A human settlement is defined as a place inhabited more or less permanently.

The houses may be designed or redesigned, buildings may be altered, functions may be changed, but settlements continue to exist in time and space.

Rural Urban Dichotomy

It is widely accepted that settlements can be differentiated as Rural and Urban. Although population size is an important criterion, it is not a universal one. WHY? Basic difference b/w towns and villages is that in tows the main occupation of the people is related to secondary and tertiary sectors. While, in villages, it is related to primary sector.

 Differentiation of settlements on the basis of FUNCTIONS is more meaningful, even though it is not uniform.
Example : petrol pumps are considered higher order functions in India. But, they are a lower order function in USA.

Even within a country functions may vary according to REGIONAL VARIATIONS.

Types of settlements
1] Compact settlements 2] Dispersed settlements

Factors affecting Rural Settlements

Water supply wet points Land Upland dry points Building material loess area of China Defense inselbergs sites in India Planned settlements

Patterns
On the basis of setting plain, plateau, coastal, forest, desert. On the basis of functions farmers, lumberjacks, fishermens, pastoral etc. On the basis of shapes linear, crossshaped, star shaped, T-shaped, circular, double pattern.

Problems
Water supply Water-borne diseases. Sanitation problems. Susceptible to damage in rains/floods. Unmetalled roads and lack of communication.

Classification
Population size
1500 in Columbia, 5000 in India, 30,000 in Japan. [per sq km] 250/sq km : Denmark, Sweden, Finland

Occupational structure
Italy : 50% population India : 75% population

Administrative setup
India : municipality, cantonment board Brazil, Bolivia : any administrative centre is urban irrespective of population.

Functions
Administration New Delhi, Canberra, London. Trading and commerce
Agri. Mkt : Winnipeg and Kansas Financial centre : Frankfurt and Amsterdam Large inland centres : Manchester Trade nodes : Lahore, Agra.

Cultural towns Jerusalem, Mecca, Varanasi

 Additional functions
Health & recreation : Miami & Panaji Industrial : Pittsburg & Jamshedpur Mining & quarrying : Broken Hill & Dhanbad Transport : Singapore & Mughal Sarai. Educational : London & Delhi IT : Osaka & Bangalore

Types
Town City Conurbation : Patrick Geddes in 1915 Megalopolis : Jean Gottman in 1957 Million city : London reached the million mark in 1800, followed by Paris in 1850, New York in 1860.
The rate of increase in the number of million cities has been three-fold in every three decades :around 160 in 1975 to around 438 in 2005.

Mega cities of the world

Rank
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.

City
Tokyo Mexico City Seoul NY Sao Paulo Mumbai Delhi Shanghai LA Osaka Jakarta Kolkata Cairo Manila Karachi Moscow Buenos Aires Dhaka R-d-J Beijing London Tehran Istanbul Lagos Shenzhen

Country
Japan Mexico South Korea USA Brazil India India China USA Japan Indonesia India Egypt Philippines Pakistan Russia Argentina Bangladesh Brazil China GB Iran Turkey Nigeria China

Problems
Economic Social Environmental Problem of Slums : Dharavi -Case study

Buses merely skirt the periphery. Autorickshaws cannot go there, Dharavi is part of central Bombay where three wheelers are banned. Only one main road traverses the slum, the miscalled ninety-foot road, which has been reduced to less than half of that for most of its length. Some of the side alleys and lanes are so narrow that not even a bicycle can pass. The whole neighbourhood consists of temporary buildings, two or three storeyed high with rusty iron stairways to the upper part, where a single room is rented by a whole family, sometimes accommodating twelve or more people.

But Dharavi is a keeper of more somber secrets than the revulsion it inspires in the rich; a revulsion, moreover, that is, in direct proportion to the role it serves in the creation of the wealth of Bombay. In this place of shadowless, treeless sunlight, uncollected garbage, stagnant pools of foul water, where the only non-human creatures are the shining black crows and long grey rats, some of the most beautiful, valuable and useful articles in India are made.

From Dharavi come delicate ceramics and pottery, exquisite embroidery and zari work, sophisticated leather goods, high-fashion garments, finely-wrought metalwork, delicate jewelery settings, wood carvings and furniture that would find its way into the richest houses, both in India and abroad Dharavi was an arm of the sea, that was filled by waste, largely produced by the people who have come to live there: Scheduled Castes and poor Muslims. It comprises rambling buildings of corrugated metal, 20 meters high in places, used for the treatment of hides and tanning. There are pleasant parts, but rotting garbage is everywhere