1. Definitions

 

 

Settlement patterns and forms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.quia.com/custom/13392main.html

 

2. Growth of settlements

 

INTERACTIVE Complete the following Bite-Size test bite:-

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/apps/ifl/scotland/education/bitesize/standard/gigaquiz?path=geography/settlement/settlement_site_test&infile=settlement_site_test

 

3. Site and Situation

 

 

The site of a settlement is the land on which the settlement has been built, eg Kilmacolm is built on fairly gently sloping land, steeper and higher to the north, lower lying to the south, near the Gryffe.

The situation of a settlement is where it is in compared with the surrounding area. (ie if you "zoom out" on a map, you can see the situation of Kilmacolm, about 15 km west of Glasgow, some 5 km south of Port Glasgow, on higher, undulating ground )

 

At Standard Grade you are expected to identify and describe the site of a settlement. Points to note include:

 

•  Water supply
• • Building material - either stone or wood
• • Food supply - farmland and fishing grounds were important
• • Land for building - needs to be solid and unlikely to flood; best on low and flat land which is not marshy
• • Fuel supply - e.g. peat, wood or coal
• • Defensive site - a place that is difficult to attack because it is e.g. on top of a steep-sided hill.

 

 

Describing site from an OS map

 

To describe a site, you should mention:

 

 

 

• Relief
• • height - below 100m = low; above 100m = high
• • slope - flat or gentle/moderate/steep slope
• • land forms - e.g. plain, valley, hill-foot, hill-top, gap, dry-point,coast.
• Drainage (water features) - e.g. wet-point site, rivers, lakes, marshes

 

Shape

 

A nucleated settlement is where the buildings are grouped together.

A linear shape is where the settlement has developed along a line.

A dispersed settlement is where the buildings are spread apart.

 

 

Function

 

The function of a settlement is its main economic activity or purpose. Types of functions include

 

• Industrial Towns e.g. Sheffield

• Ports e.g. Liverpool

• Market Towns e.g. Kelso

• Seaside Resorts e.g. Blackpool

• Fishing Ports e.g. Peterhead

• Dormitory Settlements e.g. Kilmacolm

 

 

Worked example

 

For the questions that follow you will need the OS map extract of Lanark and the Clyde Valley (No. 927/72).

 

"Identify the main function of Lanark, centred around Grid Square 8843 and list the evidence."

 

Answer

 

The main function of Lanark is a market town.

Evidence:

• surrounded by farmland (e.g. 8746)

• route centre (roads/railways) (e.g. 8843)

• bridging points (e.g. 8643)

 

 

 

Market Towns tend to have the following features

 

• Found in a fertile farming area

• Many services e.g. shops and offices

• Good transport links - often they are route centres

• They may be at the site of important bridges. Often mills were built on the river

• Market places in the town centre; Markets may no longer be held there

 

Ports tend to have the following features

 

• Found where there are sheltered harbours

• Flat land for building on nearby

• Modern ports need deeper water for today's larger ships, eg container ships

• Many ports have gone through a lot of redevelopment, with new dock and handling facilities

containerisation is important

The largest ports are found where there is a major industrial area inland that needed a place to import and export its goods.

 

"Old" Industrial Towns tend to have the following features

 

• Found on or near coalfields

• Has railways and canals for transport

• Has housing and industry mixed in together

• Newer industry is found on the outskirts, near main roads for transport

In the newer industrial towns planning ensures the housing and industry are located apart.

 

 

Seaside Resorts tend to have the following features

 

• Found on the coast with beaches

• Close to industrial areas with large populations, with good rail and road links

• On the sea-front are hotels and entertainments such as pubs and bingo

• Guest houses are found inland where the land is cheaper to buy

• Housing found further inland, with industry on the outskirts

• Caravan, camp-sites and golf courses also on the edge of town, but near the coast

• Promenades - pedestrianised roads along the front of the resort

 

With the increase in cheap package holidays in the last 30 years many seaside resorts have had to diversify.

Many people chose to retire to these resorts, and therefore have an ageing population.

