GEOGRAPHY AS CAMBRIDGE - SETTLEMENTS INTRODUCTION
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Settlements vary in size, type, location, and function. Larger settlements tend to be multifunctional cities that provide more services to more people from a wider sphere of influence compared to smaller villages. When choosing a settlement site, factors like access to water, defensive positioning, resources, and transportation routes were historically important. Modern planning also influences settlement location and situation.
GEOGRAPHY AS CAMBRIDGE - SETTLEMENTS INTRODUCTION
- 2. SIZETYPELOCATION Settlements are varied in size, type and location. More can be learnt about a settlement by studying its size, placement in the landscape, and its situation in relation to surrounding features.
- 3. SETTLEMENT A settlement is a place where people live. Settlements can be as small as a single house in a remote area or as a large as a mega city (a city with over 10 million residents).
- 4. Southampton is a city with a large port on the coast of England
- 5. TYPESOFSETTLEMENTS A settlement may be permanent or temporary. An example of a temporary settlement is a refugee camp. A temporary settlement may become permanent over time. This has happened to many refugee camps that have been built in conflict zones.
- 6. FUNCTIONSOFSETTLEMENTS Settlements usually develop to have a specific function. For example, the settlement of Southampton is a port.
- 7. SETTLEMENTSITE The piece of land upon which a settlement is built is the settlement site. There are many reasons why a site might be chosen for the development of a settlement and some factors will be more important than others.
- 8. SITEFACTORS1WETPOINTSITESDRYPOINTSITES Dry point sites - these are away from the risk of flooding, eg. Ely in Cambridgeshire. Wet point sites - these have a good water supply. Many settlements grew around wet point sites, eg. villages in the South Downs.
- 9. SITEFACTORS2DEFENSIVESITESASPECT Defensive sites - often found on higher ground so that in the past, enemies could be seen from a distance, eg. Corfe Castle, Dorset, or in the loop of a meander, eg. Durham. Aspect - settlements are often found on the sunny side of a deep valley. This is common in settlements in the Alps. Corfe Castle
- 10. SITEFACTORS3SHELTERGAPTOWNSRESOURCES Shelter - from cold prevailing winds and rain. Gap towns - Lincoln is found in a gap between two areas of higher ground. Resources - important for industry, eg. villages such as Aberfan in the Welsh valleys is close to coal reserves.
- 11. SITEFACTORS4BRIDGINGPOINTTRADINGCENTRES Bridging point - settlements with 'ford' in their name often grew around a fording point or bridging point, eg. Watford is found on the River Colne. Trading centres - often settlements grow where natural route ways and rivers meet, which helps the development of roads, railways and canals.
- 12. SITUATIONOFASETTLEMENT The situation of a settlement is its position in relation to the surrounding human and physical features, many of which will have an impact on the settlement's type, size and function. Modern settlements - decisions about location and situation have been made by planners Historical settlements (Southampton) - need to be close to a river because drinking water is important for domestic use and waterways are important for transport.
- 13. SETTLEMENTFUNCTIONS Most large settlements in MEDCs are multifunctional and perform a range of functions such as retail, education and industry. When settlements first started to grow, most had only one distinct function, and others developed as the settlement grew.
- 14. FUNCTIONS1PORTS Port - the original function of cities such as Liverpool and Southampton. Both are still ports, but this function has diminished in importance and they are now multifunctional.
- 15. FUNCTIONS2MARKETTOWNS Market town - Watford was originally a market town, and although it still holds a regular market, it is now a thriving multifunctional centre.
- 16. FUNCTIONS3RESORTS Resort - Southport was a popular Victorian seaside resort, although it now has many functions and is a commuter settlement for Liverpool.
- 17. FUNCTIONS4NATURALRESOURCES Natural resources in the area enabled Sheffield to develop as an important centre in the iron and steel industry. Although steel is still produced, its prominence has declined and Sheffield is a thriving multifunctional city.
- 18. SETTLEMENTSHIERARCHY If we group and classify a number of settlements according to their size and shape, the result is settlement hierarchy.
- 19. HIERARCHYEXPLAINED As you move up the hierarchy, the size of the settlement and the distance between similar sized settlements increases. There are more cities than conurbations, more towns than cities and more villages than towns.
- 20. SERVICES The number of services that a settlement provides increases with settlement size. Small settlements will only provide low-order services such as a post offices, doctors and newsagents. Large towns, cities and conurbations will provide low and high-order services such as leisure centres, chain stores and hospitals.
- 21. SPHEREOFINFLUENCE Larger settlements and conurbations have a much larger sphere of influence than smaller ones. This means they attract people from a wider area because of the facilities they offer. Cities such as London have a global sphere of influence, whereas a small hamlet or village may only have a sphere of influence of a couple of kilometres.
- 22. THRESHOLD Services such as department stores selling high order goods have a higher threshold than those selling low order goods such as newsagents. This means they need a higher number of people to support them and make them profitable, therefore they will only be found in larger settlements. It also means that there are fewer big department stores than small newsagents.