This document provides information on rural and urban settlements, as well as different settlement patterns. Rural settlements typically have buildings not closely spaced, a small population size, and people involved in activities like farming, fishing, or mining. Urban settlements have closely spaced buildings, a large population size, and people involved in manufacturing, business, or services. Settlement patterns include linear settlements along transport routes, nucleated settlements with clustered buildings around a central node, and dispersed settlements with individually scattered buildings over a wide area.

1. Prepared by Ms Lena Teo Teacher’s copy
EDGEFIELD SECONDARY SCHOOL
SECONDARY TWO GEOGRAPHY
CHAPTER TWO: SETTLEMENT
Geographer’s name: ____________________________ ( ) Class: 2 _____ Date: ____________
#1 Characteristics of Rural & Urban Settlements
Physical environment Settlement’s main function
People’s way of life
(lifestyle)
Large river /
Sea
Fishing Fisherman
Farm land / Padi fields Growing crops / cultivating rice Farmers
Gold mine Mining Miners
Mountainous areas /
Forested areas
Hunting Hunter & gatherers
A. Rural settlement
GENERAL FEATURES OF A RURAL SETTLEMENT:
• Buildings generally not closely spaced.
• Size and density: There is a small population size
and it is sparsely populated.
• Main functions: Majority of the people in rural
settlements are involved in fishing, mining, hunting,
growing of crops or rearing of livestock.
• Few amenities: Lacking in amenities to cater to
people’s daily needs (eg schools, highways, hospitals,
clinics, supermarkets and post offices).
o Electricity and piped water may also be not
readily available.
• Way of life: People’s lives are closely related to the
settlement’s physical environment and main function.
B. Urban settlement
GENERAL FEATURES OF AN URBAN SETTLEMENT:
• People live in buildings that are built close together
(eg high-rise flats/skyscrapers).
• Size and density: There is a large population size and
it is densely populated.
• Main functions: Majority of the people in urban
settlements are involved in manufacturing, business
or the production and distribution of goods and
services.
• Many amenities: A wide range of goods & services
are provided (eg merchandise, electronics,
banking/financial services).
o Water & electricity are readily available.
o There are well-developed transport networks.
o Air & sea ports also are present.
• Way of life: People are mainly involved
in providing goods and services, and
thus they earn relatively higher incomes.

2. Prepared by Ms Lena Teo Teacher’s copy
#2 Settlement Patterns
• It provides useful information to help identify and
describe certain settlement patterns in an area.
• They can reveal the history of a settlement, its
dominant functions, the population density and
the people’s way of life.
I can look at topographical maps
to study settlement patterns
• It shows how buildings are arranged in a settlement.
o Rural settlements are usually linear, nucleated or dispersed.
o Urban settlements are generally linear, or nucleated.
What is a settlement pattern?
1) Linear settlement
What is it?
• Linear settlements are
located along main
transport routes (eg. roads,
railways, rivers & canals).
• It has a small to moderate
size and population density.
How & why linear settlements develop?
• Transport routes tend to be in a linear pattern,
so settlement also follows the same linear pattern.
• Easy access to transportation and routes serve
as a source of livelihood for the people living
in such settlements (e.g. fishermen living along
a river may easily transport their catch for sale
via river).
2) Nucleated settlement
What is it?
• Nucleated settlements are
made up of buildings clustered
together in a compact area,
which is usually the meeting
point of transport routes (a NODE).
• Nucleated settlements tend to
have more functions & amenities.
o Therefore, they support a
larger population size & have a high population density.
• Usually found in more developed areas (eg towns/cities).

3. Prepared by Ms Lena Teo Teacher’s copy
What is it?
• Dispersed settlements are made up
of individual buildings scattered
over a wide area.
o Buildings may be separated by
large open spaces, farmlands,
forests or grasslands.
• It has a small population size and the
population density is low.
How & why dispersed settlements develop?
• In places where natural resources or
fertile soil is limited, people spread out
to ensure there is enough land to cultivate
crops or obtain resources from the ground.
• Function of settlement may require large
amounts of land (eg. cattle grazing land).
• A mountainous physical environment
causes homes and farms to be dispersed.
• Land may be plentiful, so people have homes on large pieces of land.
3) Dispersed settlement
How & why nucleated settlements develop?
• The buildings are clustered together to allow
sharing of resources (eg water and electricity).
• Sometimes this could also be due to a shortage
of flat land for the buildings to spread out.
GLOSSARY
o Mining: digging the earth to extract coal or other minerals (eg gold)
o Amenities: useful facilities of a place (eg. schools, post offices, clinics, hospitals, gym)
o Way of life: lifestyle
o Goods: items that can be seen and touched (eg. clothes, electronic products, books)
o Services: Services are provided by other people, such as doctors, lawyers, financial
consultants, healthcare workers, dentists, barbers and waiters.
o Densely populated: high population density (many people living per unit area)
o Sparsely populated: low population density (few people living per unit area)
o Node: point at which transport lines or roads intersect; a central or connecting point.
o Nucleated: clustered together
o Dispersed: scattered / spread out