Rural and Urban Places HSC Topic Notes
Rural and Urban Settlement
Size, Pattern, and Spatial Distribution of Settlements
Different types of settlements
Remote settlement:
Sparsely populated areas with limited access to services.
Often found in geographically isolated regions.
Village:
A small settlement, typically in a rural setting.
Population ranging from 500 to 2,500 inhabitants.
Characterized by agriculture and close-knit communities.
Suburb:
Primarily residential areas located within commuting distance of a large city.
Often offer a mix of housing options, schools, and local amenities.
Regional center:
A town or small city that serves as a service and commercial hub for the surrounding rural areas.
Provides access to healthcare, education, and government services.
City:
A large and densely populated human settlement.
Diverse economic activities, infrastructure, and cultural amenities.
Wide range of opportunities in employment, education, and recreation.
Megacity:
A city with a population of over ten million people.
Face unique challenges related to infrastructure, housing, and environmental sustainability.
Urban mega-region (megalopolis or supercity):
A large network of metropolitan areas that have merged to form a continuous urban area.
Characterized by high levels of connectivity and economic integration.
Settlement patterns: The spatial distribution of buildings in a settlement, which can be influenced by various factors such as:
Dispersed:
Characterized by scattered and isolated buildings.
Typically found in remote or mountainous regions, or agricultural areas.
Linear:
Buildings are arranged in a line.
Often along major transport routes such as roads, rivers, or railways.
Grid:
Buildings are laid out in a rectangular grid pattern.
Provides a logical and organized urban structure.
Dense:
High concentration of buildings in a small area.
Often found in city centers or historic districts.
Nucleated or Cluster:
Buildings are grouped around a central area.
Such as a market square, religious site, or transportation hub.
Peripheral:
Settlements distributed in a circular pattern around a central point or feature.
Radial:
Pattern originating from a central point.
Buildings and streets radiating outwards.
Influences on size and spatial distribution
Location:
Proximity to resources, transportation routes, and other settlements can significantly impact a settlement's size and distribution.
Climate:
Temperature, precipitation, and other climatic factors can influence the types of activities that can be sustained in a settlement.
Topography:
The physical features of the land, such as mountains, valleys, and plains, can affect settlement patterns and accessibility.
Natural resources:
Availability of water, minerals, fertile soil, and other natural resources can attract settlement and economic development.
Population:
The size and density of a settlement's population can influence the demand for housing, services, and infrastructure.
Economic development:
The level of economic activity and diversification in a settlement can drive population growth and spatial expansion.
National and Global Urban Hierarchies
Based on population and urban function: Settlements can be ranked based on their population size and the types of economic, social, and cultural functions they perform.
Spheres of influence: A settlement's sphere of economic influence refers to the geographic area from which it draws resources, labor, and customers.
Hinerland: A settlement's sphere of economic influence.
Urbanization and Urban Growth at a Global Scale
*Urbanization: The process of making an area more urban, typically involving the movement of people from rural to urban areas and the transformation of land use.
*Urban Growth: An increase in the urbanized land cover, often driven by population growth and economic development.
Challenges Facing Rural and Urban Places
Rural areas may face challenges such as limited access to services, employment opportunities, and infrastructure, while urban areas may struggle with issues like overcrowding, pollution, and social inequality.
Interdependence of Rural and Urban Places
Rural and urban areas are interconnected through flows of people, goods, services, and information. Rural areas often supply food and natural resources to urban areas, while urban areas provide markets, employment, and specialized services to rural communities.
Environmental interdependence:
The environment we share brings urban and rural population together.
Economic interdependence:
Relates to the trade and the exchange of goods, services, labor and/ or finance that occurs e between rural and urban places.
Institutional Interdependence:
Government policies whether designed specifically for rural places or more broadly, will often reinforce rual-urban interdependence by the ways in which they are applied.
Identity-based Relationships:
People form attachments to places, and this influences their perception of those places.
