Settlement Dynamics - 6.1 Changes in rural settlements

Question 1

Why do changes in rural settlements occur?

Answer 1

• Rural-urban migration
• Urban-rural migration
• The consequence of urban growth
• Technological change
• Rural planning policies
• The balance of government funding between urban and rural areas

Question 2

What is the cycle of rural depopulation?

Answer 2

1. Unmarried young adults migrate to regional centres for better socio-economic opportunities
2. Population decreases, ages and births fall below replacement level
3. Reduction in business services due to falling demand like bus services, pubs etc.
4. Key service provisions cut i.e. schools
5. Loss of service induces out-migration of young families and ensures that in-migration is minimal
6. Ageing population - disintegration of balanced community

Question 3

What is service provision?

Answer 3

Services - shops, post offices, restaurants, healthcare etc. are the basis of any community, creating a sustainable future and quality of life for its residents.

Rural services have been in decline for a number of decades within HIC’s as population patterns within rural areas are changing, and out-population being the main option for young adults. While the government has a role to play, closing over 2500 post office branches in the last decade, other reasons for rural service decline include:

• The effect of market forces and the arrival of supermarkets in rural areas, making local service no longer competitive.
• The changing pattern of rural population, with more mobile residents with different shopping and consumer patterns becoming a greater part of the rural pattern of life.
• A change in expectations of rural residents themselves, no longer prepared to make do with relatively poor and expensive services, and, in many cases, with the means and opportunity to access better services.
• Only 12% of rural housing is subsidised, compared to 25% of urban housing.

Question 4

What are the contemporary issues in rural settlements in LIC’s?

Answer 4

Rural-urban migration has created an advantageous safety value in some areas with:

• Reducing rural population growth and pressure on food, water and other resources
• Helping to limit unemployment and underemployment
• Providing a valuable source of income through the remittance of migrants

But, in some areas, the scale has been so great that it has resulted in:

• Rural depopulation and an ageing population
• The closure of services, both public and private, as population declines
• Insufficient labour to maintain agricultural production at its former levels

Question 5

What factors create and perpetuate rural poverty?

Answer 5

• Political instability and civil strife
• Systematic discrimination on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity or religion
• Ill defined property rights or unfair enforcement of rights to agricultural land - and a high concentration of land ownership
• Large and rapidly growing families with high dependency ratios
• Economic policies that discriminate against the rural poor from the development process