Patterns of Settlement (CIE IGCSE Geography)

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
• These 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 will usually have a lower population density and smaller settled areas
• The physical geography of an area dictates these patterns

Settlement Patterns

Form or shape?

• Both mean the same when it comes to describing the pattern 
• It is how the settlement is laid out
• For instance, a river, railway or major road would encourage a linear development along this route to attract trade 
• However, linear settlements also arose due to physical limitations such as poor drainage or the position of a mountain
• Circular shapes grow around a central feature like village greens or lake and are organised, so the middle remains accessible 
• A star form occurs when several roads meet, and houses are built along those roads
• T-form settlements arise when one road meets another at a junction
• Y-form settlements develop where two roads meet and houses are built along these routes
• Cruciform shapes occur at cross-roads and houses cluster (nucleate) and spread in all four directions
• Cross-shaped is similar to a cruciform, however, the houses will be linear around the crossroad rather than nucleated

Settlement Patterns

• Dispersed 
  • Where isolated houses or farms are set in fields or along roads rather than concentrated in one area
  • Found in sparsely populated rural areas such as Sahel region of Africa, Australian outback or the mountainous regions of Scotland and Wales
  • The break-up of large rural estates led to dispersed settlements in England during the 16th and 17th centuries
  • Dispersed settlements also occur where the physical geography is extreme - too hot, wet, cold or dry - which in turn discourages settlement and development
• Linear
  • Where there is a physical feature such as a river or a trade and transport route, settlements group and form a line along its path
• Nucleated
  • Form when settlements tightly cluster around a central feature such as a village green, a crossroad or a church etc.
  • Very few buildings are found further out, and these settlements are usually called hamlets or villages, depending on their size and function 
  • There are a number of reasons for the development of nucleated settlements such as:
    • Defence 
    • Trade
    • Co-operative community - agriculture, water, work
    • Floodplain - safer to group on a hilltop