SETTLEMENT DYNAMICS

WHAT IS SETTLEMENT ?

 A settlement is just the name for an area where

people live.
 It can either be urban or rural.

Urban- Refers to a built up area/town or city.

Rural- Refers to an area of countryside/villagers, hamlets
or isolated houses
Rural settlements are changing in both LEDCs and
MEDCs( called settlement dynamics)
These changes are due to:

 Migration (rural-urban and urban-rural)

 Urban growth
 Technological change
 Rural planning policies
 Government funding
Most changes in rural areas in LEDCs are
mainly due to rural to urban migration.
There are some positive and negative
impacts of this change:
POSITIVE
Rural population has declined
reducing pressure on food, water
and other resources
Unemployment has been reduced
due to a smaller population.
Remittances from people who have
migrated to urban areas now provide
a large proportion of some family’s
income
NEGATIVE
Public(government provided) and
private services have closed as
population declines.
Rural communities often now have an
ageing population as younger
residents have left to move to the
cities.
Agricultural production has reduced as
there is insufficient labour to maintain
it.
Development schemes are often
focusing on high profile urban areas
and rural areas are forgotten.
Natural resources and land are often
exploited by large companies/the
government as the rural population
has little legal property rights.
 CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN
RURAL AREAS

 A contemporary issue refers to an issue

that is currently affecting people or
places and that is unresolved.
 DEPOPULATION

 A major contemporary issue in many rural settlements in LICs, MICs and HICs is the
migration of people from rural areas into urban areas. It is sometimes termed rural
flight.
 Globally, it often occurs following the mechanisation of agriculture processes,
which results in fewer people being needed to produce and process crops and
animals.
 The impact of this out migration from rural areas and their consequent population
decline often leads to the loss of rural services, such as shops, healthcare and
schools. This may lead to an even greater loss of population as more people
migrate to obtain access to these services.
 Small, labour-intensive, often subsistence family farms have often been replaced
by or joined into much larger heavily mechanised and specialised industrial farms.
 SERVICE PROVISION

 In many rural areas, the consolidation of agricultural processing

industries has meant that there are fewer agriculture service and
processing businesses which has reduced the demand for labour.
 Rural areas that used to be able to provide employment for all
young adults, increasingly provide fewer opportunities for them.
 The situation is made worse by the decrease in services such as
schools, service businesses, and cultural opportunities that
accompany the decline in population.
 Additionally, the social service system of rural areas is stretched
further with fewer resources attempting to cater for an increasing
ageing population.
 CIVIL WAR AND GOVERNMENT

 Many MICs and LICs have been badly affected by both internal conflicts and
government corruption.
 When people are forced to leave their homes in rural areas, food production is
badly affected, while government corrupt officials may divert government and
international aid funds into their own accounts to the detriment of rural
development programmes.
 This can be very evident in the lack of provision of services and infrastructure in
rural areas. There is often a lack of clean water resulting in high incidences of
diseases, such as dysentery and diarrhoea. Electricity networks in rural areas may
be very limited.
 Sealed, tarred roads may not extend into rural areas, making transport
communication difficult, so that farmers cannot sell their food surpluses easily in
urban areas.
 HEALTHCARE

 High incidences of disease can have a

debilitating effect on the rural workforce.
 Every year, 3.2 billion people me at risk of
malaria. This leads to about 198 million malaria
cases and an estimated 584 000 malaria deaths.
People living in MICs and LICs are the most
vulnerable.
 SCHOOL PROVISION

 Access to schools in remote rural areas may be inadequate or lacking completely,

especially access to secondary education.
 More than 57 million children around the world do not go to primary school. At least 250
million children cannot read or count, even if they have spent four years in school.
Without a good education, they will be less likely to get a job and look after their families
in the future.
 An extra year of good schooling can lift a country's yearly economic growth by 1 per cent
and this is particularly effective in rural populations.