Human Settlements | CBSE Class 12 Geography Notes

This note covers the meaning of human settlements, differences between villages and towns, factors shaping rural settlements, rural settlement types and distribution, the evolution of Indian towns, urbanisation, the functions of towns and the Smart Cities Mission.

What is a human settlement, and how do rural and urban settlements differ?

Definition: A human settlement is a cluster of dwellings, or places where people live, of any type or size. Settlement involves grouping people and apportioning territory as their resource base, meaning the area supporting their economic needs.

People may construct houses and other structures and use surrounding territory for economic support. Settlements range from a hamlet, a small group of dwellings, to metropolitan cities, or large cities. Their size is associated with changes in economic character, social structure, environment and technology.

How do activities and social relations differ?

Small, sparsely located settlements are called villages. They specialise in agriculture or other primary activities, which provide basic support from land and natural resources. Urban settlements specialise in secondary activities, such as processing and manufacturing, and tertiary activities, meaning services.

How are villages and cities connected?

A city's hinterland is the surrounding rural area linked to it. Cities act as nodes, or centres, of economic growth. Their relationship with villages is functional: each supplies things needed by the other through transport and communication networks.

1. Rural settlements supply food and raw materials to urban settlements.
2. Urban settlements process raw materials, manufacture finished goods and provide a variety of services.
3. Cities supply goods and services to their own residents and to people in their rural hinterlands.
4. Transport and communication connect this exchange, sometimes directly and sometimes through a series of market towns and cities.

This exchange also connects cities with one another. A market town is a town involved in the exchange of goods and services. The distinction between rural and urban activities therefore coexists with close economic links between settlements.

Which factors shape the types of rural settlement in India?

A settlement type describes the arrangement of the inhabited area and the spacing between houses. The extent of the built-up area, meaning land occupied by buildings, and inter-house distance, meaning the gap between houses, help determine rural settlement types.

A compact village of a few hundred houses is a rather universal feature in India, particularly in the northern plains. However, several areas have other rural forms. Rural settlements can broadly be grouped into clustered types with compact houses, semi-clustered types with restricted clustering or fragmentation, hamleted types with separate units sharing a name, and dispersed types with isolated huts or small hamlets.

How do physical, social and security conditions matter?

Terrain means the shape and character of the land; altitude means height above sea level. Cultural and ethnic factors concern social organisation and community identity. These factors help explain why houses may cluster closely or occur in physically separate groups.

Different causes can produce a compact form. Water scarcity in Rajasthan and security concerns in Bundelkhand and Nagaland are examples. Conversely, an extremely fragmented land resource base can contribute to extreme dispersion. A settlement's appearance must therefore be studied together with its physical and social setting.

Note: Rural settlement types describe the grouping and separation of dwellings. The broad fourfold classification does not make every village in a region identical or assign one cause to every settlement of a particular type.

What are clustered settlements, and why do they develop?

Clustered settlements, also called agglomerated or nucleated settlements, consist of a compact, closely built-up group of houses. These names refer to the same broad rural type. The general living area is distinct and separated from surrounding farms, barns and pastures.

Barns are farm buildings used for storage or shelter, while pastures are grazing areas. Separating the living area from these surrounding agricultural spaces is an important feature of the clustered village. Closely placed houses alone do not describe its entire arrangement.

What patterns and locations are associated with clustering?

The houses and intervening streets can form recognisable geometric patterns. These include rectangular patterns, arranged in a rectangle; radial patterns, spreading from a centre; and linear patterns, extending along a line. These are shapes within clustered settlements, rather than additional broad rural settlement types.

Clustered settlements are generally found in fertile alluvial plains and in the north-eastern states. Alluvial plains are plains formed from river-deposited material. Sometimes people live in compact villages for security or defence, as in Bundelkhand in central India and in Nagaland.

Case study: Why has water scarcity encouraged compact settlement in Rajasthan?

In Rajasthan, scarcity of water has necessitated compact settlement for maximum utilisation of available water resources. Here the link is between limited water and the grouping of dwellings. The explanation concerns the use of the available resource, without requiring a particular geometric street pattern.

This example shows why both form and cause matter. Rajasthan illustrates water availability as a physical factor, whereas Bundelkhand and Nagaland illustrate security or defence. Compact settlement can therefore be associated with different conditions in different places.

Photograph: Clustered settlements in the north-eastern states (NCERT Class 12 Figure 2.1). The photograph shows many closely spaced buildings below a steep mountainside with patches of snow. It illustrates a concentrated settlement; it does not label a particular street pattern.

How do semi-clustered and hamleted settlements differ?

Semi-clustered settlements, also called fragmented settlements, may develop when houses cluster within a restricted part of an otherwise dispersed settlement. More often, this pattern may result from segregation or fragmentation of a large compact village. Segregation here means separation of sections of village society.

How can social separation shape a semi-clustered village?

One or more sections of village society may choose, or be forced, to live a little away from the main cluster. In such cases, generally, the land-owning and dominant community occupies the centre, while socially lower-status groups and workers doing menial tasks settle on the outer flanks.

Menial tasks means work treated as low-status within that social arrangement. This description concerns social inequality and settlement location. Semi-clustered settlements are widespread in the Gujarat plain and some parts of Rajasthan.

Photograph: Semi-clustered settlements (NCERT Class 12 Figure 2.2). The photograph shows groups of buildings on sloping ground, with visible open spaces between some groups. It does not identify the social communities occupying the buildings.

What makes a settlement hamleted?

A hamleted settlement is divided into several physically separate units bearing a common name. Local names for these units include panna, para, palli, nagla and dhani. These are regional terms for the separated units, rather than five additional settlement types.

