Human Settlement means cluster of dwellings of any type or size where human beings live.

✓ The process of settlement inherently involves grouping of people and apportioning of

territory as their resource base.
✓ It refers a human community with all the social, material, organizational, spiritual, and
cultural elements that sustain it.
✓ Settlements vary in size and type - They range from a hamlet to metropolitan cities. With
size, the economic character and social structure of settlements changes and so do its
ecology and technology.
✓ Sparsely located small settlements are called villages, specializing in agriculture or other
primary activities.
✓ On the other hand, larger settlements are termed as urban settlements specializing in
secondary and tertiary activities.

TYPES AND PATTERNS OF SETTLEMENTS

Settlements may also be classified by their shape, patterns types. The major types classified by
shape are:
(i) Compact or Nucleated settlements: These settlements are those in which large number of
houses are built very close to each other. Such settlements develop along river valleys and in
fertile plains. Communities are closely knit and share common occupations.

STOBOSA, La Trinidad, Benguet Port Harcourt, Nigeria

(ii) Dispersed Settlements: In these settlements, houses are spaced far apart and often
interspersed with fields. A cultural feature such as a place of worship or a market, binds the
settlement together.

Passwang Pass, Jura Range, Switzerland Mayoyao Rice Terraces, Ifugao, Philippines

PROBLEMS OF RURAL SETTLEMENTS

Rural settlements in the developing countries are large in number and poorly equipped with
infrastructure.
✓ 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.
✓ The houses made up of mud, wood and thatch, remain susceptible to damage during
heavy rains and floods, and require proper maintenance every year.
✓ It is also difficult to provide adequate health and educational infrastructure for their large
rural population.
✓ The problem is particularly serious where proper villagization has not taken place and
houses are scattered over a large area.
PROBLEMS OF URBAN SETTLEMENTS
People flock to cities to avail of employment opportunities and civic amenities.
✓ Severe congestion.
✓ Shortage of housing, vertical expansion and growth of
✓ Slums and squatter/illegal settlements are created
✓ In the Asia Pacific countries, around 60 per cent of the urban population lives in squatter
settlements.
✓ Environmental Problems - The large urban population in developing countries not only
uses but also disposes off a huge quantity of water and all types of waste materials.
o extreme difficulty in providing the minimum required quantity of potable water and
water for domestic and industrial uses
o improper sewerage system creates unhealthy conditions
o massive use of traditional fuel in the domestic and industrial sector which severely
pollutes the air
o huge concrete structures erected to accommodate the population and
economic play a very conducive role to create heat islands.

ON A BROADER ASPECT, HUMAN SETTLEMENT CAN BE REFERRED TO AS URBANIZATION.

Urbanization is a global phenomenon that is transforming human settlements. The shift from
primarily rural to more urban societies is evident through the transformation of places,
populations, economies, and the built environment. In each of these dimensions, urbanization is
unprecedented for its speed and scale: massive urbanization is a megatrend of the 21st
century.
 In 2012, more than half of the global population is urban, compared to only 13% in 1900
(UN DESA, 2012). By 2050, the global urban population is expected to increase between
2.5 to 3 billion, corresponding to 64% to 69% of the world population (Grubler et al., 2007;
IIASA, 2009; UN DESA, 2012). Put differently, each week the urban population is increasing
by approximately 1.3 million.
Economic and social structure in settlements are vulnerable to climate change.
✓ Settlements can be affected directly through changes in human health and infrastructure
and indirectly through impacts on the environment, natural resources, and local industries
such as tourism or agriculture.
 ✓ Furthermore, these effects on human settlements could lead to tertiary impacts such as
altered land use, redistribution of population and activities to other regions, and altered
trade patterns among regions, resulting in still further changes in natural resources and other
activities.
Human settlements integrate many climate impacts initially felt in other sectors and differ from
each other in geographic location, size, economic circumstances, and technical, political,
institutional, and social capacities.

Climate affects human settlements and vice versa.

The effects are:
1) Changes in productive capacity (e.g., in agriculture or fisheries) or changes in market
demand for goods and services produced in settlements (including demand from those living
nearby and from tourism).
2) Physical infrastructure or services may be directly affected (e.g., by flooding). Concentration
of population and infrastructure in urban areas can mean higher numbers of persons and value
of physical capital at risk. Smaller settlements and many larger urban centers in Africa and
much of Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean often have less wealth, political power, and
institutional capacity to reduce risks in this way.
3) Populations may be directly affected through extreme weather, changes in health status, or
migration. Extreme weather episodes may lead to changes in deaths, injuries, or illness.