This slideshow covers AICE syllabus content on settlement dynamics. There are various interactive resources and assessments at the end of the presentation. Enjoy!

1. AICE Geography: Settlement Dynamics
by: Orion Moore, Abigail Roos, Melanie Mestre

2. Urban Land Use Models
Burgess Model
• Suggests that cities expand outwards from the central business
district as different rings of land use.
• The oldest part is located at the city center; the newest part is
around the edges of the city.
• Quality and size of housing increases with distance from the CBD;
density of housing decreases with an increase in available space;
buildings are largest in the central area because there is abundant
space and the land values are high.
Hoyt Sector Model
• Suggests that cities develop outwards in sectors along the main
transport routes such as canals, rivers, and roads, and that housing
developed along these routes

3. Urban Land Use Models (cont.)
Land use illustrated in the diagrams
• CBD (Central Business District) - located at the center of the
city, connected to other regions by roads. It contains many
commercial and business activities, shops (shopping malls), and
entertainment.
• Inner city - mixed land use such as small industries and high-
density residential areas; often contains terraced housing.
• Inner suburbs - the residential areas that developed during the
1920s to 1930s.
• Outer suburbs - residential areas that developed later after the
improvement of public transportation and private car ownership;
this allowed people to live in areas further away from work.

4. Land use in the CBD
Characteristics of land use in the CBD
• Old Core - contains narrow streets and often a historical core
• Very accessible due to the fact that major roads all link to the CBD
• Often has traffic restrictions to allow pedestrians to move along
• Central market square (shopping center) area
• High land values due to spatial competition
• Minimal residential land use due to high land values
• Multistory buildings due to high land values; helps to make the most use out of the available space
• Shopping malls, banks, office buildings are in the CBD due to greater need of accessibility and capability of affording
land in this area
• Entertainment such as restaurants and clubs
• Public/government buildings such as town halls
• Historical buildings (ex: museums and University buildings in Cambridge)

5. Problems Associated With Land Use
Problems associated with land use in the CBD
• Spatial competition: the accessibility and central location of the CBD results in high density land use, therefore the
cost of land to establish buildings in this area is very high. National chain stores (such as M&S - a retailing store in
Cambridge) tend to dominate sales in the CBD since the competitors are generally smaller, independent stores
which cannot afford to pay the high rents.
• Urban decline: out-of-town major shopping plazas that have developed outside of the CBD results in the relocation
of large stores, moving from the CBD to the newer plazas which have more room for expansion (and therefore
lower spacial competition and cheaper prices), which allows for greater profits. The quality of buildings in the
CBD decreases. Vacant buildings in the CBD can become sites of crime and vandalism, thus resulting in urban
decline. This can eventually result in the development of inner city slums if left alone.
Other problems associated with urban land use
• Pollution: large-scale automobile transport can lead to air pollution as a result of the release of exhaust fumes;
industrial action can also contribute to the atmospheric pollution.
• Traffic Congestion: the easy accessibility of the CBD, along with an increase in car ownership leads to urban
traffic problems, which become a major issue in several urban cities.

6. The Inner City
Characteristics of the inner city of an urban area
• High density housing in crowded areas, with minimal open space;
can lead to overcrowding and development of shanty towns
• Few social amenities (these are in the CBD)
• Factory employment (industrial field of work - can lead to air
pollution)
Advantages of living in the inner cities in the past:
• Land was cheap, therefore housing was cheap to buy or rent
• Strong sense of community due to high density areas
• Houses were close to areas where people would work
Problems of living in the inner cities in the past:
• Lack of open space
• High crime rates
• Large portion of citizens were low-income
• Decayed housing
• Declining industry, increased poverty, unemployment due to closed
factories

7. Urban Renewal
• Over time (around the 1960s), the buildings in the inner cities started to become worn down as a result
of urban decline.
• The area already lacked social amenities that serve as the main pull factor to some parts of urban areas;
the inner cities became very unappealing as a living environment.
• This can result in the development of inner city slums when low-income migrants are unable to
afford housing. The unsuitable land in the inner city is often the only place where they can settle.
• In order to address these problems, urban renewal/redevelopment began, where the inner cities of
MEDCs were cleared out to be improved upon.
• This resulted in the construction of high-quality residential housing, often multistory to accommodate
for the limited space.
• New housing buildings contained basic facilities such as clean water, restrooms, showers, etc.
• This is referred to as gentrification.
• However, low-income migrants still cannot afford housing because the prices increased due to
improvements in housing conditions.
• The problem of shanty towns still existed - the low-income migrants will eventually begin to build poor-
quality housing out of any available materials in any land available. The land used for shanty towns is
generally unsuitable to the majority of a population; it tends to be highly prone to environmental
problems such as earthquakes, flooding, fires, etc. and may have other problems such as air pollution.

