Theme 1: Population and settlement Flashcards
What is overpopulation?
When there are more people living in the area than the resources available.
What is under population?
When there are less people living in the area than the resources available.
What is optimum population?
When there is a balance between the number of people and the resources available.
What is birth rate?
Average number of live births in a year for every 1000 people
What is death rate?
average number of deaths for every 1000 people
What is natural increase?
Birth rate minus death rate
Causes of over population
High birthrate and low death rate
High fertility rate
Lack of family planning
Low level of education to women hence married early.
High infant mortality
Religious beliefs
Impacts of over population
Lack of water, sanitization, housing, food.
High crime rate and poverty.
Unemployment
Increased pressure on health, education, water, sanitization.
Soil erosion and deforestation
Causes of under population
Low birthrate and high death rate
Low fertility rate
Increased family planning and access to contraception.
High level of education to women hence have careers and marry late.
Low infant mortality
No religious beliefs
Impacts of under population
More ageing population hence more people in retirement age.
Low crime rate
Shortage of workers
Health and education hence costs increases as population ages.
Few people to pay for taxes.
What are the 2 ways in which population can change?
Migration
Natural population change
What is migration?
Movement of people from one place to another
What is an immigrant?
People who arrives at a country to live there permanently
What is an emigrant?
People who leaves the country to live in another country permanently
What is net migration?
Number of immigrants minus number of emigrants
What are the types of migration?
Internal migration
International migration
Temporary migration
Permanent migration
Involuntary (forced) migration
Voluntary migration
What are the origin: push factors?
Unemployment
War
Pollution and congestion
Bad weather
High crime rates
Poor education and healthcare
Poor housing
Famine
Drought
Inaccessibility
Pollution
What are the destination pull factors?
More job opportunities
Better salary
good health and education services
Peaceful and safe
Friends and family may already live there
Citizenship
Higher standard of living
Closer to relatives
Freedom of speech
Better lifestyle
Less hazards
What are positive impacts of migration on country of origin?
Less pressure on healthcare
Decline in birth rate
Migrants bring back new skills.
Money is sent back
More job opportunities hence unemployment rate decrease
Decrease traffic congestion and pollution.
Increased quality of education and healthcare
What are negative impacts of migration on country of origin?
Labour force reduced.
Brain drains
Division of families
Left with elderly population
Tax increase
More ageing population
Depopulation in rural areas affecting agriculture.
What are positive impacts of migration on country of destination?
Overcomes labor shortage.
Dirty unskilled jobs done.
Brings expertise to country
Skilled migrants bring innovations
Cultural diversity and enrichment
Will work long hours for low salary
Boosts local economy
What are negative impacts of migration on country of destination?
Competition for jobs
More pressure on healthcare, education and public services
Traffic congestion
Less religious amenities for immigrants
Discrimination and racial problems
Increased pollution
Positive impacts on migrants themselves?
More job opportunities
Better salary & access to wider variety of good
Better access to education & healthcare
Safer & peaceful
Higher pay
Higher standard of living
Send remittances to family back home.
Better quantity of life
Negative impacts on migrants themselves?
Difficulty in finding houses to stay
Language barriers
Different culture may be difficult to integrate.
Separated from friends and family.
Higher cost of living.
Not used to weather conditions.
Visa and weather conditions
What are the impacts when the young dependent population is too little?
Closure of child related services; fewer
jobs.
Less consumers and taxpayers in the future
and less people to take over the working
population.
An increase in the age of the population
What are the impacts when the old dependent population is too little?
The strain on pension systems; decrease in
retirement age.
Population structure changes.
Expensive medical and health care.
Loneliness
Increased residential costs.
What are the impacts when the young dependent population is too much?
Taxes for public schools from government and more child related services needed.
More people in working population in
future hence unemployment.
Increased dependency ratio
Pressure on healthcare and education
Define population density
number of people per unit of area
Define sparsely populated
an area with low population density
Define densely populated
an area with high population density
What are physical factors that influence a sparse population
Harsh areas; mountainous or uneven relief
Extreme/harsh climates and bad weather
High risk of flooding
Infertile soil
Locations with frequent natural disasters
No water supplies
What are physical factors factors that influence a dense population
Flat relief
Favorable climates and good weather
Availability of natural resources for industry and manufacturing.
