play a large role in whether or not such areas will
grow to become the next great world city.
It is under these concepts, the site and situation
are analysed under this subject.
Urban- Concept of site and situation Defense
sites
Trade oriented locations Gateway locations
Local environmental feature
21
22. 22
Rural- Concept of site and situation
Defensive sites
Resource-oriented locations
Local environmental features.
Internal morphology and external form,
A. Clustered rural settlements
Nucleated village
Street village
Green village Rundling Angerdorf
23. Grid village( checkerboard or rectangular village)
B.Dispersed Rural settlement(farmstead)
C.Semi-clustered rural settlement Hamlet
Loose, irregular village Row village or string
village
D.Unique rural settlement types
Field patterns:
The study of settlement patterns is one of the most
important aspects of urban geography.
23
24. Settlements can range in size from a small village
with a few hundred residents to a metropolitan
city of over one million people.
Geographers often study the reasons behind why
such cities develop where they do and what
factors lead to their becoming a large city over
time or remaining as a small village.
Some of the reasons behind these patterns are
thought of in terms of the area's site and its
situation - two of the most important concepts in
the study of urban geography.
24
25. 25
Pattern refers to the overall structure of
settlement.
Settlement comes under three broad categories of
patterns as
a)Dispersed or scattered pattern
b)Linear pattern
c)Nucleated pattern.
Dispersed pattern refers to the isolated dwellings.
There are farming communities that are
surrounded by their farmlands.
26. 26
In Linear pattern, settlements grow along a
transport route, normally a highway, railway and a
canal.
Nucleated pattern involve settlements that grow
around transport junction. These provide a good
trade and transport possibilities.
Settlement Functions and urban networks
a.Rural, urban settlement functions
b.Specialized functions
c.Urban networks Central place theory
Periodic, rotating market systems.
27. 27
Settlements as functional expressions of
occupancy:
1.Instruments of Social articulation
a.Cultural and administrative centers- capital cities,
civic centers, university towns or campuses,
sports complexes, entertainment districts, tropical
hill stations, cultural centres.
b.Religion – holy communities
2.Instruments of Economic articulation
a.Manufacturing
b.Market centres
28. 28
c. Finance and insurance centers
d. Ports and transport centers
e. Mining settlements
f. Fishing villages
g. Agricultural villages
h. Single family dispersed farm
i.Cross-road hamlets, stores, bars, petrol bunkss
j.Business parks.
29. 29
3.Instruments of Cultural penetration or colonial
penetration
a. Colonial primate cities
b. Rails and mining heads
c. Trading factories
d. Tropical hill stations, resorts
e. Ethnic wards, enclaves
f. Labour camps
g. Plantations
4.Instruments of Leisure
a. Resorts, camps
30. f. Gated communities and compounds
30
b. Retirement communities
c. Spas
d. Entertainment districts
e. Redlight districts
f. Sports complexes
5. Instruments of withdrawal
a. Monasteries
b. Hermitages
c. Prisons
d. Reserved zones
e. Military camps
31. 31
g. Leper colonies
h. Summer camps and retreats
6. Instruments of Medical practice and health
a. Spas
b. Sanitaria
c. medical centers
House types: Folk, popular, High style.
Traditional building materials.
32. settlement in India.
32
Floor plan and layout.
Vaastu and Indian house types are yet another
dimensions in settlement of houses. Mostly they
relate to social customs and rituals. Sun and wind
directions and road alignments,are discussed in
this context.
The type of rural settlements in India is
determined by the extent of built-up area and the
inter-house distance. There are four types of
rural
33. They are:
33
a)Clustered, agglomerated and nucleated
settlement
b)Semi-clustered settlements
c)Hamleted settlement
d)Dispersed settlement.
3. SPATIAL ORGANIZATION- SIZE, SPACING AND
HIERARCHY OF SETTLEMENTS, EMERGENCE AND
CHARACTERISTICS OF URBAN SETTLEMENTS.
Geography has five major themes:
a)Location
b)Place
34. c) Human-Environment Interaction
d) Movement
e) Region.
Most geographic study begins with learning the
location of places. Location can be absolute or
relative.
Absolute location provides a definite reference to
locate a place.
34
35. The reference can be latitude and longitude, a
street address, or even the Township and Range
system.
Relative location describes a place with respect to
its environment and its connection to other places.
Place describes the human and physical
characteristics of a location.
Physical characteristics include a description such
things as the mountains, rivers, beaches,
topography, and animal and plant life of a place.
35
36. Human characteristics include the human-
designed cultural features of a place, from land
use and architecture to forms of livelihood and
religion to food and folk ways to transportation
and communication networks.
This theme considers how humans adapt to and
modify the environment. Humans shape the
landscape through their interaction with the land;
this has both positive and negative effects on the
environment.
36
37. Humans move, a lot.
In addition, ideas, fads, goods, resources, and
communication all travel distances. This theme
studies movement and migration across the planet.
Region divides the world into manageable units
for geographic study. Regions have some sort of
characteristic that unifies the area. Regions can be
formal, functional, or vernacular.
Formal regions are those that are designated by
official boundaries, such as cities, states, counties,
and countries.
37
38. For the most part, they are clearly indicated and
publicly known.
Functional regions are defined by their
connections. For example, the circulation area for
a major city area is the functional region of a
newspaper .
