Department of Geography

B.Sc. (II Semester)

Human Geography (Unit – IV)
Topic: Settlements - Types and Pattern of Rural Settlements

Shelter is one of the most important basic necessities of human being. Even the naked saints and
pygmies need a shelter to sound sleep (the physiological need of living being) at some place.
After food, it is most important need of man. People construct houses and develop settlements to
protect themselves against the vagaries of weather and to enjoy social life. In fact, settlement is
man’s first steps towards adopting himself to his physical environment.
Definition of Settlement
Settlement is a place where people live and interact with each other through various activities. It
is basically an occupance unit, comprising of the grouping and arrangement of two basic
elements viz., houses and roads. It is a concrete expression of the changing relationship between
man and environment. It is a space-bound social organization, varying from an isolated house or
a rural hamlet to a metropolis/megacity and responding variously to environment, economic,
cultural, technological and historical condition.
Origin of Human Settlement
The precise reasons of the origin of human settlement are not known. The events are shrouded in
mystery, as they occurred before the written history. There are only reasonable conjectures on
where and why permanent settlement began. Before the domestication of plants and
establishment of settlements, the human beings were nomads, wandering in tribes across
landscape in search of food and water. The historians have given several explanations for the
development of human settlement. The main reasons for the establishments of human settlement
have been religious, cultural, military, political and economic.
Factors affecting the establishment of Human Settlement
The pattern of human settlement is practically influenced by –
 Physical Factors: Relief, Climate, Soil and availability of water
 Cultural and Ethnic Factors: Social Structure, Caste and Religion
 Security Factor: Defense against theft, robberies etc.
Types of Settlement
Settlements are divided into two broad categories:

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(1) Rural Settlement: Rural settlements are those where people are mostly engaged in primary
economic activities (agriculture, mining, lumbering etc.)
(2) Urban settlement: Urban settlements are those where people are mostly engaged in non-
agricultural activities (secondary and tertiary economic activities)
Types of Rural settlement
Any settlement in which most of the people are engaged in agriculture, forestry, mining and
fishing is known as rural settlement. A rural settlement is often been called an agricultural
workshop. It cannot be separated from the land whose use it ensures. It’s type, shape and pattern
are generally in accordance with the kind of work, the agricultural techniques and the way the
soil is used. Most of the rural settlements of the world are stable and permanent. The rural areas
are dominated by open countryside, extensive land uses, relatively low population densities and
simple mode of life. It is opposite of urban settlement. Most of the world settlements are rural.
Rural Settlement is of following Types -
1. Compact settlement
2. Semi- Compact Settlement
3. Dispersed Settlement
4. Hamleted settlements
(1) Compact Settlement
A compact settlement is based on farming and its allied activites. These are mostly found in
highly productive alluvial plains like Indo-Gangetic Plains, the Hwang Ho Valley of China, and
Valley of Nile. The houses are compact and congested with narrow plains. The size of these
settlements depends on nature and resources of surrounding country. They have a high degree of
segregation and differentiation of the upper and lower castes. Compact settlements are also found
in hunting and fishing communities. This model has a center where several public buildings are
located such as the community hall, bank, commercial complex, school, and church. This center
is surrounded by houses and farmland. Small garden plots are located in the first ring
surrounding the houses, continued with large cultivated land areas, pastures, and woodlands in
successive rings. The compact villages are located either in the plain areas with important water
resources or in some hilly and mountainous depressions. In some cases, the compact villages are
designed to conserve land for farming, standing in sharp contrast to the often isolated farms of
the American Great Plains or Australia.

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(2) Semi – Compact Settlement
Semi-Compact is a transitional phase in the growth of compact settlement. The emergence is
because of the difference of semi-arid regions from humid regions and marginal productive land
to that of fertile land. Increase in population cause villages to grow in number of houses. These
houses occupy open spaces and lead to semi-compact settlement which ultimately acquires a
nucleated settlement. Semi – compact settlement certainly lacks the bond of cultural cohesion
and unity which finds its expression in a compact village, for here the scattered nature of the
settlements widens the social distance.

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(3) Dispersed Settlement
Dispersed Settlements are generally found in hills, plateaus and grasslands. These are found in
areas where it is essential that the farmer should live on his own land. Overpopulation is one of
the reasons for dispersed settlement. A dispersed settlement is one of the main types of
settlement patterns used to classify rural settlements. Typically, in stark contrast to a nucleated
settlement, dispersed settlements range from a scattered to an isolated pattern. If a part of the
population left a village to found a new one they often found dispersed rather than a new village.
Dispersed settlements are relatively recent in age like Steppe grasslands of Kazakhstan.

