Holly Lodge Girls' College

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Holly Lodge Girls' College Geography
Department Revision Materials Settlement
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Settlements

• Settlements are places where people live and work
• Settlement Site the physical piece of land the
  settlement is built on
• Settlement Situation the settlement in relation
  to its surrounding area
• Site Factors
• Water Supply a river, lake, pond, well, spring
  etc needed for drinking, washing etc. These are
  called wet-point sites. Some areas were marshy so
  villages had to be built on mounds. These were
  called dry-point sites
• Aspect/Shelter south facing slopes (adret) are
  warmer with more sunshine and sheltered from
  northerly winds
• Defence more important in years gone by.
  Forts/castles to protect from neighbouring tribes
  etc
• Resources food supply was vital so fertile
  soils were needed, wood supply for fuel and
  building,
• Communications settlements often grew at
  bridging points over rivers. Others grew as a
  route focus which attracted trade from other
  places

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Settlement Hierarchy

• A settlement hierarchy arranges settlements in
  order of the size of its population, the range
  and number of services, the sphere of influence.

• Sphere of Influence (SOI) the distance that
  people will travel to that settlement. The larger
  the settlement the larger the SOI
• Convenience goods small goods like bread, milk
  newspaper etc. Available in smaller settlements
• Comparison goods larger, expensive goods e.g.
  cars, TVs etc usually only found in larger
  settlements
• Threshold Population the amount of people
  needed for a shop/service to stay
• Range of a Good the max. distance that people
  will travel to use a shop/service

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Settlement Functions
The function of a settlement is its purpose why
it is there and the work that it does
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Settlement Functions

• Many settlements in the UK have changed their
  function over time
• Most began with farming but over time
  mechanization (more farm machines) reduced the
  need for farm workers so people sought employment
  in towns. Therefore these villages now tend to
  house people who travel (commute) to nearby
  cities
• Case Study Shincliffe in County Durham
• Began life as a farming village with fertile
  soils in the Middle Ages
• As the population rose the mine opened with many
  workers moving to the area to find jobs in the
  mines
• By the 1990s many local coal mines had been
  closed down. This meant that jobs were lost.
  People moved out and services closed down
• Eventually the area was modernised and people
  moved out to the village and commute to the city
  for their jobs. Shincliffe is now a commuter
  settlement

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Urban Morphology
Urban land uses are the shops, industries,
offices, housing, parks and open space found in
larger settlements. Each type of land use tends
to cluster together to give urban zones e.g. the
CBD. Morphology is the term given to the pattern
of the internal structure of a city An Urban
Model for Cities in MEDCs The Burgess Model

• Based on 2 main ideas
• Cities grow outwards so it is younger on the
  outskirts and older in the middle. The original
  site is often where the CBD is found
• Land costs are highest in the CBD where land is
  in short supply and usually easy access. Away
  from the centre costs decrease allowing more
  housing

Most British cities dont fully conform there
are many differences e.g. tourist resorts with
strips of hotels and shops behind the beach
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Urban Morphology
An Urban Model for Cities in LEDCs

• Features
• CBD is located centrally as with all models
• Industrial zone along transport link e.g. railway
• Less regular than the MEDC model and more zones

4. There is only a very small sector of high
class housing usually next to the CBD or other
prime sites such as near the beach 5. No
extensive areas of middle class housing as in
MEDCs 6. Largest zone is that of the shanty towns
that stretch vast distances on the outskirts of
town. They often occupy wasteland, swamps or
steeper slopes that can be very unstable
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Transect Through a City
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The Central Business District (CBD)

• The CBD is not static, it is dynamic (it
  changes). It grows and it declines. Some areas
  look smart while other areas look run down
• Main Functions of the CBD
• Shops The CBD is at the top of the shopping
  hierarchy. Widest range of shops selling
  comparison goods (see earlier slide). In the
  middle (core) of the CBD we find the large chain
  and dept. stores. On the edge (frame) of the CBD
  we find the smaller locally owned independent
  shops.
• Offices we find banks, building societies,
  solicitors, company HQs and government offices in
  high rise office blocks
• Culture and Entertainment parts of the CBD come
  alive at night. Theatres, clubs, cinemas, bars
  and restaurants can be found in the CBD. Certain
  parts of cities have become famous for its
  nightlife e.g. Londons West End

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Problems and Solutions in the CBD
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The Inner City
Wealthy workers moved out of the inner city to
the suburbs and commuter villages as a result of
the problems outlined below
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Improving Inner Cities

• Attitudes of planners are changing!
• More Brownfield sites (land already built upon)
  being redeveloped
• Less Greenfield Sites (land never built upon
  being developed
• Local Communities now involved in the decision
  process
• Tower blocks have been refurbished
• Case Study Inner City Manchester
• Hulme City Challenge launched in 1992 tried to
  provide 3000 low rise homes accompanied by more
  local services
• Gentrification the movement of wealthy people
  back into areas of former urban decay
• This has happened in areas like the Salford Quays
  and Castlefield where old warehouses have been
  turned into luxury apartments and bars,
  restaurants and clubs

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The Rural-Urban Fringe

• Urban Sprawl the unchecked growth of towns into
  the countryside
• Motorways and Bypasses
• Car ownership and road building encouraged in
  1980s. Result congestion and noise pollution
• Solution was to build even more roads! But these
  schemes often caused much opposition from
  conservationists and local people
• By late 90s public opinion and government policy
  had changed and more emphasis was placed on plans
  to reduce traffic and increase use of public
  transport e.g. tolls on motorways, cheaper public
  transport, increased cost of fuel and car parking
• Many new road schemes have now been delayed or
  scrapped
• Conservation and Green Belts
• These are areas of land around cities designed to
  protect the countryside. Their aims are to
• Check the sprawl of large urban areas and prevent
  towns from merging
• Safeguard surrounding countryside
• Assist in urban regeneration by encouraging
  re-use of derelict land

