Urban Settlements PDF

Settlements By Amina Peer Moolla  Lesson Objectives Understand key characteristics Analyse urban growth Evaluate urban challenges Unit Outline Define urban settlements and differentiate them from rural areas. Overview of the historical development of urban areas. Discuss features such...

Settlements By Amina Peer Moolla  Lesson Objectives Understand key characteristics Analyse urban growth Evaluate urban challenges Unit Outline Define urban settlements and differentiate them from rural areas. Overview of the historical development of urban areas. Discuss features such as high population density, diverse land use, and extensive infrastructure. Examples of different types of urban settlements (e.g., cities, towns, metropolitan areas). What you need to do for this topic Watch pre-recorded videos. Familiarise yourself with the content. Complete activities. Always have fun. Introduction Urban settlements Land use in urban settlements CBD Zones heavy & light industry Residential areas (high-, middle-, and low-income) Shopping Centres Services and Recreation  Introduction Settlements are the places where people live. There are rural and urban settlements. Urban settlements are bigger than rural settlements, and have many more buildings and roads. In rural settlements most people work on the land. In urban settlements most people work in offices, shops, factories, or on the streets. Most parts of urban settlements are used for houses. Other parts are used for shops, offices, factories and recreation. Different settlements have different patterns. We can identify settlement patterns from above – either from a photograph or a map.  Urban Settlements Towns and cities are urban settlements. People live and work in urban settlements. Most people in urban settlements do not work on farms. They work in buildings and some are traders on the streets. Urban areas have many different kinds of buildings. The different buildings are usually grouped in certain areas according to their use, for example factories are grouped in industrial areas and houses or flats are grouped in areas where people live. The type of buildings in an urban area gives different parts of urban settlements a particular look. Figure 1 A residential area in Nairobi Figure 2 The iron and steel works in Tshwane  Land use within urban settlements There are often similar land use patterns in cities. An area where land is used for special purposes is called a land use zone. For example, an area that has a lot of factories is an industrial zone. The area where there are many shops, offices and restaurants is known as a business zone. If this area is in the centre of a city it is called the Central Business District or CBD.  Central Business District (CBD) This area is usually in the middle of an urban settlement. There are busy streets with many shops and offices. There may be transport centres such as taxi ranks, train stations and bus stations. The government buildings are often in this area. Some people may live close to the CBD. Zones for light and heavy industry Light industries usually occupy small buildings. They include industries that do not use lots of heavy machines and bulky resources. Electrical industries, food processing, packaging and clothing factories are examples of light industries. Heavy industries occupy bigger buildings and areas of land. They use bulky and heavy resources. Oil refining, cement factories, iron and steel industries are examples of heavy industries.  Residential areas (high-, middle-, and low-income) The largest area of most cities is used for residential areas. People live in residential areas. Not all residential areas look the same. People live in areas where they can afford to buy or rent property. There are low-, middle-, and high- income residential areas. High-income residential areas have bigger houses and gardens. Low- income residential areas have smaller houses and gardens. Often many people crowd into low- income residential areas. Residential areas that are away from the CBD are called suburbs.  Shopping centres Most suburbs in middle-and high-income residential areas have shopping centres. These are places where there are many shops and services. There is often a lot of space around the buildings for cars, taxis and other forms of transport.  Services and recreation Services are the jobs that people do for others, for example a car mechanic, plumber and taxi driver provide services to other people. Municipalities also provide services to people, such as rubbish dumps, water treatment works and transport centres. Parts of urban areas have places where there are services and transport facilities. These are areas where the main purpose of the area is to provide a service to people. There are also areas in urban settlements that are only used for recreation, such as parks, sports stadiums, zoos and sports fields.