(4) Hamleted Settlements

Hamlets are tiny settlements. They are just a collection of houses, perhaps centered around a few
farms and may be without even a shop. These types of settlements are fragmented into several
small units. The main settlement does not have much influence on the other units. Very often the
original site is not easily distinguishable and these hamlets are often spread over the area with
intervening fields and the main or central settlement is either absent or has feeble influence upon
others. The hamlets are locally named. In India, these types of settlements are found in West
Bengal, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and coastal plains. On the basis of their socio-
economic condition two sub – types of hamlets may be distinguished. Traditional Hamlet and
latifundium type. Traditional Hamlet belongs to primitive people or aboriginal tribes like those
of Tharus, Bhills etc. The latifundium type hamlets are associated with agricultural farm estates
or plantations.

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Pattern of Rural Settlements
Pattern refers to the geometric form or shape of settlement. Pattern is also defined as the
relationship between one house or building to another.
(1) Linear Pattern
In linear pattern of settlement, houses are located along a road, railway line, river, canal edge of
a valley or along a levee. Linear pattern is easily recognized by the simple arrangement of houses
along a line or series of lines. The linear settlement along an ox-bow lake is called ‘horse-shoe
pattern.’ Linear Pattern is not very common in India as the roads are younger than the villages
they pass by and are later super-positions on the rural land scape.

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 Linear Settlement
(2) Rectangular Pattern
Rectangular patterns of rural settlements are found in plain areas or wide inter montane valleys.
The roads are rectangular and cut each other at right angles. This is a very common type which
develops around the rectangular shape of agricultural fields as it is common to find a system of
land measurement based on square units. Village paths and cart tracks also confirm to the
rectangular field patterns and run through the village in north-south and east-west directions.
Accessibility to farms and fields and connectivity to other settlements lead to rectangular shape
of settlements. In India, the settlements of coastal Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh and either
side of Aravali hills are the good example of rectangular pattern.

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(3) Square Pattern
This is basically a varient of rectangular type. Such a pattern is associated with villages lying at
the crossing of cart tracks or roads and also related to features restricting the extension of the
village outside a square space. These features may include an old boundary wall, thick orchards,
a road or a pond.

(4) Circular Pattern

Circular villages develop around lakes, tanks and sometimes the village is planned in such a way
that the central part remains open and is used for keeping the animals to protect them from wild

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animals. In the upper Doab and Trans – Yamuna districts, Malwa region, Punjab and Gujarat,
large villages are characterized by a very high degree of compactness. The outer walls of
dwellings adjoin each other and present a continuous front so that when viewed from outside, the
villages look like a walled and fortified enclosure pierced by a few openings. The round form
was a natural outcome of maximum aggregation for the purpose of defense during the past.

(5) Radial Pattern

In this type, a number of streets converge on one centre which may be a source of water (pond,
well), a temple or mosque, a centre of commercial activity or simply an open space. Thus, the
streets seem to be radiating from a common centre. Examples are settlements near Gurushikar,
Mount Abu in Rajasthan, Vindhyachal in Uttar Pradesh, etc.

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(6) T Shaped or Y Shaped Pattern
T- Shaped settlements develop at tri-junctions of the roads ( ) while -shaped settlements emerge
as the places where two roads converge on the third one and houses are built along these roads.
Cruciform settlements develop on the cross-roads and houses extend in all the four direction.

Problems of Rural Settlement

 Rural settlements in the developing countries are large in number and poorly equipped
with infrastructure. They represent a great challenge and opportunity for planners.
 Supply of water to rural settlements in developing countries is not adequate. People in
villages, particularly in mountainous and arid areas have to walk long distances to fetch
drinking water. Water borne diseases such as cholera and jaundice tend to be a common
problem.
 The countries of South Asia face conditions of drought and flood very often. Crop
cultivation sequences, in the absence of irrigation, also suffer.
 The general absence of toilet and garbage disposal facilities cause health related problems

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 The design and use of building materials of houses vary from one ecological region to
another. The houses made up of mud, wood and thatch, remain susceptible to damage
during heavy rains and floods, and require proper maintenance every year.
 Most house designs are typically deficient in proper ventilation. Besides, the design of a
house includes the animal shed along with its fodder store within it. This is purposely
done to keep the domestic animals and their food properly protected from wild animals
 Unmetalled roads and lack of modern communication network creates a unique problem.
During rainy season, the settlements remain cut off and pose serious difficulties in
providing emergency services.
 It is also difficult to provide adequate health and educational infrastructure for their large
rural population.

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