Geography (0460) | Settlements (rural and urban) and service provision

Settlements (Rural and Urban) and Service Provision (IGCSE 0460)

Hello Geographers! This chapter is super important because it helps us understand the human landscape—why towns and villages are built where they are, and why big cities offer things that small villages don't. We are going to look at the patterns settlements make and how services are organized. Don't worry if this seems tricky at first; we’ll use simple examples!

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1. Defining Settlements and Their Patterns

A settlement is simply a place where people live. Settlements can be tiny, like a single isolated farm, or huge, like a megacity.

Settlement Patterns (How Buildings are Arranged)

The way buildings are grouped together creates different visual patterns on the map. You need to know three main types:

1. Nucleated (Clustered) Pattern

The buildings are tightly grouped together, often around a central point (like a crossroads, a bridge, or a church).

• Look like: A bunch of grapes.
• Example: Most traditional European villages or market towns.
• Reasons: Historically, clustering offered defense (for protection), encouraged social interaction, and maximized the use of a good water source or fertile patch of land.
2. Dispersed (Scattered) Pattern

The buildings are spread out over a large area, often separated by farmland.

• Look like: Salt sprinkled lightly over a map.
• Example: Isolated farms in the prairies of North America or hilly rural areas.
• Reasons: This pattern occurs when land ownership is key (farmers want to live close to their large fields) or when physical conditions (like water or resources) are spread thinly across the landscape.
3. Linear Pattern

Buildings are arranged in a long, thin line.

• Look like: Beads on a string.
• Example: Settlements along a long main road, a river valley, or a coastline.
• Reasons: This pattern develops where accessibility is the main factor. People build along transport routes or natural barriers (like a narrow valley floor).

2. Site, Growth, and Function of Settlements

Why did people choose to build a settlement exactly where they did? We look at the Site (the actual piece of ground) and the factors that influenced its Growth and Function (what the town does).

Factors Influencing Settlement Site and Growth

A. Physical Factors (The Natural Environment)

These relate to the natural conditions that make a location safe, secure, and productive:

• Relief (Shape of the Land): People prefer flat, low-lying land, as it is easier to build on and farm. Steep slopes are avoided, although sometimes a 'dry-point site' on a slight hill (to avoid flooding) was chosen near a river.
• Water Supply: A reliable, clean source of water is essential. Settlements often started at a 'wet-point site' (near a spring or river).
• Soil Quality: Settlements in rural areas need fertile soil (like loess or alluvial deposits) to support agriculture, which was the original function of most villages.
• Natural Resources: The presence of valuable resources like coal, iron ore, timber, or fish can cause rapid growth (e.g., Pittsburgh grew because of iron and coal).

B. Human and Economic Factors

As settlements grew, human factors became increasingly important:

• Accessibility and Transport: Settlements located at nodes (where routes meet, like a road junction or a river crossing) tend to grow faster due to ease of trade and movement. Example: London grew rapidly because it was the lowest bridging point on the River Thames.
• Defense/Safety: Historically, sites that offered good views or were easy to defend (like hilltops or inside a river meander) were chosen.
• Economic Opportunity: The presence of a valuable resource, a large market, or industrial land attracts people and investment, leading to major growth.

The Function of Settlements

The function is the main economic activity of a settlement—what it is known for or what its residents do.

• Rural Function: Primarily agriculture, forestry, fishing, and increasingly, tourism or retirement.
• Urban Functions: These are generally more diverse and specialized. They include administrative (government), commercial (shopping/trade), industrial (manufacturing), educational, and residential.

3. Settlement Hierarchy and Services

Not all settlements are equal! They can be arranged in a structure called a settlement hierarchy, based on their size and the range of services they offer. Think of it like a pyramid.

Understanding the Hierarchy

The larger the settlement, the higher its position in the hierarchy, and the greater the number and variety of services it provides.

Hierarchy Level	Size and Population	Services Provided	Examples (General)
High-Order	Largest (Cities, Metropolitan areas)	Complex, specialized services (Universities, major hospitals, international airports, luxury goods stores).	London, New York, Cairo
Middle-Order	Medium (Towns, large regional centres)	Less specialized services (High schools, supermarkets, chain clothing stores, small hospitals).	A regional county town
Low-Order	Smallest (Hamlets, Villages)	Basic, essential services (Post box, corner shop, primary school, church).	A small farming village

Services: Low Order vs. High Order

Services are facilities offered to people. They are classified based on how frequently people need them and how expensive they are.

• Low-Order Services: These are necessities, required frequently, and cheap (e.g., groceries, daily bread). They are found in almost every settlement, even small villages.
• High-Order Services: These are specialized and expensive, required infrequently (e.g., heart surgery, buying a yacht). They are found almost exclusively in large, high-order settlements (cities).

4. Key Concepts in Service Provision

To explain *why* certain services are located in certain places, we use two key geographical terms: Sphere of Influence and Threshold Population.

A. Sphere of Influence (Catchment Area)

The Sphere of Influence refers to the area from which a service draws its customers. It is essentially the "reach" of the settlement or service.

• Low-Order Services: Have a small Sphere of Influence. People only travel short distances to buy milk or bread. (e.g., Your local corner shop influences only the street it is on.)
• High-Order Services: Have a large Sphere of Influence. People are willing to travel long distances for specialized goods or events. (e.g., A major airport or a world-famous concert venue influences an entire region or country.)

B. Threshold Population

The Threshold Population is the minimum number of people needed to support a service and keep it profitable.

Think about a service's customer base:

• Low Threshold: Services needed by almost everyone, like a small pharmacy or a post office. These can exist even in small villages because they don't need many customers to survive.
• High Threshold: Services that are expensive, specialized, or catering to a niche market, like a high-end designer clothing store or a large cinema complex. These need a massive number of customers and therefore can only be found in large towns or cities.

Case Study Requirement (1.5)

Remember, for this section, you are required to have a Case Study of a Settlement and service provision in an area. This means you must be able to describe a specific area (like a town or region) and explain:

• The type of settlement patterns found there (e.g., linear along the river).
• The hierarchy of settlements in that area.
• Which services are low-order and high-order, and why they are located where they are (linking back to threshold and sphere of influence).

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Summary: Key Takeaways

To succeed in this topic, make sure you can confidently define and explain:

Settlement Patterns:

• Nucleated: Clustered (for defence/social interaction).
• Dispersed: Scattered (for agriculture/land ownership).
• Linear: In a line (along transport/relief features).

Location Factors:

• Physical (Relief, Soil, Water).
• Human (Accessibility, Resources, Function).

Hierarchy Concepts:

• Hierarchy: Settlements ranked by size and service complexity.
• Low-Order Services: Basic, frequent needs (Small threshold, small sphere).
• High-Order Services: Specialized, infrequent needs (High threshold, large sphere).