Settlement geography

• Rural


  Settlement which are unifunctional and associated with primary economic activities. Concerned with the extraction of raw material from nature
• Urban


  Settlement which are multifunctional and associated with secondary, tertiary and quaternary activities. Concerned with processing and manufacturing
• Economic Activities in Rural Areas

  • Farming
  • Mining
  • Fishing
  • Agriculture
  • Forestry
  • Hunting
• Economic Activities in Urban Areas

  • Processing
  • Manufacturing
  • Secondary
  • Tertiary
  • Quaternary
• Rural Settlement Sites


  • Isolated farmstead
  • Hamlet
  • Village
• Urban Settlement Sites


  • City
  • Metropolis
  • Conurbation
  • Megalopolis
• Rural areas


  Have smaller population compared to urban areas
• Urban areas


  Have higher population density with people living close to one another
• Urban settlements


  Are always nucleated
• Rural areas


  Have limited basic services like electricity and water, and primary and secondary education
• Urban areas


  Have a full range of services available like hospitals and secondary/tertiary institutions
• Rural areas


  Have dispersed or isolated land-use patterns
• Urban areas


  Have densely populated land-use patterns
• Relief refers to the shape or form of an area's surface, including mountains, valleys, plateaus, plains, hills, etc., which can influence settlement locations based on their suitability for agriculture, industry, transport, defense, tourism, etc.
• Hierarchy


  Ranking of settlement from the smallest to the highest
• Hierarchy of settlement


  • Size and complexity increases
  • Number of settlements increases
• Settlement types from smallest to largest

  • Isolated Buildings / Farmsteads
  • Hamlet
  • Village
  • Town
  • City
  • Metropolis
  • Conurbation
  • Megalopolis
• Bottom represents the smallest settlement type (Farmstead)

  Top represents the largest settlement type (Megalopolis)
• Hierarchy of settlement from smallest to largest

  • Isolated farmstead-single far with one main building
  • Hamlet-small groups of few farmsteads
  • Village-settlement that can have both rural and urban functions
  • Town-urban area that does not offer an extensive range of urban functions
  • City-Large urban centre that offers a variety of services e.g judicial and financial
  • Metropolis-single city that is surrounded by many independent towns
  • Conurbation-forms when many towns and cities merge with each other
  • Megalopolis-gigantic urban area that forms when many conurbations join together
• Examples of Metropolis and Conurbation

  • Midrand and Pretoria
  • Joburg
• Settlement pattern


  The arrangement of buildings with respect to one another
• Types of settlement patterns

  • Dispersed/Isolated-buildings (houses) are far apart
  • Nucleated/Clustered-buildings /houses are closer together
• Dispersed settlement


  Houses are far apart from each other
• Nucleated settlement


  Houses are closer together
• Advantages of isolated/dispersed settlement

  • Lots of privacy
  • Farmstead make larger profit
  • Freedom to make own decisions
  • Quiet area
  • Less pollution
• Disadvantages of isolated/dispersed settlement

  • Less social contact
  • Less security
  • Far away on services eg. clinics, schools etc
• Physical factors influencing dispersed settlement

  • Poor soil quality
  • Few perennial rivers
  • South facing slope in the Southern hemisphere
  • Sparsely wooded surface
• Social factors influencing dispersed settlement

  • Private land ownership
  • Modern farming methods
  • People need peaceful areas away from other residences
• Physical factors influencing nucleated settlement

  • Availability of fertile soil
  • Facing slopes in a southern hemisphere
  • Availability of perennial rivers with good rainfall
  • Settlement around a water source in dry area
  • Gentle slope
  • Heavily wooded surface
• Social factors influencing nucleated settlement

  • People stay closer together for safety reasons
  • Communal way of life
  • Traditional farming methods
  • People of the same religious belief stay close to one another
• Types of settlements: Wet-
• Advantages of nucleated settlement

  • People share ideas
  • Sharing of farming equipment
  • More social contact
• Disadvantages of nucleated settlement

  • Lack of privacy
  • Farms make small profit
  • No individual considerations
  • More air and land pollution
  • People compete for resources
• Factors influencing settlement to be dispersed

  • Physical factors:
  • Poor quality soil
  • Abundant fertile soil
  • Reliable water supply
  • Few perennial rivers
  • Hilly landscapes e.g Kwazulu Natal
  • South facing slope in the Southern hemisphere
  • Sparsely wooded surface
  • Where the land is flat

  Social factors:

  • Private land ownership
  • Modern farming methods
  • People need peaceful area away from other residence
• Factors influencing settlement to be nucleated/clustered

  • Physical factors:
  • Limited fertile soil
  • Availability of perennial rivers with good rainfall
  • Settlement around a water source in dry area
  • Area with a gentle slope
  • Heavily wooded surface

  Social factors:

  • People stay closer together for safety reason
  • Communism way of life
  • Traditional farming method
  • People of the same religious belief stay close to one another e.g ZCC Moria