8. Advantages and Disadvantages of Urban Renewal
New buildings were constructed in order to. . . This was unsuccessful because. . .
Low-income migrants from rural areas could not
Improve the quality of life in the inner city
afford housing; prices of housing increased
Save space by building multistory buildings There was still a high density of housing
Provide basic facilities such as clean, running water,
Sense of community in the inner city was lost
electricity, and restrooms
Dark, narrow corridors served as an area of higher
Create a better living environment
crime rate
Low-income migrants still cannot afford housing, so
Prevent the development of slums they are only forced to develop shanty towns
elsewhere

9. Suburbanization and Urban Sprawl
Suburbanization
• Urban sprawl is the continued outward growth of cities as new residential areas are established along the city’s borders.
• This process of moving from the urban city to the suburbs is referred to as urban-rural migration or suburbanization.
• Suburbanization became increasingly common during the early 20th century.
• Early suburban growth (approx. 1920s-30s) forms the inner suburbs of a city, and the next major occurrence of suburban
growth creates the outer suburbs (approx. 1960s-80s).
Reasons for suburbanization
• Cheaper cost of housing in the suburbs because it is not a highly contested area of land like the CBD.
• Peoples’ desire for a change in lifestyle - suburban areas are less densely populated, which reduces congestion.
• Improvement in public transportation and car ownership allowed people to disperse and live in areas further away from work.
Outer suburbs
• Urban sprawl results in continuous growth of urban areas, “overtaking” nearby rural areas by the establishment of residential
housing on the rural-urban fringe (the area that marks the edge of a city and a rural village).
• Housing in the outer suburbs tends to be high quality and low density due to availability of open space, creating a better living
environment.
• In order to maintain some portion of rural land, some policies have tried to limit urban sprawl. Therefore, outer city council
buildings can often be found in the outer suburbs of a city.

10. Land Use at the Rural-Urban Fringe
Conflicts concerning land use
• Environmentalist groups want to limit urban sprawl in order to
preserve the environment and keep it free of urban
development.
• Farmers want to protect wildlife reserves and farmland
• If urban sprawl continues, several wildlife habitats will be
destroyed.
• As a result, there is spatial competition at the rural-urban
fringe, as well as conflicts concerning the land use in this area.
• Attempts to control or reduce urban sprawl and limit
expansion near the rural-urban fringe include the development
of green belts (many of these were created by the government
in 1947).
• A green belt is an area of land around a settlement where
urban development is prohibited.
• Over time, however, the characteristics of the rural-urban
fringe change from largely rural to largely urban.

11. Green Belts
Controlling urban sprawl
• Green belts are one of the most efficient methods of reducing urbanization and urban sprawl.
• Although successful in some cases, green belts often conserve land of little value, leaving the rest of the area (often high
quality of land) open to be used for urban development.
Case study of green belts in Cambridge
• Population growth has resulted in in increased suburbanization and establishment of new settlements such as Bar Hill
and Cambourne.
• The increase in population puts pressure on green belts, which may result in more land being made available for urban
development.
• The current green belt is “designed to prevent the mergence of neighboring settlements, protect the countryside and
maintain the character of the city of Cambridge”.
• The demand for development would involve the construction of 8,000 homes on land in Cambridge that is currently in
the green belt.
• If land is not released for urban development, other possible options of accommodating for population increase include
establishment of new settlements further away from urban sprawl and the urbanization of local towns.

12. The causes and consequences of Counter-urbanization
What is counter-urbanization?
• Counter-urbanization is defined as the process of population movement from
urban areas into rural areas (urban-rural migration). It is often a response to high
rates of urbanization in a given city to prevent overpopulation and the
development of shanty towns.
Causes of counter-urbanization
Push factors in the urban area Pull factors in the rural area
High air pollution and traffic congestion Less air pollution
High population density Lower population density; more open space
High land values (hard to find affordable
Cheaper, more affordable land and housing
housing)
Seen as a safer and more pleasant environment
High crime rates
for raising children

13. The causes and consequences of Counter-urbanization (cont.)
Consequences of counter-urbanization
• Most notably, there is a change in land use associated with counter-urbanization.
Other major effects of counter-urbanization include:
Positive Negative
Migration of wealthy people can lead to
Increase in housing prices
renewal of declining villages
Population density increases with the
High population density
construction of houses
High land values (hard to find affordable Public transport such as trains become more
housing) crowded
Localized businesses such as small shops will
Increase in traffic leads to air pollution and
experience an increase in sales to stay
congestion
profitable
Services such as schools can be maintained Housing and health services become difficult
with an increase in children to supply to an increasing population

15. Goods and Services
• The higher up a settlement is on the settlement hierarchy, the greater variety and higher quality goods and services it will
provide.
• Therefore, hamlets/villages provide low order goods/services, while regional centers/capital cities offer both low and
high order goods and services.
• Sphere of Influence: the area served by a particular settlement in terms of goods and services; increases with the type
and number of resources, size of the settlement, and accessibility.
• Range: the distance one is willing to travel to access a service or obtain a good; increases with the variety of goods and
services offered by a settlement.
• Threshold population: minimum number of people needed to justify the provision of a service or presence of a certain
shop
• There are two types of goods and services.
Low order goods and services
• These are items of low cost which are used or bought rather frequently.
• Examples: milk, bread, newspaper
High order goods and services
• These are items of higher cost which are used or bought less often.
• Examples: furniture, electronics, etc.

