MODULE 4: HUMAN SETTLEMENTS  Population density is small and

the settlement size is small

SOURCE: SINGH
Settlement is classified into urban and rural,
Human Settlements
but there is no consensus:
 A place inhabited more or less
 Population size is small in rural
permanently
settlement than urban settlements, but
 Includes buildings in which they live or
it is not a universally applied because
use and the paths and streets over
many villages of India and China have
which they travel
population exceeding that of some
 Includes the temporary camps of the
towns of Western Europe and United
hunters and herders
States.
 May consist of only a few dwelling units
 People living in villages pursued
called hamlets or big cluster of buildings
agriculture or other primary activities,
called urban cities.
but presently in developed countries,
Settlement Types Based on Size and Function large sections of urban populations
prefer to live in villages even though
1. Urban Settlements they work in the city.
 nodal in character and have  Petrol pumps are considered as a rural
secondary and tertiary activities function in the United States while it is
 chief occupation of the people an urban function in India.
of urban areas is non-  Facilities available in the villages of
agricultural i.e. industry, trade developed countries may be considered
and services rare in villages of developing and less
 major function of an urban area developed countries.
are trades and commerce,
transport and communication, Settlement Types Based on Shape
mining and manufacturing,
1. Compact Settlements
defense, administration,
 In these settlement houses are
cultural and recreational
built very close to each other.
activities
 Such settlements are found in
 Population density is high and
river valleys and fertile plains.
the settlement size is large
 The people are closely tied and
2. Rural Settlements
share common occupations.
 chiefly concerned with primary
2. Dispersed Settlements
activities such as agriculture,
 In these settlements houses are
mining, fishing, forestry etc.
built far apart from each other.
 Most of the people of rural
 These settlements consist of
settlement are engaged in
one or two houses and cultural
agricultural work.
feature such as a church or a
 major function of rural
temple binds the settlement
settlement is agriculture and
together.
each settlement specializes in
various activities
  Such settlements are found
over hills, plateau and
highlands.
Factors that Influence the Location of Rural
Settlements
 Water Supply – Water supply is main
factor because water is used for
drinking, cooking and washing, rivers
and lakes can be used to irrigate farm
land, water bodies also have fish which
can be caught for diet and navigable
rivers and lakes can be used for
transportation.
 Land - People choose to settle near
fertile lands suitable for agriculture
 Upland - Villages are located on uplands
which is not prone to flooding. Thus, in
low lying river basins people chose to
settle on terraces and levees which are
“dry points”. In tropical countries
people build their houses on stilts near
marshy lands to protect themselves
from flood, insects and animal pests.
 Building Material - Early villages were
built in forests where wood was
plentiful. In African Savanna’s mud
bricks are used as building materials
and the Eskimos, in Polar Regions, use
ice blocks to construct igloos.
 Defense - During the times of political
instability, war, aggression of
neighbouring groups villages were built
on defensive hills and islands. In
Nigeria, villages are built on upstanding
rocks; in India most of the forts are
located on hills.
Types of Rural Settlement Patterns
1. On the basis of setting
 Plain villages
 Plateau villages
 Coastal villages
 Forest villages
 Desert villages
2. On the basis of functions
 Farming villages
 Fishermen’s villages
 Lumberjack villages
 Pastoral villages
3. On the basis of forms or shapes of the
settlements
 Linear Pattern - Houses are
located along a road, railway
line, river, canal edge of a valley
or along a levee
 Rectangular Pattern - Such
patterns of rural settlements
are found in plain areas or wide
inter-montane valleys. The
roads are rectangular and cut
each other at right angles
 Circular Pattern - Circular
villages develop around lakes,
tanks and sometimes the village
is planned in such a way that
the central part remains open
and is used for keeping the
animals to protect them from
wild animals.
 Star-Like Pattern - Where
several roads converge, star
shaped settlements develop by
the houses built along the
roads.
 T-shaped, Y-shaped, Cross-
shaped or cruciform
settlements – T –shaped
settlements develop at tri-
junctions of the roads. Y–
shaped settlements emerge as
the places where two roads
converge on the third one and
houses are built along these
roads. Cruciform settlements
develop on the cross-roads and
houses extend in all the four
direction
  Double village - These administrative centre is termed as
settlements extend on both urban.
sides of a river where there is a
Role of Site and Situation in Determining the
bridge or a ferry.
