SETTLEMENT AND URBAN GROWTH

The location and growth of a settlement depends on its site and situation

What does site mean? It is the place where people decide to locate a settlement

Then, the growth of a settlement depends on its location in relation with natural resources and other settlements and human factors

Most of the settlements were created long time ago. They considered certain location factors

LOCATION FACTORS

Be near a reliable supply of water (river or lakes) but be away from marshy places in order to avoid floods

Locate a settlement in a defensive position (like at the top of a hill)

Having materials for building their homes and develop their economic activities

Have a supply of food and fuel for cooking and heating.

At the beginning, the main fuel was wood. Then, it was coal

Have a shelter from bad weather (like locating a settlement in a valley)

However, it was unlikely to have all those location factors at the same time

Have access to other places

Settlements have an evolution in its size, shape and the importance of the location factors

Most of the times that evolution depends upon human factors, because natural factors are less important nowadays

But the location factors are still visible.

We can analyze them either visiting the settlement or studying an OS map

An OS map is a map made by the government which has a lot of human and physical information

The term function describes what a settlement (a city, a town or a village) did, or still does. Nowadays, settlements ususally have more than one function.

ADMINISTRATIVE:

Centre from which the surrounding area can be controlled (capital, city, county town)

Examples:

Madrid (Spain)

Valladolid (Castilla y León)

Burgos (Province of Burgos)

DEFENSIVE

Protecting itself or the sorrounding area

More common in the previous centuries:

Example:

Ávila

Gibraltar

FUNCTIONS OF A SETTLEMENT

MINING

Extracting or using a local resource (coal or iron)

Settlements in Asturias, the north of Palencia and León

INDUSTRIAL

Where raw materials are processed (steel) or processed goods are assembled (cars)

Examples:

Palencia (Fasa Renault)

Bilbao

TOURIST RESORT

Contains amenities that attract visitors (cultural sites, coasts, theme parks)

Benidorm

Barcelona

Segovia

EDUCATIONAL

When an university is the main function of the city

Other times, an educational settlement has a great historic and artistic heritage

Examples:

Salamanca

Cambridge

Oxford

RELIGIOUS

Centre of religious buildings or place of worship

Examples:

The Vatican

Santiago de Compostela

Silos

RESIDENTIAL

Where many people live but very few actually work. They are sometimes suburbanised villages.

Examples:

Leganés (Madrid)

Getafe (Madrid)

Sabadel (Barcelona)

PORT

Where goods and people can be moved by water (river, lake or sea)

Examples:

Vigo

Cádiz

Hamburg

Rotterdam

ROUTE CENTRE

Where several routes meet (roads or rails)

Miranda de Ebro

MARKET TOWN

Collection and distribution centre for farm produce from the surrounding area.

More common in the previous centuries

Medina del Campo

Like the size, the shape and the importance of the location factors change throughout history, the function of a settlement also change.

For example: DURHAM

-At the beginning it was a defensive settlement

-Then, it was also a religious centre due to its cathedral, an educational centre due to its university and a market town. It was also an adminsitrative centre because it is the capital of a county

-Those functions are still important for this city

- Nowadays, Durham has other functions because it is a residential centre as well as a route and tourist centre

Most settlements, especially those that are larger, tend to be multi-functional.

They have several functions even if one or two tend to predominate

WHAT IS THE SETTLEMENT HIERARCHY?

Cities are organised according to a hierarchy.

This hierarchy puts in order the cities of a country depending on:

Population size

Distance apart

Range and number of services

Population size: The larger the settlement the fewer there will be of those settlements

Distant apart: The larger the settlement the further it will be from other large settlements

Range and number of services: The larger the settlement the more services it will be provide

As you move up the hierarchy, the size of the settlement and the distance between similar sized settlements increases. As you can see from the diagram, there are more cities than conurbations, more towns than cities and more villages than towns.

The number of services that a settlement provides increases with settlement size.

HIERARCHY IN THE UK AND IN SPAIN

1. One capital LONDON MADRID

1.B Two or three conurbations BIRMINGHAM

and surroundings

SEVILLA

and surroundings

2. Cities LIVERPOOL BURGOS

3. Large towns LINCOLN MIRANDA DE EBRO

4. Small towns OLDBURY BRIVIESCA

5. Villages FORDWICH CASTROJERIZ

6. Hamlets AUSKERRY VILLAMEDIANILLA

SERVICESCONURBATIONS Government offices, several universities,

main line railway stations, international airport, large and specialist hospitals, national events

CITIES County hall, cathedral, luxury hotel, university, many cinemas, threatres, hospitals, main railway station, several football teams

LARGE TOWNS Small hospital, large restaurants, hotels, cinema and small theatre, several secondary schools, large bus and railway stations, large football team

SMALL TOWNS Town hall, doctor, several churches, several public houses, cafés and restaurants, small secondary school, railway station, bus station, football team

VILLAGES Village hall, church, public house, small primary school

HAMLETS Public telephone

ALL PLACES IN THE HIERARCHY HAVE ALL SERVICES OF THE SETTLEMENTS BELOW THEM

THE URBAN MODELSEach city or town has a different shape due to:

• Its evolution

• Its location factors

• Its history

• Its function

But many cities and towns shared a common pattern and we can set models.