16. Case study: Goods and Services of Areas
Surrounding St. Ives, England
Settlement type Local example Services Types of shops Goods sold Frequency of visit
Government buildings, All major national High order luxury and
international airport, shops, some comparison goods such
Capital city London Twice yearly
financial centers, international chain shops as furniture and fashion
cathedrals, large shops and shopping malls items
Supermarkets, large
Chain stores, airport, High order specialist
Regional city Cambridge national chain stores, Twice monthly
offices goods
department stores
Middle order (sells some
Cinema; edge-of-town Large chain stores and
Large town Huntingdon comparison and About once a week
retail parks supermarkets
specialist goods)
Market/supermarket, Middle order (from
Small town St. Ives Small chain stores 2-3 times per week
dentist, library specialist shops)
Convenience goods (low
Church, public house,
Large village Needingworth Village shop; post office order) such as bread and Several times a week
general store
newspapers
Small shops, possibly
Small village Holywell Postbox, telephone Meat, fish, groceries Rarely
mobile
Hamlet Conington None None None

17. Shanty Towns
Problems associated with urbanization
• A large portion of migrants to urban cities are low-income rural dwellers. They are unable to afford housing, and unlikely to
get jobs due to a lack of skills/education.
• Overcrowding through high rates of urbanization further reduces the available space for low-income migrants.
• These migrants are forced to build shelter out of poor quality materials wherever they can find space.
• In MEDCs, this is usually in the inner city.
• In LEDCs, this is usually on the edge of the city.
• In both MEDCs and LEDCs, these shelters can be found on unsuitable land such as oversteeped hills and marshy areas.
• These collections of poor-quality shacks are referred to as shanty towns. These areas have high population density, high crime
rates, no amenities. They lack electricity and sanitation (clean water/food supply and sewage disposal)
• In some places, such as Dharavi, Asia, the people living in shanty towns may use rivers as toilets and unsanitary bathing.
Therefore, disease is very common in these areas.
The effects of gentrification on the development of shanty towns
• When wealthier people come to urban areas, they may often settle in the inner city. Poor-quality buildings in the inner city
are demolished to make room for better ones.
• These higher quality buildings have higher costs; low-income rural migrants cannot find shelter in the poor quality
buildings that used to be in the inner city.
• They are forced to go somewhere else on unsuitable land to build shanty towns. This can increase the risk posed by
environmental disasters.

18. The Bid-rent Theory
• The bid-rent theory suggests that functions bid highest for
land in the CBD, the most easily accessible location in
relation to the entirety of an urban area
• It also states that bid offers will decrease with distance from
the CBD
• Observing the graph at the right, it can be determined that
commerce pays the highest price for land in the CBD. This is
because a central location helps to insure the greatest profit.
• The industrial portion pays the second highest. They want to
be somewhat centrally located so they can easily transport
their goods to a retailing business.
• Residential areas pay the least because people are willing to
travel further to buy a house, eliminating the need to locate
the settlements in an easily and conveniently accessible area.

19. Interactive Review
Settlement Vocabulary Flash Cards (Definition side given)
Settlement Vocabulary Flash Cards (Vocabulary word side given)
Settlement Vocabulary Quiz
Settlement Crossword Quiz
Settlement Multiple Choice Quiz
AICE Geography Exam Sample Settlement Questions
Interactive map illustrating the occurrence of urbanization throughout the world since 1955
Case Study of Traffic Management in Cambridge, UK
Urban Land Use Map
.
AICE Geography Settlement Dynamics Test by Orion Moore - http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-
school/story.php?title=aice-geography-settlement-dynamics-quiz
AICE Geography Settlement Dynamics Flash Cards by Orion Moore - http://
www.proprofs.com/flashcards/cards.php?id=120765

20. Resources
A-level Geography Urban Profiles Revision - Central place and Bid-rent theories |
S-cool, the revision website. (n.d.). GCSE revision and A level revision | S-cool, the
revision website. Retrieved May 20, 2011, from http://www.s-cool.co.uk/a-level/
geography/urban-profiles/revise-it/central-place-and-bid-rent-theories
GeoBytesGCSE. (2010, May 16). GeoBytesGCSE. Retrieved May 20, 2011, from
http://geobytesgcse.blogspot.com/
Nagle, G., & Guinness, P. (n.d.). GEOCASES: Case Study: The Rural-urban
Fringe. GEOCASES: Case Study: Access to Geographical Case Studies for A Level.
Retrieved May 20, 2011, from http://www.geocases.co.uk/sa