The Australian bush has long played an important role in defining Australia identity.
Settlements with Small Ecological Footprint and High Wellbeing
*Ecological Footprint: A measure of the impact of a person or community on the environment, expressed as the amount of land required to sustain their use of natural resources. Settlements with small ecological footprints strive to minimize their environmental impact through sustainable practices.
Strategies for Sustainable Management
Rural and urban places can implement various strategies to promote sustainability, such as:
Investing in renewable energy sources and energy-efficient infrastructure.
Promoting compact urban development and reducing urban sprawl.
Protecting natural resources and biodiversity.
Encouraging sustainable transportation options, such as public transit, cycling, and walking.
Syllabus Outcomes
GE-12-01: Analyses rural and urban places, ecosystems, global biodiversity, and economic activity for characteristics, spatial patterns, interactions, and change over time.
GE-12-02: Analyses geographical processes and influences at various scales that form and transform places and environments.
GE-12-03: Assesses geographical opportunities and challenges, and the role of perspectives/responses in their management.
GE-12-04: Evaluates responses and management strategies for sustainability at various scales.
GE-12-05: Synthesizes and evaluates geographical information from various sources.
GE-12-06: Justifies geographical methods used in geographical inquiry and their relevance.
GE-12-07: Selects and applies geographical inquiry skills and tools to investigate places and environments.
GE-12-08: Applies mathematical ideas and techniques to analyze complex geographical data.
GE-12-09: Communicates and applies geographical understanding using knowledge, concepts, terms, and tools.
Investigation of a Rural and an Urban Place
Location and character of the place.
Geographical processes (physical and human) shaping the identity.
Links to other places.
Nature of changes affecting the place (social, economic, environmental).
Responses and strategies, including for sustainability.
Investigation of a Large City Outside of Australia
Character and spatial dimensions.
Geographical processes shaping the city and change over time:
Demographic trends: Changes in population size, composition, and distribution.
Social and economic patterns: The distribution of wealth, income, education, and other social and economic indicators.
Political and economic roles: The city's role in regional, national, and global political and economic systems.
Regional and global linkages: The city's connections to other places through trade, migration, and communication.
Challenges of living in the large city.
Responses to challenges and opportunities for sustainability:
Strategies to improve quality of life:
Reduce spatial inequality: Policies and programs aimed at reducing disparities in access to resources and opportunities across different areas of the city.
Glossary of Terms
Affordable Housing: Suitable housing for low-to-moderate income households, allowing them to meet other basic living costs.
Brownfield: Previously developed sites.
City: A large town.
Cultural Geography: The study of the relationship between culture and place.
Ecological Footprint: Impact of a person/community on the environment, measured by the land needed to sustain resource use.
Global Linkages: International connections via trade or infrastructure.
Greenfield: Areas available for development on urban edges or in suburban locations.
Hinterland: A settlement’s sphere of economic influence.
Informal Housing: Unauthorized housing that doesn't meet local authority standards, often in slums or shanty towns.
Megacity: A city with over ten million people.
Metropolitan Area: A city and its commuting zone.
Peri-urban: The area between city and country on the urban periphery.
Pour-flush toilet: A toilet where water is manually poured for flushing.
Range: The distance people travel for goods or services.
Regional Centre: A service access centre and transport node for surrounding towns.
Remote: A place far from main population centers.
Settlement Pattern: The distribution of buildings in a settlement.
Site: The characteristics of a settlement's location.
Situation: A place's location relative to other places or physical features.
Social Housing: Housing provided by government or non-profits for low-income or specific needs populations.
Spatial Dimensions: Focuses on where things are, why and how people interact with space.
Spatial Distribution: The study of the relationship between objects in physical space.
Spatial inequality: Unequal distribution of resources and services across different areas.
Suburb: An outlying district of a city, mainly residential.
Threshold: The minimum number of people to support a service.
Topography: The physical features of an area.
Urbanisation: The process of making an area more urban.