Location and Expansion of Towns
Major Problems of Rural Settlements in
Location of urban centres is influenced by their
Developing Countries
function.
 Poor infrastructure facilities.
Site - refers to the actual piece of ground on
 Inadequate water supply
which the settlement is built. Situation - refers
 Long distances from drinking water.
to the location of the settlement in relation to
 Lack of safe drinking water and
the surrounding areas.
unhygienic conditions.
 Adversely affected by the conditions of  Strategic towns require sites offering
drought and flood which affects the natural defense
crop cultivation.  Mining towns require the presence of
 Absence of toilet and garbage disposal economically valuable minerals
facilities cause health related problems.  Industrial towns generally need local
 The houses made up of mud, wood and energy supplies or raw materials
thatch get damaged during heavy rains  Tourist centers require attractive
and floods. scenery, or a marine beach, a spring
 No proper ventilation with medicinal water or historical relics
 Unmetalled roads and lack of modern  Ports require a harbour.
communication network causes  Availability of water, building materials
difficulties in providing emergency and fertile land also plays an important
services during floods. role in locating urban settlements
 Inadequate health and educational  The urban centres which are located
infrastructure for large rural population. close to an important trade route have
The problem is particularly serious experienced rapid development.
where houses are scattered over a large
Important Functions of Urban Centers
area.
 The earlier functions of towns were
Common Bases of Classifying a Settlement as
related to administration, trade,
Urban
industry, defense, and religious.
1. Population Size - The cut off figure  Today, towns perform multiple
depends on the density of population in functions such as, recreational,
the country. residential, transport, mining,
2. Occupational Structure - In India, if manufacturing and most recently
more than 75 percent of workforce is activities related to information
engaged in nonagricultural activities technology.
then the settlement is called as urban.  Some towns are known for their
3. Administrative Structure - in India a functions for example, Sheffield as an
settlement is classified as urban if it has industrial city, London as a port city,
a municipality, cantonment board or a Chandigarh as an administrative city.
notified area. In Brazil any
  Large cities have a rather greater
diversity of functions.
Functional Classifications of Towns
1. Administrative Towns - National
capitals, which have headquarters of
the administrative offices of Central
Government
2. Defense Towns - Centers of military
activities are known as defense towns.
Three types: Fort towns, Garrison
towns, and Naval bases
3. Cultural Towns - towns famous for
religious, educational, or recreational
functions
4. Industrial Towns - Mining and
manufacturing regions. Towns which
have developed due to setting up of
Industries.
5. Trading and Commercial Towns - Many
old towns were famous as trade
centers. Some towns have developed as
transport and port towns.
Types of Urban Settlement Based on Size,
Services, and Function
1. Town - Population size in town is higher
than the village. Functions such as,
manufacturing, retail and wholesale
trade, and professional services exist in
towns.
2. City - A city may be regarded as a
leading town. Cities are much larger
than towns and have a greater number
of economic functions. They tend to
have transport terminals, major
financial institutions, and regional
administrative offices. When the
population crosses the one million mark
it is designated as a million city.
3. Conurbation - Applied to a large area of
urban development that resulted from
the merging of originally separate
towns or cities (Patrick Geddes, 1915)
4. Megalopolis - his Greek word meaning
“great city”, was popularized by Jean
Gottman (1957) and signifies ‘super-
metropolitan’ region extending, as
union of conurbations.
Urbanization
 the process of change from rural to
urban population
Major Problems of Urban Areas in Developing
Countries
1. Economic Problems
o Over-urbanization or the
uncontrolled urbanization due
to large-scale in-migration of
rural people.
o Decreasing employment
opportunities in the rural as
well as smaller urban areas has
caused large scale rural to
urban migration.
o The huge migrant population in
urban areas creates stagnation
and generates a pool of
unskilled and semi-skilled labor
force.
o Urban areas suffer from
shortage of housing, transport,
health, and civic amenities.
o A large number of people live in
substandard housing i.e. slums
and squatter settlements or on
the streets.
o Illegal settlements called
squatter settlement are growing
as fast as the city.
