The different types of settlements

Disclaimer: Changing places is a topic which very closely relies on case studies. As each school will be covering different case studies (apart from case studies on large urban centres e.g. Liverpool) I will not be including case studies apart from when it is vital to understanding a concept, and if the case study is on a large urban centre e.g. Liverpool.

Task: create a list of these definitions and chose an example of each one for close to where you live.

Key terms for different kinds of settlements:

·         Built-up area – areas of built-up land joined together, where the gap between developed land is less than 200m.

·         City – a large settlement that depends mainly on the service and knowledge industries, along with manufacturing: it is an aggregation of places. UK cities have to be granted city status by the Royal Charter; the UK currently has 69 cities.

·         City region – an area serviced by and functionally bound to a city. It normally includes the journey to work and study regions.

·         Community – a set of interacting but diverse groups of people found at a particular locality. It maybe tied together by common heritage, although many can be very diverse.

·         Conurbation – an urban area that has fused together over time. It may grow from 1 centre or from several.

·         Dispersed city – an American term used to define cities that have sprawled over a wide area.

·         Dormitory village/ commuter village – a settlement in which the population is socially urban and works in nearby urban areas. Estate agents misappropriate the word to describe new developments & boost the attractiveness of city neighbourhoods.

·         Exurbia – areas beyond the urban areas, where people who live mainly rural surroundings but work in urban areas.

·         Global hubs – large cities that are at the heart of the global economic & financial system.

·         Hamlet – a small cluster of dwellings/ farms that are lacking services.

·         Isolated dwellings – single or pairs of rural dwellings often in sparsely populated areas.

·         Locality – a descriptive term for where people live out their daily working and domestic lives. It can vary in size and geographers use the term loosely for anything from the small scale to a large-scale urban area.

·         Megacity – cities with very large populations.

·         Megalopolis - the growing and merging of urban areas.

·         Metropolitan areas – frequently used instead of conurbation.

·         Minor built – up rural area – a rural area with a main settlement of under 10,000 people

·         Neighbourhood – distinct & recognisable residential areas maybe the location of home and its immediate environment. It can be someone else’s home base & area. It is an area of similar housing, persons and lifestyles.

·         Primary Urban Area – a built-up urban area of a city that invariably extends beyond its’ administrative area.

·         Rural Settlement – a village, hamlet and/or isolated farms in the countryside formerly associated with primary employment. Most of the population do not work in the countryside.

·         Rural – urban fringe – a dated term that refers to the immediate surroundings of an urban area.

·         Suburb – an area of mainly residential units that has been developed around the core of a town or city. It has increasingly contained other uses such as; industry, retail, offices, recreational buildings, pubs, open spaces.

·         Town – small urban area with a range of services to serve an area that may include some; independent retailers, schools, post offices, banks and estate agents.

·         Village – small rural settlement with some functions e.g. post office, shops, pubs and a church. Population sizes vary from 200-7000, but the UK has much larger villages than other countries e.g. Italy.