Urban Settlement

Patterns
Urban and Rural Interactions
Agricultural Revolution cultivation of plants and animals.
More time to specialize in non-farming practices such as making
things they could sell.
People wanted to live in closer proximity to other people (towns).
Improvement of technology allowed more people to move into
urban places to work in manufacturing jobs.
Villages grew into town, towns into cities, etc.
Rural areas hamlet, village, or town.
Urban areas suburb, city, or metropolis.
Urban hierarchy (each one is a larger settlement going up the line
than the one before it).

hamlet village town suburb city metropolis

 Urban Hierarchy
Basic Industry activities that bring money into an urban place. Eg.
Hotels, Restaurants, Factories

Non-Basic Industry activities that do not bring in outside money, but

circulate existing money. Eg. Local grocery stores, Variety stores.
 Urban Hierarchy
Hamlet less than 200 people
Village 200-800 people offer low-order goods and services
Town 100010 000 offer middle-order goods and services
City more than 10 000 offer high-order goods and services
Census Metropolitan Area more than 100 000 Consists of one or
more adjacent municipalities centred on a large urban core. Offer
specialized services

Low Order Goods or Services goods that are needed for everyday living and
purchased frequently. Eg. food, clothing, hardware, post office.
Middle order Good or Services goods or services only needed from time to time.
Eg., doctors offices and hair salons.
High Order Goods and Services goods or services that are not needed for everyday
living and not purchased often. Eg., cars, furniture, Sick Kids Hospital
Urban Hierarchy
Walter Christaller Central Place Theory, based on the number of
people needed to keep a store in business.
The minimum number of customers is known as a threshold
population.
Lake
Huron

Lake
Ontario

Lake
Erie
Lake
Huron
Mississauga

Kitchener-Waterloo
Oakville

Cambridge Burlington
Lake
Ontario
Hamilton

London

Lake
Erie
Types of Urban Places
Transportation Hubs Where ship,
train, and truck routes connect. Eg.,
Winnipeg major hub for railways
across the country.

Tourist Cities Where people vacation to

as a result of a unique physical or human
feature. Eg., Banff Skiing, scenery, hot
springs.
 Types of Urban Places
Resource Based Communities Where
there is a presence of a rich natural
resource. Eg., Sudbury = Nickel.

Manufacturing Cities Where goods

are mass produced. Eg., Sarnia oil
refining.
Types of Urban Places

Government Centres Where local,

regional and national government
services are provided. Eg., Ottawa.
 Urbanization
Urbanization movement of people UP the urban hierarchy. People
general move to cities because of:
reduced need for farm labour due to
farm modernization (e.g. tractors)
improvements in mobility (better
transportation systems reduces need
for local stores)
consolidation of goods & services
(most things one needs has relocated
to urban areas)
Year % Urban % Rural
1853 15 85
1908 50 50
2001 85 15