2. Socio-cultural Problems
o Inadequate social infrastructure
and basic facilities due to lack of
 financial resources and over-  Complex system of five elements -
population in the cities. nature, man, society, shells (that is,
o Available educational and buildings), and networks
health facilities remain beyond  A system of natural, social, and man-
the reach of the urban poor. made elements which can be seen in
o Cities suffer from poor health many ways - economic, social, political,
conditions. technological, and cultural.
o Lack of employment and
education tends to aggravate
the crime rates. Principles in Shaping Human Settlements
o Male selective migration to the
 Maximization of man's potential
urban areas distorts the sex
contacts with the elements of nature
ratio in these cities.
(such as water and trees), with other
3. Environmental Problems
people, and with the works of man
o The large urban population in
(such as buildings and roads).
developing countries uses and
 Minimization of the effort required for
disposes off a huge quantity of
the achievement of man's actual and
water and all types of waste
potential contacts.
materials.
 Optimization of man's protective space,
o Many cities of the developing
which means the selection of such a
countries do not provide the
distance from other persons, animals,
minimum required quantity of
or objects that he can keep his contacts
drinkable water and water for
with them (first principle) without any
domestic and industrial uses.
kind of sensory or psychological
o An improper sewerage system
discomfort.
creates unhealthy conditions.
 Optimization of the quality of man's
o Massive use of traditional fuel
relationship with his environment,
in the domestic as well as the
which consists of nature, society, shells
industrial sector severely
(buildings and houses of all sorts), and
pollutes the air.
networks (ranging from roads to
o The domestic and industrial
telecommunications)
wastes are either let into the
 Achieve an optimum synthesis of the
general sewerages or dumped
other four principles, and this
without treatment at
optimization is dependent on time and
unspecified locations.
space, on actual conditions, and on
o Huge concrete structures of
man's ability to create a synthesis.
buildings create heat in the city
environment 5 Basic Units of Human Settlements (According
to size)
SOURCE: EKISTICS
1. Individual
Human Settlements
2. Personal Room
3. Home
4. Group of Homes
 5. 8. Traditional Town
6. 15. Universal City
Why are conditions so bad in our cities?
 Man, who understood the
morphogenetic process for the small
units, thought that the forces and laws
valid from the small units were valid for
the big ones that we build today, and
this is not true.
 New forces - like motor vehicles - have
entered the game, and their impact on
the city has not been understood.
 Man did not seem able to learn about
the new problems, and did not even
seem interested in them, before the
crisis came.
SOURCE: CSIR RED BOOK VOLUME 1
Planning Approaches
1. Human-centered Approach - absolute dominance
emphasizes that a central purpose of
planning is to ensure that the
developmental needs and activities of
people living in settlements are catered
for and, in particular, that opportunities
for people to achieve their full potential
through their own efforts are
maximized.
2. Nature-centered Approach - recognizes
that natural systems interact in highly
synergistic ways, which must be
respected if breakdowns in them are to
be prevented. Human actions on the
landscape, such as settlement-making,
must thus be sensitive to ecological
processes.
Starting Points for Achieving Positively
Performing Human Settlements
1. Importance of Pedestrian Movement -
The pedestrian condition describes the
reality for the majority of residents in
towns and cities in the country.
2. Importance of Thinking Spatially - In
pedestrian-scaled environments, the
public spatial environment should be
viewed as the highest level of social
infrastructure.
3. Importance of Minimalist Approach to
Settlements-Making – This requires
that the basic structure and most
important actions required to create
the preconditions for a positively
performing settlement be defined at
the outset of the settlement-making
process.
Physical Characteristics of Environments
Reflecting Performance Qualities
 they are scaled to the pedestrian,
although commonly neither the
pedestrian nor the motor car has
 they are compact, having relatively high
building densities
 their structural elements are integrated,
and the composite parts reinforce each
other
 they have a strong spatial feel, with
well-defined public spaces
 their spatial structures are complex,
offering choices in terms of intensity of
interaction, privacy of living conditions,
lifestyles, housing options and
movement systems.
