Geography: Module 2 - Key Terms Population Structure, Urbanization, Settlements

Key Terms

Dispersed Settlement

A settlement pattern in which most of the houses are scattered in the countryside rather than being concentrated in towns and villages

Nucleated Settlement

A settlement in which houses and other buildings are tightly clustered around a central feature such as a church, village green or crossroads.

Hamlet

A small rural settlement that is more than just an isolated dwelling but not large enough to be a village. Typically, it has 11-100 people. IN the UK, it may have a church and a pub but very little else.

Village

A small assemblage of houses, smaller than a town or city and larger than a hamlet.

Function

A classification of settlements based on their socio-economic functions, for example market towns, commuter towns and ports.

Form

The shape of a settlement, mainly influenced by its physical geography and topography.

Linear Settlement

Housing that has grown up along a route such as a road. Many settlements show this pattern, since roads offer improved access to employment centres.

Cruciform Settlement

Occurs at an intersection of roads and usually consists of lines of building radiating out from the crossroads.

Green Village

A village that consists of dwellings and other buildings, such as a church, clustered around a small village green or common, or other open space.

Site

The immediate location in which a settlement is located.

Situation

The relative location in which a settlement is located.

Aspect

The direction in which something faces.

Dry Point Site

An area free from flooding, in an otherwise wet region, for example a hilltop site surrounded by a march.

Wet Point Site

A settlement with a reliable supply of water in an otherwise dry area.

Spring Line Settlement

A line of settlements at a site where water is available.

Hierarchy

The organisation and structure of settlement based on size and the number of functions that a settlement has. At the top of the hierarchy are cities and conurbations. At the base are individual farmsteads and hamlets.

Low Order Goods/Services/Functions

Items or services that are purchased/required frequently (convenience goods), such as milk or bread. People are not prepared to travel far to buy such items and there is no real saving in shopping around.

High Order Goods/Services/Functions

Expensive services and goods (comparison goods) such as electrical goods and furniture, that the shopper will buy only after making a comparison between various models and different shops.

Range

The distance that people are prepared to travel to obtain a good or service.

Threshold

The minimum number of people necessary before a particular good or service will be provided in an area.

Sphere of Influence

Every settlement serves a specific area for a variety of functions such as education, healthcare, shopping and recreation.

Dormitory Settlement

A settlement that has a high proportion of commuters in its population.

Commuter

A person who travels into a large town or city for work but lives in a different settlement.

Accessibility

The ease with which a place may be reached. An area with high accessibility will generally have a well-developed transport network and be centrally located.

Urban Land Use

A simplified model of the land use (such as industry, housing and commercial activity) that may be found in towns and cities.

Bid Rent

A model which states that land value and rent decreases as distance from the central business district increases.

Concentric Model (Burgess)

A model of urban land where different activities occur at different distances from the urban centre. The result is a sequence of concentric circles or rings.

Central Business District (CBD)

Where most of the commercial activity of a town or city is found.

Sector Model (Hoyte)

A model of urban land use in which the various land use zones are shaped like wedges radiating from the central business district.

Suburb

The outer part of an urban area. They generally consist of residential housing and shops of a low order (newsagent, small supermarket). They are often the most recent growth of an urban area. Their growth may result in urban sprawl.

Gentrification

The movement of higher social or economic groups into an area after it has been renovated and restored. This may result in the out-migration of the people who previously occupied the area. It most commonly occurs in the inner city.

Urban Renewal

An urban area where existing buildings are either demolished and rebuilt or renovated.

Greenfield Site

An area of agricultural land or some other undeveloped site that is a potential location for commercial development or industrial projects but has not yet been developed. Such sites are normally on the edge of town and have good transport links.

Rural-Urban Fringe

The boundary area of a town or city, where new building is changing land use from rural to urban. It is often a zone of planning conflict.

Urban Sprawl

Outward spread of built-up areas caused by their expansion. Unchecked urban sprawl may join cities into conurbations.

Hypermarket

A very large self-service store selling a wide range of household and other goods, usually on the outskirts of a town or city.

Out-of-Town Location

A location found on the edge of town (often a greenfield site) where land prices are lower, land is available for development and accessibility to private cars is high.

Deprivation

A condition in which a population group suffers from a poor quality of economic, social and environmental conditions.

Inner City

The area that surrounds the central business district of a town or city. In many cities, this is one of the older industrial areas and may suffer from decay and neglect, leading to social problems. They are characterised by poor-quality terraced housing with old manufacturing industry nearby.

Urbanisation:

The process by which the proportion of a population living in or around towns and cities increases through migration and natural increase.

Megacity:

A very large city, typically with a population of over 10 million people, that influences global culture, economy, and politics. In 1997 there were 18 megacities, 13 of them in developing countries.

Slum:

An area of poor quality housing. Slums are typically found in parts of the inner city in developed countries and in other parts of the cities in developing countries. Slum housing is usually densely populated, in a poor state of repair, and has inadequate services.

Shanty Town:

Unplanned, illegal shelters constructed from cheap or waste materials (such as cardboard, wood, and cloth). Shanty towns are commonly located on the outskirts of cities in developing countries, or within large cities on derelict land or near rubbish tips.

Millionaire City:

A city with more than 1 million inhabitants.

Decentralisation:

The movement of people or industry away from the centre of the city to the suburbs or the edge of the city.

Brown Area:

The range of environmental problems associated with large cities.