In cities from the United Kingdom and other Occidental countries, one of the most common model was the “Burguess model” since the Industrial Revolution.

Even though, this model has changed since those times

• Geographers have put models of land use to show the organization of a 'typical' city is. One of the most famous of these is the Burgess or concentric zone model.• This model is based on the idea that land values are highest in the centre of a town or city, which is called the CBD. This is because competition is higher in the central part of a settlement.• Then, there is a ring where are located the factories• The second ring is the place where the workers used to live. The second and the third ring are called the “Inner City”• The third ring is the place where the middle class used to live. Their houses were more expensive than the houses from the working class• Finally, there is a last ring where the high class used to live far from the factories and the low class, but linked to the CBD by train or roads.

However, there are limits to the Burgess model:The model is now quite old and was developed before the advent of mass car ownership.New working and housing trends have emerged since the model was developed. Many people now choose to live and work outside the city on the urban fringe - a phenomenon that is not reflected in the Burgess model.Some areas of the cities, like the industrial ones, have been demolished in the last decadesEvery city is different. There is no such thing as a typical city.

Another urban model is the Hoyt model. This is based on the circles on the Burgess model, but adds sectors of similar land uses concentrated in parts of the city. Notice how some zones, like the factories, radiate out from the CBD. This is probably following the line of a main road or a railway.

C.B.D. It is the Central Business District

It has offices, administrative services and shops

It also includes the old city with its monuments

Transitional zone (Inner City)

Factories

Low class residential (Inner City)

The houses of the workers. They were the cheapest ones

Medium class residential

High class residential. They are the most expensive houses

CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT

LOCATION

FUNCTION

ACCESSIBILITY

LAND VALUES

IN THE CITY CENTRE

OFFICES, SHOPS, ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDINGS AND SOME TOURISTIC PLACES

IT IS LINKED TO THE REST OF THE CITY BY THE MAIN ROADS AND PUBLIC TRANSPORT LIKE BUSES AND UNDERGROUND

THEY ARE THE HIGHEST OF THE CITY BECAUSE THE SPACE IS LIMITED AND THERE IS A BIG COMPETITION TO BUILD IN THIS ZONE OR TO BUY BUILDINGS THERE.

C.B.D.

THE INNER CITYLOCATION

NEXT TO THE CBD

IT WAS LOCATED ON THE EDGE OF THE CITY IN THE XIX CENTURY.

HOWEVER, NOWADAYS IT IS LOCATED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY AND FOR THAT REASON THIS PLACE IS CALLED “INNER CITY”

FUNCTION

FACTORIES AND NEIGHBOURHOODS FOR THE WORKERS.

THERE WERE FEW SHOPS FOR THE WORKERS AND THEY DID NOT HAVE OPEN SPACES LIKE PARKS OR SQUARES

HOWEVER, NOWADAYS THE FEATURES OF INNER CITY HAVE CHANGED DUE TO THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE ECONOMIC MODEL

FACTORIES NEEDED WORKERS AND THOSE PEOPLE NEEDED PLACES TO LIVE NEIGHBOURHOODS OF A HIGH DENSITY OF HOUSES WERE BUILT INSIDE OF A GRID-IRON PATTERN

• High density of buildings and lack of open spaces (parks and squares)

• Old lower-cost housing from the nineteenth

• Slum housing to save space

• When industries declined, unemployment increased and there were many social problems

• Lack of shopping facilities and public services

• High levels of air pollution from traffic and factories

PROBLEMS IN THE INNER CITY FOR THE WORKERS

ACCESSIBILITY

IT WAS LINKED BY TRAIN TO MINES OR OTHER FACTORIES IN THE COUNTRY.