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The Rural-Urban Fringe

• Commercial and Industrial Development
• More developments have seen increases in
  out-of-town shopping areas
• They offer cheaper land and lower rates
• Plenty of space for large one storey buildings
• Open space easy to landscape
• Cleaner and less congested
• Easier access to motorways for deliveries etc
• Pressures and Issues
• The rural-urban fringe is a very attractive
  location for new housing and commercial
  developments
• You get the benefit of the countryside and the
  town facilities
• Farmers are willing to sell land as they can get
  10x more money for it. Farming is now becoming
  more unprofitable
• Farmers suffer problems such as crop trampling,
  sheep worrying and vandalism when their farms are
  on the rural-urban fringe

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Urbanisation

• Urbanisation urban growth which leads to an
  increase in the percentage of people living in
  urban areas
• Urban Growth in MEDCs
• Happened after the industrial revolution. People
  left countryside to get jobs in factories in
  towns
• Town populations increased rapidly but is now
  slowing down some cities are now experiencing
  de-population
• Urban Growth in LEDCs Huge growth rates due to
• Rural-urban migration
• High rates of natural increase among the youthful
  population of these cities
• Concentration of industries making the cities a
  natural magnet for young people looking for work
• This has led to the distribution of the largest
  cities now being found in the LEDCs. By 2000
  there were 18 megacities (population of more than
  10million) and 12 of them are found in Asia

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Urbanisation

• Advantages from Urbanisation
• For the economy
• Big cities attract investment
• More value is added by manufacturing than by
  exporting raw materials
• For peoples incomes
• Variety of employment opportunities increases
  more chance of regular paid work
• Self help work in informal sector brings more
  money than farming
• More commercial opportunities for farmers to sell
  their produce at market
• For Peoples Quality of life
• Safe water supply, sanitation and electricity
  more likely to occur
• Often secondary education is only available in
  the cities
• Opportunities for Improvement
• Improvements in shanty towns, jobs can provide
  more skills for people
• Possibilities are present that dont exist in
  rural areas

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Problems of Growth in LEDCs Shanty Towns

• Environmental Problems
• Huge amounts of traffic congestion even though
  car ownership is low
• Pollution leads to health problems like asthma
  and bronchitis
• In Beijing smog pollution can reduce visibility
  to 200 metres
• Rivers and seas used as dustbins
• Economic Problems
• Unemployment and poverty are big problems
  mainly finding work
• Most shanty town dwellers are underemployed
  very few hours and earning very little
• A few may find jobs in the industrial zones but
  travelling there may be very expensive

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Problems of Growth in LEDCs Shanty Towns

• Social Problems
• Social problems are mainly to do with housing and
  the effects on health
• Most big cities in LEDCs are surrounded by
  squatter/shanty towns. Called favelas in Brazil,
  bidonvilles in North Africa and bustees in
  Calcutta (India)
• Found on any spare land that the migrants can
  find including steep slopes, swamps and rubbish
  tips. They are avoided by other people as they
  are often prone to landslides, flooding and
  pollution
• The shelters are homemade from any materials that
  can be found e.g. cardboard, steel drums etc.
  They typically only have 1or2 rooms and lack
  basic amenities like clean running water and
  electricity
• Sewage often runs down the street in the gutters
  leading to diseases like cholera which spread
  really quickly not helped by lack of refuse
  collection. As a result, infant mortality rates
  are VERY high as they are vulnerable
• Many families, especially children are
  malnourished due to poor quality and low quantity
  foods
• The underlying cause of all the problems is
  poverty!

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Solving Problems in Shanty Towns

• Cairo Case Study
• Traffic Congestion
• The Cairo Metro is a great success. The trains
  are clean, cool, and well run
• The metro is used by about 2 million commuters a
  day
• Sewage
• The Greater Cairo Sewage project helps to repair
  the citys crumbling system. The main aim is to
  extend sanitation to areas without any
• Cairo has an efficient rubbish collection system
  in the Zabbaleen. They often reuse/resell the
  refuse. They have official licence from the
  government to do this
• Housing
• This is the biggest problem but there are no
  shanty towns. Brick houses are built illegally on
  fertile growing soils next to the Nile. These
  illegal houses cover 80 of the city
• 2-3 million people set up home in the City of
  the Dead
• Urban sprawl has been combated by new cities such
  as Sixth of October city. A car factory is found
  there which provides jobs and therefore attracts
  more migrants. The government provides incentives
  for people wishing to move there

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Self-Help Schemes

• How to solve the shanty town problems? Bulldoze
  them? But then we would have more homeless
  people! Aided Self-Help (ASH) is an organisation
  that hopes to speed up the process of improving
  homes in shanty towns. It involves
• Giving shanty town dwellers legal rights to the
  land
• Connecting them to essential services such as
  water, electricity and roads
• Providing building materials, technical help and
  lloans
• Changes in Squatter Settlements Over Time
• Poor migrants from rural areas
• Squatter settlements poor shacks
• Gain work, have some income to improve houses
• Shanty town self-built houses
• Regular work, community action, ASH, legal
  titles, public services provided
• Low income residential district