Paper 2 geog

• Settlement


  A structure where human beings reside, may be made up of one or several dwellings
• Site


  The space or position occupied by a settlement, the land upon which a settlement is built
• Site of a settlement


  • Can be built upon a hill, on the slope of a hill or in a valley
• Location/situation


  The position of a settlement in relation to its surroundings, e.g. between mountains, at a road junction, along a coastline
• Types of countryside outside the urban area

  • Urban fringe
  • Commuter belt
  • Accessible countryside
  • Remote countryside
• Urban fringe


  • Quickly lost to urban growth, particularly where no planning controls such as green belts exist
• Commuter belt

  • Countryside, but settlements within it are used as dormitories by urban-based workers and their families
• Accessible countryside


  • Beyond the commuter belt, within a day trip reach, very much a rural area
• Remote countryside


  • Takes the best part of a day to reach from a city, almost totally rural, settlements have always existed with farmers working in extreme conditions, living in small houses isolated only where they can work
• Retirement village


  A place where economically elderly dependant has houses, likely to contain houses close together with services, developed as people who come to retirement age are looking for a better standard of living with a rural theme
• Rural population has changed in character (gentrification) - the countryside has been repopulated by middle-class groups who took advantage of cheaper housing in the countryside in the 1960s and 70s and who now exert a strong influence over the areas they have moved to in terms of the types of services provided
• The economy is no longer dominated by agriculture and employment in agriculture is reduced - Although farmland takes up 73% of the land area of the UK, less than 2% of the workforce is now employed in agriculture, down from 6.1% in 1950, mainly due to the increase in mechanisation on farms
• Farm diversification - As many farmers have struggled to make a living from traditional agricultural practices, many have begun to diversify, creating activities on their land to gain additional income, e.g. tourism and recreation such as rent out land for camping or having a farm visitor centre
• Higher house prices and lack of affordable housing - As richer middle classes have moved to rural areas, this has increased demand for housing and therefore the house prices have risen in some rural areas, meaning some original families can no longer afford the housing
• Formation of metropolitan/suburbanised villages (due to counter-urbanisation) - As counter urbanisation has occurred with people moving out of cities to the countryside, some villages around the city have grown where people have moved to enjoy the rural areas but still be able to commute to work in the city
• Rural depopulation - This was occurring in the past when people began to leave rural areas to move to the city, however, this process is being reversed with the process of counter-urbanisation
• Decline of rural services - Services such as shops, healthcare and education have been declining in rural areas in MEDCs for several decades, greatly impacting people in rural areas, particularly those without a car, due to the increase in large supermarkets close to villages and new residents still using services from the urban areas they came from
• Reduction of public transport - The increase in car ownership in recent decades has meant that public transport such as buses has reduced as fewer people use it, however, this means people without a car have become isolated
• Cornwall


  • Rural area in SW England surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean
  • Most jobs traditionally in primary industries like farming, fishing, mining and quarrying
  • These jobs are in decline
• Farming declines


  Cheaper to import food from other EU countries
• Fishing declines


  Sea has been overfished and few fish left
• Mining declines


  Reserves have been exhausted
• Quarrying declines


  New technology means fewer people needed
• Cycle of multiple deprivation

  1. Job losses as traditional industries fold

  2. City becomes less attractive to business and workforce

  3. Reduced job opportunities

  4. Less spent in shops and services by population

  5. Less money available to individuals and city council to maintain housing and public buildings

  6. Results in further job losses in retail and services
• There are problems with relying on tourism as an industry
• Problems with tourism


  • Jobs are seasonal and low paid
  • Lack of opportunity for young people
• High inward migration of the retired and high out-migration of the 16-29 age group leading to a 'brain drain'
• Young people and low-wage earners are increasingly forced out of the housing market resulting in an increased need for social housing
• Village stores and post offices are closing down, 72% of rural areas do not have a village shop
• Travel is expensive and slow, Penzance is 5 hours from London by the fastest train
• Withdrawal of EU subsidies and overseas supermarket sourcing


  Leads to declining farming
• Road travel is slow, the M5 stops at Exeter
• EU quotas limit the quantity of fish the UK can take from the sea


  Along with declining fish stocks, has seriously damaged the fishing industry
• Poor transport links increases transport costs which keeps manufacturing out of the county
• The exhaustion of tin reserves led to the closure of Cornwall's last tin mine in 1998
• Such a weak transport infrastructure makes economic growth difficult
• Tourism employment is highly seasonal, part-time and poorly paid
• 33% of all households in Cornwall live in areas ranked within the 25% most deprived nationally
• The remoteness of Cornwall has led to a weakened local economy that has been unable to link effectively to national and international trade
• A typical terraced house in Cornwall costs nearly eight times the average Cornish income compared to 5 times the average income in England and Wales