Urban Agglomeration: Cities exceeding administrative boundaries, including suburban and peri-urban areas.
Urban Consolidation: Policies to increase housing density in established areas.
Urban Decay: Physical deterioration of the urban environment.
Urban Growth: Increase in urbanized land cover.
Urban Mega Region: A group of metropolitan areas perceived as a continuous urban area.
Urban Renewal: Redevelopment of blighted urban areas to meet people's needs.
Urban Sprawl: Spread of urban land into undeveloped land on city outskirts.
Village: A rural settlement larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town.
World City: A centre of global economic and cultural authority.
Different Types of Settlements
Early human settlements were often near rivers for water access. Other factors included volcanoes and forests.
Important factors: water, land, fertile soil, topography, defense, bridging/nodal points, aspect, and building materials.
Settlements by Function: Main activity of a place. All settlements have multiple functions, but one often stands out (e.g., Canberra as Australia's government center, Sydney for financial services, Gold Coast for tourism, Darling Harbour as a tourist and recreational area).
Settlements by Function
Remote settlements: Geographically isolated with limited access to services.
Villages: Small settlements, typically in rural settings (500-2,500 inhabitants).
Suburbs: Predominantly residential areas within commuting distance of a large city.
Regional centers: Towns or small cities beyond major capital cities.
Cities: Human settlements of notable size with non-agricultural tasks. Have extensive systems for housing, transport, etc.
Megacities: Cities with over 10 million people.
Urban mega-regions: Groups of metropolitan areas seen as continuous urban areas.
The Spatial Distribution of Large Cities and Hierarchy of Settlements
Large cities are a relatively recent development
*In 1900, only 13 cities had populations over 1 million: London, New York, Paris, Berlin, Chicago, Vienna, Tokyo, St. Petersburg, Manchester, Philadelphia, Birmingham, Beijing and Moscow
*By 1950, there were 83, and in 2023, 512
*Projected to be 662 by 2030
Megacities: Defined by the UN as having over 10 million inhabitants
Determining city size depends on boundary definitions
*Toronto, Canada, has 3 million in the 'city proper' but 6.2 million in the 'urban agglomeration'
Hierarchy of settlements can be defined by population, function, or spheres of influence
*Size is important, but global influence is key
The larger the settlement, the greater the range of goods and services
*A population of 10,000 is needed for a McDonald's and 15,000–20,000 for a supermarket
Range and hinterland are determinants of a place’s functions
World cities control the flow of information, cultural products, and finance
*New York, London, Paris, and Tokyo are at the top
*The Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) measures influence with Alpha, Beta, and Gamma classifications.
Settlement Patterns
Settlements form various patterns, including dispersed, linear, and nucleated.
*Dispersed: Remote or mountainous regions; agricultural areas
*Linear: Along major transport routes.
*Grid: Logical square grids
*Dense: High frequency of buildings which are highly concentrated
*Nucleated or Cluster: Buildings clustered around a central area.
*Peripheral: Settlements distributed in a circular pattern.
*Radial : Pattern originating from a point.
Factors Influencing the Size and Spatial Distribution of Settlements
Include location, climate, topography, natural resources, population, and economic development.
Location
Historically located near fertile soils and fresh water for agriculture.
Located at natural crossing points on rivers or with access to mountain passes.
Trade routes in mountainous regions
Defensively, hilltop positions were ideal settlement locations.
Most settlements are located on coastlines, or on the banks of rivers with access to the sea
Climate
Settlements are found in all areas besides the most extreme climates.
*Technology has made life possible that at one point was difficult.
*Dubai became a place of global importance through the process of desalination
Topography
Typically built on relatively flat or gently sloping land in valleys.
Landform features, such as mountains, often form a barrier to the expansion of settlements.
Natural Resources
Settlements established where resources are readily available.
*Australia’s mining towns illustrate this point.
*Kalgoorlie, Ballarat and Bendigo prospered because of the gold rushes of the nineteenth century.