 

 

 

4. Urban Zones

 

When we look at cities and large towns in Britain we find many have similar patterns of land use. For example, at or near the centre of the settlement there will be a business area with offices, large shops, and main train and bus stations. We will look at the four main land-use areas or zones:

 

The Central Business District (CBD)

The Inner City (transition zone)

The Suburbs

New Industrial Areas

 

 

 

INTERACTIVE Look at the following set of photographs of Canterbury, Kent ( SE England)

 

http://www.georesources.co.uk/canterburyintro.htm

 

• What zone of Canterbury is represented by the set of photos?

• Give reasons for your answer.

 

• What gathering techniques could a group of students carry out to investigate land use in Canterbury?

 

 

Recognizing zones on a map

 

INTERACTIVE Read the following

 

http://www.scalloway.org.uk/sett11.htm

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/apps/ifl/scotland/education/bitesize/standard/gigaquiz?path=geography/settlement/structure_models_test&infile=structure_models_test

 

• How to identify the CBD

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/bitesize/standard/other/sos/geography/settlement/settlement_19.shtml

 

• Characteristics of Inner City (twilight/transition zone)

 

http://www.scalloway.org.uk/sett13.htm

 

• Characteristics of suburbs

 

http://www.scalloway.org.uk/sett14.htm

 

 

Writing comparative statements

 

You are often asked to compare two urban zones, using an OS map. You need to use comparative sentences, whuch use comparative phrases like,

 

• "more modern"
• "streets are curvilinear rather than grid iron"
• "less open space"

 

Sentences usually have a connective word/phrase which flags up a "comparison".

Useful ones include:

 

"on the other hand"

"whereas"

 

 

Here is a sample answer:

 

"Old areas in a city tend to be near the CBD and old industrial areas. There may be evidence of this in the names on the map - works ; canal; railways etc....

The layout will tend to represent a grid iron pattern - long rows of buildings (tenements) separated by streets. There will be little open space and the area will be densely packed with a high density of population. Main roads will pass through the area. There will be a high number of churches present.

On the other hand, Modern areas will be on the edge of the city with much more open space and the houses will be semi detached or detached with own gardens, compared with terraced or tenement properties. Main roads will by pass the area and road leading into the housing areas will end as cul-de-sac (dead - ends). The layout will be irregular in shape and to no fixed or set pattern as compared to the old housing areas.

Unlike the inner city, where houses and industry are mixed, Industry will be separate from the housing in edge of city industrial estates."

 

 

• Industrial estates

 

See http://www.scalloway.org.uk/sett15.htm

 

 

 

Urban Renewal

 

 

INTERACTIVE

 

Read

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/bitesize/standard/geography/settlement/urban_renewal_rev1.shtml

 

Do test bite http://www.bbc.co.uk/apps/ifl/scotland/education/bitesize/standard/gigaquiz?path=geography/settlement/urban_renewal_test&infile=urban_renewal_test

 

Write out a description of urban regeneration

 

Use

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/bitesize/standard/other/sos/geography/settlement/settlement_6.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/bitesize/standard/other/sos/geography/settlement/answersettle_26.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/bitesize/standard/other/sos/geography/settlement/answersettle_17.shtml

 

 

Urban Problems

 

Read the following links

• Traffic congestion

 

 

http://www.scalloway.org.uk/sett16.htm

 

• Urban Sprawl

 

http://www.scalloway.org.uk/sett16a.htm

 

• Urban Decay

 

http://www.scalloway.org.uk/sett17.htm

 

 

Get an idea of a redeveloped area by looking at this short clip on Salford Quays from YouTube

 

Techniques

 

Do the following PPQ

 

http://www.scalloway.org.uk/2001c4.htm

 

(see also http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?client=public&X=390000&Y=810000&width=700&height=400&gride=&gridn=&srec=0&coordsys=gb&db=&addr1=&addr2=&addr3=&pc=&advanced=&local=&localinfosel=&kw=&inmap=&table=&ovtype=&zm=0&scale=200000&multimap.x=385&multimap.y=284)

 

 

Sphere of Influence

 

Read the following

 