Performance Qualities of Good Urban
Environments
1. Efficiency of resource use
2. Opportunity generation
There are a number of ways in which
spatial conditions in settlements create
opportunities for economic activity.
  Intensification - This requires movement systems, so that
the promotion of higher unit access is equalized.
densities than is the norm  Creating the access
under the current model of preconditions for more
settlement development. intensive activities to spread in
 Integration of Different Parts of a logical way, consistent with
the Settlements - When a the growth of the settlement
settlement is fragmented into a
 number of smaller, inwardly 6. Quality of Place
orientated parts, each part is
largely reliant on its own 7. Sensory Qualities
internally generated resources.
 Enabling the Evolutionary 8. Sustainability
Development of More Complex Main Dimensions:
Settlements - When this occurs,  Settlements exist as
a diversity of large- and small- adaptations of natural
scale activities can find viable landscapes and are dependent
locations within the settlement on resources drawn from a
system. much larger area (Issues: Need
 Using the Generating Power of to work harmoniously with
Larger Activities to Attract natural landscape, need to
Smaller Activities - Both of recycle wastes)
which benefit from the  Sustainable settlements
movement flows that result accommodate growth and
from the presence of the other. change well and are in turn
enriched by processes of
3. Convenience change.
Two forms of access are central to
Spatial Structure
promoting convenience:
 Access to the economic, social,  creation of the public environment: that
cultural and recreational realm which is shared by all inhabitants,
benefits as opposed to the private realms of
 Access to nature individual households and businesses
 results from an interplay between the
4. Choice formally planned (or programmatic) and
the spontaneous (or non-
5. Equality of Access programmatic) dimensions of
settlement-making:
Central Issues:
o Programmatic – Quantitative. It
 Recognition that balance is not requires the identification of
so much a geographical as a the major elements of land use
structural concept. Rather, it is and the development of a land
one of integrating public and engineering services
facilities and events with budget.
 o Non-Programmatic
Qualitative. It reflects how
people, over time, have
addressed the making of a place
to meet their needs and enrich
their lives.
Elements of Structure
1. Connection - refers to movement of all
kinds, including fixed line systems such
as roads, light - and heavy - rail systems,
underground rail systems, as well as
pedestrian and bicycle routes.
2. Space - Public spaces are the meeting
places of people in settlements. The
public spaces comprise the urban
“rooms” and “seams” of connectivity.
There also exists a continuum of spaces,
which represents a transition from
more public to more private living.
3. Public Institutions - Historically, the
institutions which were most valued by
society - such as institutions of learning,
worship, exchange, markets, and
universities - served as the key
structuring elements of settlements.
4. Public Utility Services - refer to those
engineering services that are essential
to the functioning of settlements. They
include water provision, sewage
removal, stormwater disposal, solid-
waste removal and electricity supply
SOURCE: VIDEO
Central Place Theory
 Walter Christaller
 “centrality” governs
–  Based on the idea that city size and
dominance is mostly about the services
it provides
Urban Hierarchy
1. Hamlet
 Most crowded rural place
 Smallest in urban hierarchy
 Low order services (if any)
 Maximum population: approx..
150
2. Village
 Bigger than a hamlet
 No need for public
transportation (can walk across
the whole village)
 More services than hamlet but
still few (low order)
3. Town
 Any “small” urban setting
 Often a dominant population
center within a county
 More specialized services
available (mostly lower)
 Up to 50,000 people
4. City
 Will have identifiable industrial,
residential, and commercial
areas
 Often will be a center of local
government
 More diverse and specialized
services available
 Up to 250000 people
5. Metropolis
 A city that has expanded and
absorbed other settlements
around it
 Urban area is usually 2 counties
big
 Diverse amount of specialized
services available
 Up to 5,000,000 people
available
 6. Megalopolis
 Agglomeration of metropolitan
areas
 Can refer to a very large urban
area
 Center of business and culture
 Over 5,000,000 people
 Largest: Tokyo (35 M)
SOURCE: IMPLICATIONS OF HUMAN
SETTLEMENTS EVOLUTION
Evolution of Population by Habitat Types
 If analyzing the urbanization process
during recent decades, we could
ascertain that the average annual
growth rate of urbanization process of
2.7% was twice as high as the rate of
rural population growth, of 1.3%.
