Settlement

Settlement

During this unit you will understand more about the built environment around you by looking at different settlements past and present and how things have changed.

Site and Settlement

The reason why sites for settlements were chosen for the earliest settlements would be different to choosing sites today. Original sites were chosen based on their natural features and advantages, nowadays sites would also be based on human factors.
There were originally seven natural factors that were taken into consideration, perhaps by a tribe leader who was looking to settle his people somewhere.
The more advantages a site had the more likely it was for the settlement to grow:

PROTECTION
Hilltop locations give good views of the enemy if you are likely to be attacked
Hilltop views also give good lookout points

WATER SUPPLY
Drinking
Cooking
Washing
Could come from a variety of sources, a river, spring or well for example
However, too much water could lead a settlement that could flood or become marshy

RIVERS
Water supply
Needs to be easy to cross either on foot at a ford or by a bridge

BUILDING MATERIALS
Wood or stone to build settlement

SHELTER
South facing slopes have more sun and therefore are warmer
North facing slopes are exposed to the cold northerly wind

SUPPLY OF WOOD
Fires
Cooking
Building material

FLAT LAND
Easy to build on
Able to grow crops
Easier for communication e.g. travelling to other towns
Nowadays, factors such as transport networks are also taken into account when deciding to locate somewhere.

Settlement Patterns
The pattern or shape of early settlements would have been influenced by the surrounding area. Three main types of settlement pattern can now be identified:

DISPERSED
Found in upland areas
Buildings are spread out
Many dispersed settlements comprise of farms

LINEAR
Buildings are built in a line
This could be along a river valley, road or railway

NUCLEATED
Buildings are grouped together
Early settlers grouped together for protection
Found in flat, lowland areas
Settlement growth
Many people in Britain live in a town or city, normally due to work constraints. These large settlements grew very quickly in the nineteenth century because of industrialisation and many people moving to the towns and cities for work. Towns and cities in Britain are no longer growing in size but in some countries, cities are becoming very large. This is because many people believe the large settlements have many benefits to living there and that moving there will improve their quality of life. Many of the people who believe this live in rural farming areas in poor countries where their quality of life is very low.
     Potential benefits include:

Houses and flats to buy or rent
More jobs
Higher paid jobs
More reliable food and water supply
Variety of shops
Being closer to work and shops means less time and money spent on travelling
Better access to services, such as schools and hospitals
Entertainment such as cinemas, clubs and sport
However, many of the benefits term out not to be accessible to the people who move and many people already living in towns and cities see them as having many problems. These problems include:

Traffic can cause congestion, accidents, noise and air pollution
Old roads are narrow and cannot cope with lorries and buses
Old houses and factories look rundown and ugly
Waste land where old houses and factories are demolished
Crime, vandalism and litter
Land is expensive so housing tends to be too
Not necessarily enough jobs to go round and people need to be skilled to get high paid jobs

Land use
Towns originally had just one main function, e.g. a port or market. Nowadays, towns and cities have various different functions. The main functions are commerce or shops and offices, residential, industrial and open space. Each of these functions tends to be in a specific area of a city so a land use pattern emerges. It must be noted, that no two towns are identical but they may be similar, because of this a simple model was drawn called an urban model. The simple urban model has 4 circles radiating from the centre in rings:

ZONE A
Centre of the town
Also known as the Central Business District(CBD)
First place to built in the town
Few houses
Area of shops, businesses and offices
Most expensive area to build in - which is why many CBD's have buildings that are tall rather than wide

ZONE B
Originally area of factories and workers homes built in the nineteenth century
Small terraced houses due to expensive land. Houses have no gardens or garages.
Called the inner city area
Today, many of the factories are closed down and the oldest houses have been modernised or replaced
Areas of waste land and run down factories and housing

ZONE C
Nearly all houses built in the 1920's and 1930's (inter war)
Called the inner suburbs
Houes are semi-detached, with a garden and garage.

ZONE D
Large, modern housing estates with large gardens and garages
Council estates
Called the outer suburbs
Small, modern industries and shops have set up here due to the cheap land

Areas of open space
Land use can change over time in towns particularly where areas close to the CBD are modernised and areas of open space in the outer suburbs have large shopping centres built on them.

Settlement Hierarchy
A settlement hierarchy orders the largest to the smallest settlements in a triangle shape. There are more smaller settlements than large, hence the triangle shape. From the top down would be megalopolis, city, town, village and hamlet. There are three methods to test the hierarchy which are:

The larger the settlement the further it is away from another large settlement
The larger the settlement the fewer there are of them
The larger the settlement the more services it will have (post office, churches and shops etc)

Shopping
Types of shopping areas can also be arranged into a hierarchy depending on the goods they sell. Places at the bottom of the pyramid sell low order goods and are small. A low order good is also known as a convenience good and is something which may be needed on a daily basis (e.g. milk). At the top of the pyramid are places that sell high order goods and tend to be large. A high order good is also known as a specialist good and is something that is needed less often (e.g. furniture).

Most shops are found in the CBD of a city becuase this is the most accessible area, however some shops are now moving to out of town sites to create large retail parks (e.g. Bluewater Shopping Centre). The out of town sites tend to be located on the edge of cities and are easily accessible to the public.
The advantage of this, is that people can go to one place for their shopping in an area that is easy to reach and not as congested as the CBD. However, the main disadvantage is for independent retailers who cannot afford the high rent of out of town centres and have to remain in the CBD where less people now visit. The final impact could be that the independent retailers are forced to close down.

Homework Help:
Reasons for siting a settlement - think of two reasons that would influence the original site for a settlement.

Locating a settlement - for each of the four diagrams think of one reason why the settlement is there.
Should Aylsham Market Place be pedestrianised? - based on the work done in class and the primary data collected in Aylsham you have to answer the question posed with evidence