The 'sphere of influence' of a settlement is the area around it that it serves. Similarly the 'sphere of influence' of a service is the area from which its customers come. Clearly the larger the settlement (village or city) and the larger the service (local shop or airport) the greater the area it serves and the greater the distance the customers will travel the sphere of influence of any settlement can change over time. The may be due to the settlement growing. As the population rises so will the number of services (shops) or functions (commercial, transport, industrial and political). In this way the area that the settlement serves - its sphere of influence - will grow. The larger the settlement the larger will its sphere of influence be. Larger settlements will attract people from a larger area than smaller ones. So the sphere of influence of a Village will be smaller than a Town, a Towns sphere of influence will be smaller than a Cities and so on.

http://www.scalloway.org.uk/sett10.htm

 

Other issues

 

• Glasgow Southern Orbital

 

See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/1794971.stm

 

• Second Homes

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/bitesize/standard/other/sos/geography/settlement/answersettle_32.shtml

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sphere of Influence

The sphere of influence of a service is how far people will travel to make use of that service. A primary school, which is a low order service, will have a smaller sphere of influence than a secondary school which is a middle order service. People are willing to travel a long distance to get to a high order service (e.g. Harrods shop in London) and it therefore has a very large sphere of influence.

 

Settlements as a whole can also be said to have a sphere of influence. People will usually only travel a short distance to a hamlet (Brookfield) but will travel further to a town (Greenock )

When we look at cities and large towns in Britain we find many have similar patterns of land use. For example, at or near the centre of the settlement there will be a business area with offices, large shops, and main train and bus stations. We will look at the four main land-use areas or zones -

• The Central Business District (CBD)

• The Inner City

• The Suburbs

• New Industrial Areas

 

•

 

 

The central business district (C.B.D.) has the following characteristics -

 

Has the departmental shops, large offices, main railway and bus stations, many churches, pubs, clubs and cinemas and the town hall

• The main roads head into the C.B.D.

• The value of the land is greatest here

• Due to the high cost of the land buildings are built upwards

• C.B.D.s suffer from the worst traffic congestion

• It is often the oldest part of the city

• It may have a grid-iron street pattern, that is parallel straight roads and other roads running at right angles

 

The inner city (transition zone) has the following characteristics -

 

• Old factories and houses are mixed in together as they were built during the 19th century when most people walked to work (no cars); there was little open space left between the buildings

• The street pattern is often grid iron

• In Scotland the housing is usually tenements; in England terraced housing (think "Coronation Street")

• Often have empty buildings, derelict land, vandalism, crime, poverty, unemployment and other social and economic problems

• In the last fifty years much redevelopment has taken place in these areas; many high rise multi-storey residential blocks of flats have been built

• As both the houses and factories had chimneys air pollution was a problem; with industrial decline and housing redevelopment this has reduced

 

The suburbs have the following characteristics -

 

• Younger buildings than in the middle of the city

• The street pattern is made up of crescents and cul-de-sacs (dead ends); this slows down traffic to make the streets safer

• More detached and semi-detached houses; as the land is less expensive people have gardens

• Less factories than the inner city

• More open space and parks

• Many people commute from here to work in shops and offices in the C.B.D.

• Less pollution than the centre of the city

 

The new industrial areas have the following characteristics

 

• They have modern factories with car parks

• The factories are laid out in an orderly fashion -they are planned areas

• The buildings are usually lower than in the old industrial areas

• The areas are landscaped with, trees, bushes, flowers and grass

• They are kept apart from the residential areas

• They found close to good road transport links

• Less pollution than the centre of the city - electricity is almost always used as the power source, and there are very few chimneys

 

 

Urban Problems

 

1. traffic congestion.

2. urban decay & poor housing

3. Decline in the CBD

4. Urban Sprawl

 

Traffic congestion is caused by

 

• Many people working in the C.B.D. which may have narrow streets or Grid Iron pattern

• Limited off-street parking which means people park on the roads and so increase congestion

• People not using public transport - either because it is less convenient, too expensive or not available

• More people own and use cars-ss well as causing aggravation stationary traffic cause severe air pollution from exhaust fumes.