Fertile land for crops
No or few natural disasters
Good water supply
What are economic factors factors that influence a sparse population
No economic opportunities
No infrastructure
No transport routes.
Bad communication
What are economic factors factors that influence a dense population
Many jobs opportunities
Good infrastructures
Many transport routes to travel easily
Good communication
What are social factors factors that influence a sparse population
High crime rates
No Cultural and religious beliefs
What are social factors factors that influence a dense population
Low crime rates
Cultural and religious beliefs of having big
family.
What are political factors factors that influence a sparse population
Government corruption
Poor public services such as healthcare and
education
Civil war
Low birth rate and high death rate.
What are political factors factors that influence a dense population
Reliable and stable government
Good public services
No threats or wars.
High birth rate and low death rate.
Describe a dispersed settlement
An isolated, building or a group of two or three buildings, separated from the next by 2 or 3 km
Describe a linear settlement
Buildings are strung along a line of communication, for example a main road, a river valley, or canal
Describe a nucleated settlement
Buildings are grouped together, initially for defence, or a common resource.
What is a site
Describes the physical nature of where a settlement is located – the actual piece of land
What is a situation
Describes settlement in relation to other
settlements and physical features around it this determines whether the situation will grow into a large city or remain a small town or village
What are the factors influencing settlements
Wet point site: this has a good water supply
Dry point site: this has less risk of flooding
Building material: availability of stone, wood, clay etc.
Defensive site: in a river meander or on a hill with steep sided and commanding views
Fuel supply: for heating and cooking
Food supplies: land suitable for farming
Nodal points: where routes converge
Bridging point: river shallow enough to build a bridge
Aspect: settlements often on sunny side of a valley
Shelter: from cold prevailing winds and rain
Climate: Good climate attracts more people.
Fertile land: brings in more farmers.
Location: access for trades and raw materials.
Hierarchy
A hierarchy is when settlements are ordered and classifies based on:
Population size.
Number of services provided.
Number of settlements
Sphere of influence
An area served by a settlement
Services
Facilities that are offered to people e.g.
supermarket. Services have a threshold population, which helps explain why bigger settlements have more services.
Range
The distance that people are prepared to travel to use a service
Threshold population
The minimum amount of people required for a service to be offered and remain open.
High Order Goods (Comparison)
Goods that people buy less frequently. They tend to be more expensive and people will normally compare quality and price before purchasing e.g. a car
Low Order Goods (Convenience)
Goods that people buy every day. They don’t usually cost much money and people would not normally travel far to buy them
Rural areas
Tend to have a lot less functions than urban areas. The main purpose of settlements in rural areas is normally agriculture & low-order services. This is because rural areas have less people, poorer transport, poorer communication,
less technology, & the land is better used for other purposes.
Urban area
tend to have a lot more functions ranging from shopping functions, to educational
functions, to transport functions, to administrative functions and residential functions; more middle and high order services.
Urban sprawl
The spread or growth of an urban area into the rural-urban fringe; provides mostly middle – order services
The CBD
Centre point of the city and has highest land prices
Most accessible point in the city
High-rise buildings and skyscrapers
Land uses in the CBD
Leisure and recreation - may include open land
Residential - High/multi-story buildings.
Transport - road and rail networks, train stations and airports
Business and commerce - offices, shops, and banks
Industry - factories, warehouses, and small production centers
Why is the CBD in the centre
A central location for road/railways to converge
The most accessible location for workers
Accessible to most people for shops and businesses
Problems that CBD face
congestion, pollution, and lack of space
Older inner-city area
Typically found next to CBD
Has mainly terraced houses in a grid like pattern
Suburbia
Urban sprawl and owning cars led to construction of well-planned and spacious houses
Larger than inner city terraces & most have a garden
Typically, detached or semidetached
Roads are arranged in cul-de-sacs and wide avenues
Land prices cheaper than in CBD and inner city
Demand can make some areas expensive
Outer-city estate
Located on the fringes of cities with varied housing
People relocated here when inner city was being redeveloped
Rural urban fringe
This is found at the edge of a town or city
Mixture of land uses e.g. housing, golf courses, allotments, businesses, parks and airports.
Urban Growth/Sprawl
rapid urbanisation, due to building in the rural-urban fringe and land reclamation Problems of urban growth in urban area