*Resources from the sea are important for coastal settlements
*Fish accounts for about 17% of protein consumed by humans globally and exceed 50% in many of the least- developed countries.
Population
Distribution is an important indicator because all people live in settlements.
Sparsely populated areas contain few people and settlements; densely populated areas has many people and settlements.
Economic Development
In pre-industrial societies, rural settlements dominated.
Steam-power, generated by the burning of coal, meant that proximity to the source of coal became the principal locational force in the development of industrial cities.
*Construction of electricity transmission grids and the transition to service and information-based economic activity has greatly reduced the importance of energy sources as a locational factor.
*Access to high-quality communication networks is an important considering.
*Coastal or river-based port locations, however, remain important as the increasingly integrated global economy has greatly boosted the world trade of goods.
Urbanisation and Urban Growth
Urbanization is the most important geographical process shaping Earth’s cultural geography.
More Than half the world's population now lives in urban places.
Urbanisation: Refers to the increasing proportion of a country’s population living in towns and cities.
Urban growth: Defined as the rate at which an urban population increases in a given period, relative to its size at the start of that period.
Rates of Urbanising are highest in the world's developing countries.
Urbanisation involves a shift of population from rural to urban areas.
Push and Pull factors: These factors are responsible for rural to urban migrations
Employment Opportunities
Landlessness
War and civil disobedience
Intolerance of alternative lifestyles
Desertification
Promise of higher living standards
Entertainment
Rapid population growth
Rural Poverty
Medical Facilities
Educational Opportunities
Lack of educational opportunity
Transfer of land from subsistence to commercial (export-orientated production)
Geographical features e.g. beach, mountains or lakes
Spatial patterns of urbanization
*In 2023, 57% of the world’s population lived in urban places
*The most urbanised regions of the world include North America (83%), Latin American and the Caribbean (81%), Europe (75%) and Asia (52%).
*Only Africa remains mostly rural, with only 44% of its population living in urban areas.
Africa and Asia are urbanising faster than other regions a projected to become 56% and 68% urban respectively, by 2050.
Challenges Facing Rural and Urban Places
Both rural and urban places face environmental and social challenges.
Challenges facing rural places
Lack of services, employment opportunities, and limited leisure activities are challenges.
Access to medical services is a key challenge - often requiring long distances to access basic medical services.
*Educational opportunities rarely extend beyond secondary years.
*Poverty rates tend to be higher in rural places than in urban places.
*Poverty rates are generally higher for First Nations peoples living in their country.
*Young people living in rural places often complain of boredom , and dug and alcohol use can be common
Accessing medical services is often difficult
*Employment opportunities are often limited to opportunities associated with the agricultural sector
Challenges facing urban places
Urban heat islands and air quality
Overcrowding and urban poverty
Housing affordability
Traffic congestion
Urban sprawl and its responses
*Provision of infrastructure, including water supply and quality and waste disposal
The availability of education
The availability of healthcare services
Urban heat islands develop when large urban areas absorb and retain heat.
Pollution from vehicles, factories, heating and cooling units in humans and commercial buildings releases even more heat.
Many cities are neither prepared nor equipped to deal with the overcrowding that results from rapid urbanisation and urban growth.
The nature of urban poverty is multidimensional:
Inadequate incomes
Little or no safety net for injuries or loss of property
Low quality and overcrowded housing
Insufficient infrastructure and basic services
High prices paid for food, water, rent and other necessities
Insufficient protection of individual’s civil and political rights, and increased exposure to discrimination, violence and crime
Inadequate and unstable base on which to build assets
Voicelessness that the urban poor experience I government and political systems
The solution to traffic congestion is not simply building more roads to allow traffic to flow freely.
*Improvement of public transport is often the most appropriate response to traffic congestion
*This includes the construction and maintenance of those amenities that people often take for granted such as school hospitals, roads, bridges, and public transport.