 

 

 solutions

 

• Ring roads and by-passes; these can be unpopular as countryside around towns and cities are lost when they are built

• Park and Ride - you park your car on the edge of the built up area and then ride a bus or train into the C.B.D.

• Congestion charges

   One way streets to speed up traffic flow

• Multi-storey car parks

• Banning cars from the from the C.B.D., either with pedestrianised streets (e.g. Renfield Street in Glasgow) or by stopping them coming into the city centre at all. Cars are banned from the centre of Milan (Italy) on Sundays

• Charging car drivers when they enter the city centre

 

 

A complete solution to traffic congestion needs people to be able and willing to travel on public transport more.

 

2. Urban Decay and Poor Quality Housing

 

 

Urban decay is when parts of the city become run down and undesirable to live in. It causes economic (money), social (people) and environmental (our surroundings) problems. Examples of urban decay are -

 

• • Slum housing - with outside toilets, overcrowding, no hot water or central heating
• • Many buildings have been poorly built and now have leaking roofs, draughty windows and crumbling stonework
• • Empty buildings are vandalised; gap sites where buildings have been knocked down turn into derelict land
• • As the factories and housing have been in the same areas air, noise and water pollution have been common
• Few local jobs-high unemployment and low skills base

 

 

There have been a number of schemes to reduce the problems of urban decay. They have had mixed success.

Comprehensive Redevelopment =1960s

This is when you knock down all the buildings and start from scratch. It was felt to be needed in some places as the problems were so bad. In Kingston and the Gorbals in Glasgow, for example, the old tenements were knocked down and replaced by new flats and multi-storey high rise buildings.

Unfortunately, many of the new buildings were poorly built and have also been knocked down. This approach has also been criticised as it destroyed the social fabric of the area - people no longer knew their neighbours and they were moved away from their friends and relations.

High rise flats built when older tenements were knocked down

 

Urban Regeneration

 

Another idea was to renovate the existing housing and improve the environment and economy. In Glasgow this involved

• New roofs

• Rewiring the houses and fitting central heating

• Fitting double glazing

• Secure entry-phone systems on tenement closes

• The outsides of tenements were cleaned by sand-blasting

• Combining two small flats into a larger one

• Improving the environment by landscaping

• Building or improving the social facilities such as clubs and medical centres

• Encouraging new business and industry to set up in the areas with grants and loans

This has proved more popular as people have been able to stay in their own area.

Cleaned and renovated tenements

 

3. Decline in the CBD

 

 

 

The answer to why the CBD is in decline may be seen in places like Braehead.

 

What advantages does Braehead have over Glasgow City Centre?

 

S4 add suggestions below.

 

 

 

4. Urban Sprawl

 

See YouTubefor clip on urban sprawl 

 

Cities continue to expand, incorporating counrtyside and villages.

 

Social and demographic changes are leading to a greater demand for housing. People are living longer, and choosing to marry later, and in recent years there has been a rise in the number of single-parent families. The result is an ever larger number of smaller households, all requiring accommodation;

developers are building homes on the edge of the city on greenfield sites.

Land at edge of town  is cheaper

supermarket chains like Asda want to set up new stores on the edge of town. Here land is cheaper, and there is space for the large car parks. Ring roads and by-passes are build around cities.

Business parks and science parks are also a feature of the rural-urban fringe. Areas such as the Cambridge Science Park offer high skilled jobs in a spacious, semi rural setting that is well connected to major road and rail routes. This can be an attractive pull factor for potential employees.

Retail parks have also developed on the edge of large urban areas. These provide a range of shops and entertainment services (e.g. multi-screen cinemas) in one location.  

 

Many people are concerned about the impact of relocating shopping and employment to the edge of the city. This trend could lead to greater traffic congestion, pollution from cars and the decline of the CBD. greenfield development can cause conflict with local people and create environmental problems

•  

One solution is to declare a "green-belt" around urban areas, where development is not allowed. This has not always been successful as new factories bring jobs and housing is often in great demand. Developments have also been "leap-frogging" the green belt and been built further away from the city.

Some developers are building on sites that have been built on before. These are called brownfield sites.