Title: Urban & Rural Settlement Geography – GoLearnGeography
Headings: Urban & Rural Settlement Geography
Urban & Rural Settlement Geography
Settlement is a place where people live and interact through activities such as agriculture, trading and entertainment
Settlement in geography help us to understand man’s relationship with his environment.
A rural settlement is a community involved predominantly primary activities such as farming, lumbering and mining.
A urban settlement engages in predominantly in secondary and tertiary activities such as food processing and banking.
There is often correlation between functions , population sizes and population density.
A rural settlement tends to have small population and low population density.
Urban settlement often has a large population size and high population density.
Site Factors for Settlement
Physical environment determine the site of a settlement depend on
1.Water supply – water is essential for human survival and agricultural activities.
2.Relief – the availability of broad flat land such as floodplains promote agricultural activities.
3.Soils- fertility of soils also another considerations for agricultural activities
4.Shelter-which are sheltered from natural elements. Windswept highland with harsh cold climate are conducive for settlement.
5.Defence– Threat from enemies and predatory animals drove people to live together for protection.
URBAN GROWTH
The town and cities grow in size and number as the urban population expands. The rapid rate of Urbanisation in developed and developing countries brings a host of urban problems due to a large increase in the number of urban dwellers.
The problems are
1.Housing- lack of house and cant afford of proper housing. Development of squatter settlement.
2.Water supply- shortage of water supply due to the demand of water supply and poor piping system.
3.Transport- too many cars in major cities. Poor public transport system
4.Pollution- domestic and industrial waste contribute to land pollution in urban areas.
Solutions to the Urban Problems
1.Housing – provide high rise flat since the land is scarce like in Singapore and Hong Kong. Most of the middle class residential live at HDB ( Housing Development Board) Flats in Singapore.
–Provide low cost housing to relocate slum dwellers and squatter.
–Improve the living condition of slum and squatter settlements instead of removing them by providing piped water and sanitation.
–Control to reduce the rural urban migration by this it can reduce the overcrowding in the city.
2. Water supply- to increase water supply is build more reservoirs.
–To improve the quality of water, more treatment plants should be built and old rusty pipes must be replaced.
–educate the public in the virtues of water conservation.
3. Transport- to ease congestion in the developed countries road and railways network have to extended.
– Build extensive expressways and wider roads to ensure smooth flow of traffic.
-impose fine to protect the environment such as littering and emission of excessive exhaust fumes.
Urban Theory
URBAN ZONING
SLUM & SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS
The Living Conditions and the features of Squatter settlements.
Examples of Slum and Squatter settlements
Published by Cikgu Geography

Content: Urban settlement often has a large population size and high population density. Site Factors for Settlement
Physical environment determine the site of a settlement depend on
1.Water supply – water is essential for human survival and agricultural activities. 2.Relief – the availability of broad flat land such as floodplains promote agricultural activities. 3.Soils- fertility of soils also another considerations for agricultural activities
4.Shelter-which are sheltered from natural elements. Windswept highland with harsh cold climate are conducive for settlement. 5.Defence– Threat from enemies and predatory animals drove people to live together for protection. URBAN GROWTH
The town and cities grow in size and number as the urban population expands. The rapid rate of Urbanisation in developed and developing countries brings a host of urban problems due to a large increase in the number of urban dwellers. The problems are
1.Housing- lack of house and cant afford of proper housing. Development of squatter settlement.