Settlement vocabulary Flashcards
rural
To do with villages and the countryside
Urban
To do with towns and cities.
Industrial
To do with factories and manufacturing.
High order settlements
Settlements, usually towns or cities, which provide goods and services that are bought infrequently and that are expensive so people are willing to travel a long way to buy or use them.
High order
Goods or services that are bought infrequently and are expensive.
Low order/Convenience Goods
Goods and services that are bought frequently and which are usually cheap.
low order settlements
Settlements, usually villages and hamlets, that provide goods and services that are bought frequently and are cheap so people are only willing to travel a short distance to buy or use them.
Range
The distance people are prepared to travel to buy a good or service e.g. low order goods and services have a small range; high order goods and services have a large range.
Sphere of Influence
The area surrounding an activity that is influenced by it e.g. sports centre or a local park. It is also called the catchment area.
site
the physical characteristics of the area.
settlement
Any form of permanent place of residence
Situation
The situation of a settlement describes the location of the settlement in relation to other neighbouring settlements and transport routes.
Nucleated settlement
Settlements are made up of a cluster of buildings, usually around a central point, such as a crossroads or bridge over a river. Many have developed in lowland areas where land is fertile.
Linear settlements
Settlements are long and thin ( ribbon shaped). These develop along a road or river valley or in an area where flat land is limited.
Dispersed settlements
Farms and isolated buildings that are scattered across the countryside and surrounded by farmland. often found in upland areas.
Function
The function of a settlement is its main economic activity or purpose e.g. Market town, Port, Industrial Town, Tourist Resort
Sheltered site
often in the lower parts of valleys - often on warmer, south facing slopes (aspect).
A wet point site
near to a reliable source of water - beside a river, stream.
A dry point site
Normally slightly raised to avoid flooding.
Bridging point
Is a shallow area along a river where bridges can be built.
nodal point
A place at which things, such as transportation routes, converge.
Settlement Hierarchy
a way of arranging settlements into a rank order based upon their population or some other criteria.
Service hierarchy
Settlements can be ranked according to the type of services they provide, such as health care or education.
Threshold population
The minimum number of people needed before a particular good or service can be provided in an area.
conurbation
an extended urban area, typically consisting of several towns merging with the suburbs of one or more cities.
Megalopolis
a region in which several large cities and surrounding areas grow together
CBD -Central Business District
The main commerical and shopping area of a town or city.
inner city
the older, central part of a city with crowded neighborhoods in which usually low-income groups live.
Rural-urban fringe
Where the urban area meets the rural countryside at the edge of a town or city.
bid-rent curve
a chart explaining land costs getting cheaper as you move away from the CBD
Urban Regeneration
*The revival of old parts of the built‐up area by either installing modern facilities in old buildings (known as renewal) or opting for redevelopment (ie demolishing existing buildings and starting afresh).
enterprise zones
Specific geographic areas to which governments try to attract private business investment by offering lower taxes and other government support
Gentrification
A process of converting an urban neighborhood from a predominantly low-income renter-occupied area to a predominantly middle-class owner-occupied area.
Counter-urbanisation definition
When large numbers of people move from urban areas into surrounding countryside or rural areas.
urban sprawl
The process of urban areas expanding outwards, usually in the form of suburbs, and developing over fertile agricultural land.
Suburbanisation
Suburbanization is a population shift from central urban areas into suburbs, resulting in the formation of urban sprawl
Green Belt
Areas of land surrounding a city where any new housing or industrial development is forbidden or is severaly restricted to protect green land around the city.
Dormitory settlement
People who live in these settlements, do not work in them as they travel to work in the cities and towns.
commuter belt
A residential area within relatively easy reach of (and often surrounding) a city, where many of the residents travel to and from the city daily.
NIMBY
An acronym for the phrase “not in my back yard”. Opposition by residents to proposed developments in their local area,
Greenfield site
A plot of land, often in a rural or on the edge of an urban area that has not yet been subject to any building development.
Brownfield site
Land that has been used, abandoned and now awaits some new use. Commonly found across urban areas, particularly in the inner city.
Favelas
Housing areas that often lack basic services, such as running water;sewage and electricity; the residents have no legal right to the land on which they live.