 Naturally, the urban boom created new
typologies, new habitat structures,
namely urban, peri-urban and half
urban, with deep economic, political,
social and environmental implications
and meanings and also entailed changes
in rural area signification, due to the
occurrence of specific civilization
elements of urban nature.
Costs of the Urbanization Process
 The urban population recorded an
extremely fast growth, both in
developed and in developing countries,
therefore creating difficult problems of
human being adaptation to the new
living conditions and entailed a
significant increase in the social cost of
urbanization.
 The fast urbanization process,
particularly in developing countries,
boosted the issue of the social cost of
urbanization and development,
deepened the gap between the two
areas of social life and sharpened the
effects upon the development of
natural and socio-economic balances.
 The urban boom generates new habitat
patterns, asking for finding out the
suitable size of towns, optimizing of
migratory flows village – town, based
on economic criteria, drawing up new
urbanization models related to the
whole system of rural settlements and
to the environment.
 The most severe influences of the
towns upon the environment occur as
consequence of industrialization and
pollution, such as chemical, physical
and noise pollution, phenomena
entailing air pollution due to the
disposal in the atmosphere of about
three thousand chemicals that pollute
the atmosphere with particulate
matters
 We should also remind that nowadays,
since finding a job became more and
more difficult, a cohort of unemployed
was formed, representing a major
source of potential social conflicts.
 Towns are overcrowded, the town road
traffic and the urban transport, the
expenditure for the construction of
dwellings, the vegetation, the
increasing delinquency and the so
called “street children”, etc. became
major problems.
Costs of the De-Ruralization Process
 We are now observing that village
communities, particularly in developed
countries, are devastated by domestic
industrial activities, by small rural crafts,
they are depleted of young human
resources, further deepening the issue
of jobs crisis and the one of manifest
and latent unemployment, as well as
the issue of demographic ageing and
demo-economic ageing.
  From demographic perspective, the
exodus village – town influences the
demographic behavior, the marriages
outline, the structure by age and
gender, the instability of families, the
sharpening of demographic ageing and
the diminution of female fertility.
 From economic standpoint, the villages’
depletion of young cohorts and the
process of agriculture feminization are
deepening the demographic ageing
process, this fact entailing severe
imbalances in the rural population, in
the structure by gender and age groups
of agricultural population.
 From the cultural point of view, a
reduction in the number of intellectuals
in villages was noticed, together with an
increased risk of youth non-enrolment
in schools and the increase in the
number of illiterate cohorts and in the
difficulties of training the new school
aged cohorts.
How to Safeguard the Urban and the Rural
Communities
 The rational widening of urbanization,
through the optimization of village –
town flows and the creation of available
jobs in towns, where these are
economically, socially and
environmentally justified;
 The achievement of strategic, industrial,
agricultural, construction and tourism
objectives, in view to stabilize
population in all the country zones,
particularly in the less-favored ones;
 The decongestion of too big cities, the
fading out of urban overcrowding
processes, the limitation of their
population through economic and
administrative measures;
 Ensuring the use of local natural
resources, through reclamation works
at territorial level and valorization of
agricultural and forestry areas;
 The extension of half-urban localities by
interweaving the activities belonging to
industrial and services sectors with the
agricultural ones, as an intermediate
step in urban environment formation
and development;
 Ensuring the food autonomy of rural
population, as well as the food security
of urban population;
 Reconsidering the rural environment
through the setting up of small and
medium industrial enterprises at village
level, the implementation of certain
urbanization elements in the rural area,
the abolishment of discrepancies
between villages and towns, the
creation of social and cultural
objectives;
 The stabilization of rural population
income, particularly of agricultural
population, through the attenuation of
price fluctuations for base products, as
well as of the consequences related to
the variation of agricultural production
due to random factors;
 The reduction of incumbent costs
related to compulsive de-ruralization
and urbanization and the diminution of
towns pollution level and of social
entropy elements (crimes, robberies,
rapes, etc.)7.