settlement

• Accessibility

  How easy it is for people to travel to and from a particular point usually in terms of time travelled.
• Brownfield site

  A site that has been previously built on and could be redeveloped
• Central Business District

  The central areas in a town or city with the highest land prices, greatest accessibility and a concentration of big shops and offices.
• Commuter

  A person who travels from home to work elsewhere
• Commuting

  Travelling to and form work on a daily basis. The term commuting normally implies that the journey takes some time rather than just walking down the road.
• Comparison goods

  Goods not bought every day. The shopper visits more than one store to look at different prices and quality e.g. furniture, schools , clothes
• Conurbations

  As cities have grown outwards they have merged with other towns and cities to produce very large settlements
• Convenience goods

  Goods bought almost every day from local shops e.g. bread and milk
• Counterurbanisation

  The movement of people from towns back to rural areas
• Dispersed settlement

  Where settlement is scattered and not concentrated
• Dormitory village

  A small settlement where many people commute to work in another settlement
• Dry point

  Higher points in otherwise poorly drained areas
• Favela

  A term used for a shanty in some south American Countries
• Function

  Another word for service or the purpose of a settlement e.g. mining or industry
• Greenfield site

  A site not previously built on.
• Hierarchy of Settlement

  A list of settlements in orders of population size, number and range of function and importance
• Hierarchy of Services

  Placing the services of a settlement or area in rank order of importance based on the population needed to support the service and the frequency of use.
• High-density housing

  Housing with a large number of dwelling units per square km
• High-order services

  Services with a large threshold population such as a department store. They are usually offered in small numbers and only found in the large settlements.
• High order settlements

  Settlements higher up in the hierarchy e.g. large cities which are fewer in number, spaced further apart and having a wider range of services.
• Linear settlements

  Settlement in a line often along roads
• Low-density housing

  Housing with fewer dwelling units per sq km
• Low-order services

  Services with a small threshold population such as a local shop or a primary school They are usually in large numbers and are found in most settlements.
• Low-order settlements

  Settlements lower down in the hierarchy e.g. small villages which are larger in number, more closely spaced and with a small range of services.
• Megacity

  A city with a population of over 10 million people.
• Nucleated settlement

  Where settlement is fairly compact and clustered around particular points. There are fewer isolated dwellings.
• Nucleated village

  A small settlement where buildings are clustered together
• Range

  The maximum distance that people are prepared to travel to obtain a particular service.
• Relief

  The height, steepness and shape of the ground surface.
• Residential area

  A housing area.
• Retail

  Shopping
• Rural-urban fringe

  The area just beyond the main built up area which has distinctive land uses, still linked to the urban area e.g. sewage works, golf course or airports.
• Service

  Anything that is provided in a settlement for a population including goods that can be bought in shops and other retail outlets e.g. food, petrol and clothing. Businesses like hairdressers which are sometimes called retail services as well as public services like schools, hospitals, government, police, water and electricity.
• Settlement

  Human habitations such as cities, towns, villages and isolated dwellings and their features.
• Settlement pattern

  The extent to which settlement is nucleated, dispersed or liner and its relationship with other features like relief and roads.
• Site

  The land on which a settlement or factory etc is built.
• Situation

  The position of a settlement in the surrounding area.
• Sphere of Influence

  The area served by a settlement or service
• Squatter Settlement / Shanty Town


  An area of poorly built, lowcost and often illegal housing found in and around cities in LEDCs. They are usually found on the edge of cities or wherever land is not used (due to flood or landslip risk).
• Threshold population

  The minimum number of people needed to provide a large enough demand for a service.