THE PRODUCTS FROM FACTORIES WERE CARRIED TO THE SHOPS OF THE CITY CENTRE BY ROADS

WORKERS DID NOT LEAVE THIS ZONE AND THEY WENT TO THE FACTORIES BY FOOT

LAND VALUES

THEY WERE VERY LOW BECAUSE THERE WERE A LOT OF SPACE

COMPANIES USUALLY BUILT HOUSES FOR THE WORKERS, SO THEY WANTED TO SAVE AS MUCH MONEY AS POSSIBLE.

THAT IS THE REASON THAT THOSE NEIGHBOURHOODS WERE TOTALLY OVERCROWDED AND THE QUALITY OF THE HOUSES WAS VERY POOR

NOWADAYS

MOST OF THE OLD INNER HOUSES AND FACTORIES HAVE BEEN DEMOLISHED

GOVERNMENTS HAVE BUILT SOCIAL FLATS WHERE MANY PEOPLE LIVE NOWADAYS WITH MORE FACILITIES.

THEY CHANGED THE HOUSES FOR THE FLATS DUE TO THE INCREASED OF THE POPULATION

ANYWAY, THERE ARE MANY DANGEROUS NEIGHBOURHOODS IN THESE PLACES DUE TO LACK OF OPPORTUNITIES (JOBS AND SERVICES) FOR THE PEOPLE

THERE ARE STILL SOME FACTORIES IN THE INNER CITY. HOWEVER, MOST OT THEM ARE EMPTY BECAUSE THEY HAVE BEEN CLOSED

However, some features from the Burguess model are still visible. But obviously, there have been many changes

THE SUBURBS

The suburbs are the neighbourhoods which are next to the inner city

According to the Burgess model, they corresponded with the middle class zone

THE SUBURBS = MEDIUM COST HOUSING = MEDIUM CLASS HOUSING

AS MEDIUM CLASS INCREASED – DUE TO THE CHANGE OF THE ECONOMY – THE SIZE OF THE CITY GREW

NEW NEIGHBOURHOODS WITH MORE FACILITIES, PUBLIC SERVICES AND OPEN SPACES WERE BUILT.

THE QUALITY OF THE HOUSES WAS ALSO HIGHER

EVERYTHING WAS POSSIBLE BECAUSE THE VALUE OF THE LAND WAS LOWER

Suburbs have not got a bad connotation. On the contrary, they had better standards of living than the inner city neighbourhoods

Since the end of the First World War, the British population increased and the use of cars and the underground was more popular.

As a result, cities expanded and new houses were built in the former middle class zone

The value of the land in that place was lower, so new neighbourhoods had more space

That means...

More space for each house

Gardens and garage for houses

Wider streets and open spaces (parks)

Shops and public services located in each neighbourhood

Better comunications to the CBD by car or using the underground

Even though, there is a difference between the neighbourhoods from the 1930s and the those new neighbourhoods built since the end of the Second World War

The first ones had private houses which were bigger and they were mainly semi-detached houses

The second ones were smaller, they were not semi-detached and most of them had shops in the first floor

THE RURAL-URBAN FRINGE

It is located at the edge of the city

According to the Burgess model, it corresponded with the high class residential or the last ring

Rural-Urban fringe means that it is a place between the city and the countryside. It is common in the UK, but it is also popular in other European countries

However, there are two types of housing in this area

PRIVATE ESTATES OUTER CITY COUNCIL ESTATES

They are those houses from the high class according to the

Burguess model.

They are the oldest in this area

They are the social flats built by the government due to the

increase of the population during the 1960

PRIVATE ESTATES• Low density and high-quality housing

• Most houses are large and detached with spacious gardens and often a double garage

• Modern amenities: Central heating, double-glazing and deluxe bathrooms and kitchens

• The winding roads and numerous culs-de-sac are usually wide, tree-lined and relatively traffic free

OUTER CITY COUNCIL ESTATES

• High density and average-quality housing• Created during the 1960’s and the 1970’s

as local councils cleared the worst inner city areas and re-located residents on large edge-of-city estates

• Housing was often in high-rise tower blocks or low-rise flats

• Most homes were small and lacked gardens and garages, but had modern amenities such as a bathroom and kitchen

Both types of housing had open spaces because the value of the land – far from the CBD – is cheap.

However, private states and outer city council estates are separated by parks, lakes, motorways or railways, shopping centres or new factories

Why did governments decide to set the outer city council states in the rural-urban fringe?

1. During the 1960s, British authorities cleared the worst inner city areas

2. People from those places – and immigrants who came in those years - needed a new place to live

3. Authorities decided to build council states (viviendas de protección oficial) for those people in cheap places

4. New housing were high flates with small homes as they did in the inner city

In the last decades, the rural-urban fringe has been used to build new factories, shopping centres, hotels, airports and bussines parks due to the low land value and the huge space available