Study of SettlementsSettlement Geography

Geography deals with the features on the surface of the earth and hence includes human built forms like towns/villages.

Settlement geography More relevant to human lifeMoulds the environment

Study overlaps Sociology, Economics & Architecture

Mainly deals with Urban Geography - Each village is unique, but dynamic urban centres displayed common features and common processes of growth and decay.Various facets

Settlement as an Unit study of plan, morphology, architecture and relationship of settlement with the physical, economical and social environment.

Settlement as part of a system - interrelatedness of various units ranking, hierarchy & classification

Settlement as part of the landscape impact of the settlement on the nature of land beyond the settlement

Humanistic Vs Structuralist method of GeographySubjectivity of both the observer and the observed come into playSettlements are regarded no longer as merely physical entities affected by the laws of growth or morphological change.Seen to exist more as ideas in the minds of their inhabitants to be perceived through their cultural spectrum.Settlement

A human settlement place inhabited by more or less permanently by men and women.The area of interaction of a given group of people and includes areas of residential, social and economic activity.Ideas of permanence, habitation and interaction.

Two identities social - generates a feeling of belonging which gives social identity& Administrative more concrete & specific - revenue village, panchayat etc.

Settlement.

Perception of settlement is different from village to cityIn village, the components of the environment are not too varied and hence impressions wont vary much from people to people.Every villager is aware of the layout of the fields and distances.Urban dwellerVery different imagesDistance is thought in terms of money, time etc.Safety factor

SiteAll settlements need some site advantage initially.Flood prone areas have dry point settlements, mountainous region have spur line settlements where slope is less etc.Cities are less dependent as site factors are manipulated artificially.

Settlement.

SituationDoes not affect as much as site doesFor village settlements important situations are nearness to urban centres, degree of connectivity etc.

Cities flourish only if there are situational advantages economy of hinterland, close location of other cities and good transport routes.

Settlement size refers more to its population than to areal extent.Population density of a village is proportional to the carrying capacity of the land.Minimum size for a settlement to be urban approx. 5000Settlement.

The termEkistics(coined byKonstantinos Apostolos Doxiadisin 1942)- the science of human settlements. It includes regional, city, community planning and dwelling design. The study of all kinds ofhuman settlements, with a view to geography and ecology the physical environment and human psychology and anthropology, and cultural, political, and occasionally aesthetics.Ekistic UnitsAnthropos 1room 2house 5housegroup (hamlet) 40small neighborhood (village) 250neighborhood 1,500small polis (town) 10,000polis(city) 75,000

small metropolis 500,000metropolis 4 millionsmall megalopolis 25 millionmegalopolis 150 millionsmall eperopolis 750 millioneperopolis 7,500 millionEcumenopolis 50,000 million

Settlement.

Conurbation/metropolitan area a supercity consisting of multiple cities and towns. The population is usually several million.

Large City a city with a large population and many services. The population is >1 million people.

City a city would have abundant services, but not as many as a large city. The population of a city is over 100,000 people.

Large town a large town has a population of 20,000 to 100,000.

Town a town has a population of 1,000 to 20,000 Village a village generally does not have many services, possibly only a small corner shop or post office. A village has a population of 100 to 1,000.

Hamlet a hamlet has a tiny population (