Rural and Urban Settlements
NCERT Class 12 • Fundamentals of Human Geography • Chapter "Human Settlements" | NCERT Class 12 • India People and Economy • Chapter "Human Settlements"
Rural and Urban Settlements
A settlement is a place where people live and carry on their activities. Settlements are grouped into rural, where most people work in farming and related primary activities, and urban, where most work in secondary and tertiary activities and the population is larger and denser.
Rural Settlement Patterns
- Compact or nucleated settlements have houses built close together, common in the fertile river plains where land is productive and defence was needed.
- Dispersed or scattered settlements have isolated huts spread over a wide area, common in hills, forests and pasture land.
- Semi compact settlements fall between the two, with a clustered core and scattered outskirts.
- Linear settlements grow along a road, river, canal or embankment.
- Site is chosen for water supply, flat land, fertile soil, safety and building material.
- Rural settlements depend on the land, so their size and pattern follow the pattern of farming.
Urban Settlements and Urbanisation
- Indian census practice defines an urban place by a minimum population, a density threshold and a share of male workers in non-farm work, along with statutory towns like municipalities.
- Urban centres are classed by size as town, city, million city, metropolis and megalopolis.
- Towns are classified by function: administrative, industrial, transport, commercial, mining, garrison, educational, religious and tourist towns.
- Urbanisation is the rising share of people living in urban areas, driven by industry, services and rural to urban migration.
- Fast growth has brought housing shortage, slums, traffic congestion, water scarcity, waste and air pollution.
- Planned towns such as Chandigarh show how layout can be designed in advance.
- Satellite towns and ring roads are used to take pressure off an overcrowded core city.
| Settlement Type | Where Found | Key Feature |
|---|---|---|
| Compact | Fertile river plains | Houses close together |
| Dispersed | Hills and forests | Isolated houses |
| Linear | Along road, river or canal | Strip shaped |
| Urban | Towns and cities | Non-farm work, high density |
Urbanisation — the increase in the proportion of a country's population living in urban settlements.
Exam me kaise aata hai
- Settlement along a road or river is called — linear
- Scattered isolated houses form which settlement — dispersed
- Chandigarh is an example of a — planned town
- Rising share of urban population is called — urbanisation
UPSC/State PSC ke liye
- Compact settlements in the plains reflect both fertile land and the historic need for collective defence, which is why they thin out in hill and forest areas.
- Urbanisation in India has been driven more by migration and reclassification of villages than by natural increase in the cities themselves.
Yahan confuse hote hain
✗ Dispersed settlements are found in fertile plains | They are found in hills, forests and pasture land | ✓
✗ Every large village is an urban settlement | Urban status also depends on density and non-farm work | ✓
✗ Urbanisation means growth of city population only | It means the rising share of population living in urban areas | ✓
Ek nazar me
- Rural patterns: compact, semi compact, dispersed and linear.
- Site depends on water, land, soil, safety and building material.
- Urban classes by size; towns also classified by function.
- Urbanisation brings services but also slums, congestion and pollution.
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