Most of these themes are considered in human
settlement.
Settlement hierarchy starts from isolated
dwellings, move up to Hamlets, then to villages,
then grow as towns and then become cities.
38
39. 39
As we move up in this settlement hierarchy, the
number and range of services and functions
provided get increased. But there will be an
increase in size and sphere of influence.
Urbanisation is an increase in the % or proportion
of people living in urban areas. There are so many
reasons for urbanization like
a)Reduced labor due to mechanization of farming
practices
b)Development of industries in cities need a
labor force & attracting people looking for work
40. c)Better paid jobs exists in cities
d)More basic amenities exist in cities
e)More entertainment options are available in
cities
f)Perception that moving to a city will offer a
higher standard of living, job, education, and
health facilities.
Central place theory is a spatial theory in urban
geography that attempts to explain the reasons
behind the distribution patterns, size, and number
of cities and towns around the world.
40
41. It also attempts to provide a framework by which
those areas can be studied both for historic
reasons and for the locational patterns of areas
today.
Central Place Size and Spacing
Within the central place system, there are five
sizes of communities. The rank order of central
places is:
Hamlet
Village
41
42. Town
42
City
Regional Capital
A hamlet is the smallest and is a rural community
which is too small to be considered a village.
43. 4. SETTLEMENT-ENVIRONMENT RELATIONSHIP-
GLOBALAND REGIONAL PATTERN, POLICIES
AND PROGRAMMES.
The four traditions of geography were originally
espoused by the geographer William D. Pattison.
These four traditions help to define the
discipline of geography into :
1)spatial tradition,
2)area studies tradition,
3)man-land tradition, and
43
44. 4) earth science tradition.
Spatial Tradition (also called Locational
Tradition) deals with Mapping
Spatial analysis
Boundaries and densities Movement and
transportation
Quantitative techniques and tools, such as
computerized mapping and Geographic
Information Systems
Central Place Theory
44
45. Areal distribution
Spatial patterns
Area Studies Tradition (also called Regional
Tradition) deals with
Description of regions or areas World
regional geography International trends
and relationships
How regions are different from one another
The chorographic tradition (regions)
Man-Land Tradition (also called Human-
Environmental, Human-Land, or Culture-
Environment Tradition) deals with
45
46.
Human impact on nature
Impact of nature on humans Natural hazards
Perception of environment Environmentalism
Cultural, political, and population geography
Earth Science Tradition deals with Physical
geography
The lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and
biosphere
Earth-sun interaction
46
47.
Offshoots are geology, mineralogy,
paleontology, glaciology, geomorphology, and
meteorology
The study of the earth as the home to humans.
The Settlement-environment relationship, global
and regional pattern, policies and programmes are
based on these traditions and the need to protect
life from threats.
47
48. 48
5. SALIENT FEATURES OF HUMAN
SETTLEMENT IN INDIA.
The world’s slums are growing, and growing, with
the number people living in such dire conditions
now at the 1 billion mark – making up 32 per
cent of the global urban population, according to
UN-HABITAT’s new Global Report on Human
Settlements.
49. 49
The Challenge of Slums - the crisis is such that
the world will see doubling of this figure in the
next 30 years unless a concerted effort is
undertaken to alleviate the situation.
“The locus of global poverty is moving towards
cities, a
process now recognised as the
urbanisation of poverty,” said Mr. Kofi
Annan in
a foreword to the report.
50. 50
“Without concerted action on the part of the
municipal authorities, national governments, civil
society actors and the international community,
the number of slum dwellers is likely to increase
in most developing countries.
And if no serious action is taken, the number of
slum dwellers worldwide is projected to rise over
the next 30 years to about 2 billion.”
In developing regions, slum dwellers account for
43 per cent of the population in contrast to about 6
per cent in more developed regions.
51. 51
“Slums represent the worst of urban poverty and
inequality. Yet the world has the resources, know-how
and power to reach the target established in the
Millennium Declaration.
It is my hope that this report, and the best practises it
identifies, will enable all actors involved to overcome the
apathy and lack of political will that have been a barrier
to progress, and move ahead with greater determination
and knowledge in our common effort to help the world’s
slum dwellers to attain lives of dignity, prosperity and
peace,” says Mr. Annan.
52. 52
Since it first appeared in the 1820s, the word slum
has been used to identify the poorest quality
housing, and the most unsanitary conditions; a
refuge for marginal activities including crime,
‘vice’ and drug abuse; a likely source for many
epidemics that ravaged urban areas.
It is estimated that 69% of Indians (690 million
people) lack access to adequate sanitation.
A lack of sanitation also impacts on the local
environment and water supply.
53. 53
Municipal corporations in India are traditionally
responsible for providing sanitation services,
however rapid urban population growth and
limited finances have made this a challenging
task.
The following are the statistics of rural and
urban population in India.
India had the second largest urban system in the
world, with 310 million urban population and
5,161 cities and towns, the urbanization was
characterized by widespread poverty, poor urban
infrastructure, and environmental degradation.
54. 54
Less than 60 percent of the households in India’s
cities have sanitation facilities, and less than half
have tap water on their premises.
About 40 million people are also estimated to live
in slums.
Geography of settlements is a promising branch of
study with traditional concepts and modern
approaches.
