Rural / urban settlement: residential area where ppl live in countryside/cities
Site: area which settlement is built on
Situation: area surrounding settlement
Factors affect location of settlements
- Wet point sites– water supply
- Dry point sites– higher land near river to avoid flooding
- Hill tops– defensive sites
- Flat land – easier to construct settlements & grow crops coz soil is likely to be fertile
- Fertile soil – grow crops
- Aspect– get more sunshine
- Bridging point– easier to build bridge to cross river
- Nodal point– crossroads / rivers meet encourage trading
- Transport network – increase accessibility
Settlement patterns
What is the settlement pattern? (1)
- Dispersed – spread out, separated by countryside, low pop den.
- Linear – develop along road / river, restricted by highland / river
- Nucleated – develop around crossroad, grouped together, flat all around, common resource
Give 2 reasons for growth of settlement (2)
- Along a road for transport
- Near river for water supply
Suggest why there’re no settlements? (3)
- There’s a river – flooding may occur
- Area could be marshy land
- It could be farmland / forested
Identify settlement pattern & suggest possible reasons for this pattern. (4)
Settlement pattern – dispersed
Reason
- Area could be farmland / forest
- Ppl need large areas of land to make a living
- Some parts of area may not be habitable
Function: purpose of the settlement
| Function of a settlement | Definition |
| Market town (agricultural) | Provides services for surrounding agricultural area
e.g. selling farm products |
| Mining town | Extract materials e.g. coal |
| Industrial | Where many factories are located |
| Port | Located on the coast or large river where goods are imported and exported |
| Route Centre | Has excellent transport links e.g. roads |
| Commercial | Provides needs of trade e.g. financial or retail centre |
| Residential | Where ppl live |
| Tourist resort | For luxury |
Settlement hierarchy: settlements in an area in order of importance
Their importance will depend on pop size, range & no. of services, sphere of influence
Describe relationship between pop size & no of settlements. Give eg of settlement types from diagram above. (2)
- Larger pop, less settlements
- Eg Less cities then village
Sphere of influence – area served by a settlement
Threshold Population: min no. of ppl needed to create sufficient demand for a service to make a profit
Range: max distance that ppl is prepared to travel in order to obtain a service
| Low order / Convenience goods & services
Eg food stores |
High order / Comparison goods or services |
| Give 3 examples of high order services which are likely to be located in large cities (3)
Wedding dress shop, theatre, university |
|
Explain why large cities have many high order services. (4)
|
|
|
|
Explain why service provision in some rural areas is declining. (5)
- Ppl move away from rural areas – decline of pop – less customer, demand
- Services are unprofitable & not sustainable
- Poor communications make supplying resources to these services difficult
- Young ppl leave
- Many ppl use services in urban areas where they work
Case study – Shrewsbury vs Acton Burnell
| Shrewsbury | Acton Burnell |
|
|