*The provision of clean potable water together with access to sanitation is a major challenge for the rapidly growing cities of the developing world.
*Informal settlements are rarely connected to the electricity grid because they develop in an unplanned fashion.
Most such rubbish ends up in Dharavi, an informal settlement where thousands of recyclers live and work. Much of the city’s rubbish ends up in incinerators, dumped in landfills or be left on the streets to be washed into the ocean.
A spotlight on Urban Consolidation
Urban consolidation is the term applied to policies designed to increase population densities in existing infrastructure, and to limit the spread of urban land uses into surrounding rural areas.
It involves the construction of medium and high density housing in already built up areas, often on former industrial sites.
The interdependence of rural and urban functions
Environmental interdependence
The environment we share brings urban and rural population together.
Economic interdependence
Relates to the trade and the exchange of goods, services, labor and/ or finance that occurs e between rural and urban places.
Institutional Interdependence-
government policies whether designed specifically for rural places or more broadly, will often reinforce rual-urban interdependence by the ways in which they are applied.
Identity-based Relationships-
people form attachments to places, and this influences their perception of those places.
The Australian bush has long played an important role in defining Australia identity.
Settlements and Sustainability
The promotion of sustainability, while enhancing human wellbeing, is an important objective of those responsible for planning and day-to-day functioning of settlements.
Smart growth strategies
‘Smart growth’ is the term apply to a suite of policies and tools designed to encourage environmentally sustainable urban development with less dependence on cars and neighbourhoods that include a mix of land uses that reduce the need for commuting.
It uses planning laws range of incentives and penalties to channel growth that reduces a place’s ecological footprint.
Smart growth strategies can discourage urban sprawl, reduce reliance on private transport, protect ecologically sensitive lands and waterways, and develop neighborhoods that are more rewarding and enjoyable places to live and work.
Limits and Regulations
Land Use Zoning
Tax-Related Measures
Promote mixed-use developments that include housing, commercial and recreational spaces
Concentrate development along public transport corridors
*New urbanism Greenfield and some brownfield developments now feature a diverse mix of detached dwellings, townhouses, duplexes and apartment buildings of various heights
Eco-city concept
The basic tenet of which is that cities are for people, not cars. It holds that the failure to make cities more sustainable detracts from being enjoyable places to live.
Mitigating the impact of urban heat Islands
There is a growing awareness of the importance of tree cover in urban area; the benefits of urban tree cover include:
*The natural climate control
*Carbon dioxide vacuum-
*Improve health indicators
*Local community builders
Promotes urban diversity
. *The Arcadis Sustainable Cities Index
*Aradis publishes a Sustainable Cities Index. The index offers a new vision of prosperity, one that puts the planet and its people at its center
* Planet indicators include people’s immediate needs (clean air, green spaces and waste management) plans to transition to clean energy and sustainable transport, and other strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
* People indicators include personal wellbeing (health, education, crime), working life (income inequality and work-life balance), and urban living criteria, such as the availability and reliability of public transport, broadband and will.
* Profit indicators assess business environment and economic performance, including commercial transport infrastructure, overall economic performance and business-related infrastructure.
Investigation of a Rural Place: Tamworth
Tamworth’s Location and Character
Tamworth is large rural service center Serving the New England and North West Regions of NSW.
Key terms: Country, Functional Hinterland, Multicultural, Regional Service Centre, Tree Change
Lands of the Kamilaroi People.
The land on which Tamworth is located is the traditional land of the Kamilaroi people.
The Kamilaroi language is classified as one of the Pama-Nyungan Language
Arrival of Europeans
was the first European to venture to the region. 1831, the first sheep and cattle station was established.
Geographical Processes Affecting the Identity of Tamworth
Physical Setting
geology, topography , and maritime setting shape character and culture.
Cultural Setting
country music capital of Australia; equine pursuits; has level of cultural/ economic sophistication distinguishes it from smaller towns.
Social Setting is less ethnically divers than rest of Australia
Sporting events
is an