This segmentation of a large village is often motivated by social and ethnic factors. Such villages are more frequently found in the middle and lower Ganga plain, Chhattisgarh and the lower valleys of the Himalayas.

The key comparison is the relationship between the separate parts. In the semi-clustered account, sections may live away from a main cluster. In a hamleted settlement, several physically separated units share a common name. Both descriptions require more than simply noticing that buildings are apart.

What are dispersed settlements, and where are rural types found?

Dispersed settlements, also called isolated settlements, occur as isolated huts or small hamlets of a few huts. They appear in remote jungles or on small hills, with farms or pasture on the slopes. Their dwellings are scattered rather than concentrated in one compact living area.

Extreme dispersion is often caused by the extremely fragmented nature of the terrain and the land resource base of habitable areas. Habitable areas are places suitable for people to live. Many areas of Meghalaya, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala have this settlement type.

How can the four types be compared?

Photograph: Dispersed settlements in Nagaland (NCERT Class 12 Figure 2.3). The photograph shows scattered buildings across a broad hillside, with considerable open land between many buildings. It provides a visual contrast with the closely spaced buildings in the clustered-settlement photograph.

On an outline map of India, label Rajasthan with compact settlement linked to water scarcity, the Gujarat plain with semi-clustered settlements, and Chhattisgarh with hamleted settlements. These labels indicate examples, not exclusive settlement types across whole regions.

Distribution should be read with its qualifications. “Generally”, “more frequently” and “many areas” identify patterns without claiming that every settlement in the named region has the same form. Nagaland also illustrates why regional examples can appear in more than one discussion of settlement.

What characterises urban settlements and the stated Census criteria?

Urban settlements are generally compact and larger than rural settlements. They undertake a variety of non-agricultural economic and administrative functions. Administrative functions concern the work of governing and managing an area. Their activities connect them with surrounding villages and with other towns and cities.

The 1991 Census description combines an administrative criterion with population, employment and density criteria. Administrative bodies named in it are a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee. These are forms of local administrative authority; a cantonment board administers a cantonment, a military area.

Which numerical criteria appear in the description?

Population density means the number of people per unit area. Here it is expressed as persons per square kilometre. “Per cent”, written with the symbol % in tables, means per hundred.

Note: Keep the date 1991 attached to this description. The employment criterion concerns non-agricultural pursuits, not primary activities, and specifies male workers. The minimum population and density criteria refer to different measurements.

Photograph: A view of the modern city (NCERT Class 12 Figure 2.4). The photograph shows a road with vehicles, buildings along it and a railing beside the road. It gives a street-level view and does not identify the city by name.

Urban character is therefore discussed through both settlement form and activities. Compactness describes how buildings are grouped, while manufacturing, services and administration describe what the settlement does. The numerical criteria add distinct measurements of population, work and density.

How did ancient, medieval and modern towns evolve in India?

Indian towns flourished since prehistoric times. Harappa and Mohanjodaro existed during the Indus valley civilisation. Later urban development continued with periodic ups and downs until the arrival of Europeans in India in the eighteenth century. Towns can be classified by their period of evolution.

What distinguishes ancient and medieval towns?

Ancient towns include towns with histories spanning over 2,000 years. Most developed as religious and cultural centres. Examples include Varanasi, Prayag, now Prayagraj, Pataliputra, now Patna, and Madurai. Their historical classification concerns their origins, rather than a single present-day activity.

About 100 existing towns have roots in the medieval period. Most medieval towns developed as headquarters of principalities and kingdoms, meaning territories under rulers. These fort towns came up on the ruins of ancient towns. Examples include Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Agra and Nagpur.

How did modern towns develop?

The British and other Europeans first developed trading ports at coastal locations, including Surat, Daman, Goa and Pondicherry. Trading ports are places serving trade by sea. The British later consolidated their hold around Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, then called Bombay, Madras and Calcutta.

They built these principal centres in the British style. As their domination expanded, they established administrative centres and hill towns as summer resorts, and added new civil, administrative and military areas. Towns based on modern industries evolved after 1850, with Jamshedpur as an example.

After independence, new administrative headquarters included Chandigarh, Bhubaneswar, Gandhinagar and Dispur. Industrial centres included Durgapur, Bhilai, Sindri and Barauni. Some old towns developed as satellite towns, towns around metropolitan cities, including Ghaziabad, Rohtak and Gurugram around Delhi.

Increasing investment in rural areas also accompanied the development of many medium and small towns across the country. Modern urban development thus includes trading ports, administration, industries, satellite towns and the growth of smaller towns.

On an outline map of India, label Varanasi and Madurai as ancient-town examples, Delhi and Jaipur as medieval-town examples, and Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata as the three principal British centres. Use different labels for the three historical groups.

How is urbanisation measured, and what do the figures show?

The level of urbanisation is measured as urban population expressed as a percentage of total population. In 2011, India's level was 31.16 per cent, quite low compared with developed countries. This percentage measures the urban share, rather than the number of urban residents alone.

Total urban population increased eleven-fold during the twentieth century. Enlargement of urban centres and the emergence of new towns played a significant role in urban population growth and urbanisation. The urban population growth rate fell from 46.14 per cent in 1981 to 36.47 per cent in 1991 and 31.13 per cent in 2001.

How do urban population, share and growth differ?

Decennial growth means growth over a ten-year period. The table separates urban population, urban share of total population and decennial growth. Population figures are in thousands: each reported unit represents one thousand people. The 2011 figures are marked provisional, meaning not final.

The urban population rose from 1991 to 2001 and again to 2011. Its decennial growth rate fell from 36.47 per cent in 1991 to 31.13 per cent in 2001, then fell slightly to 31.08 per cent in 2011. A slower growth rate therefore does not mean that the urban population fell. The size of a population and its rate of growth are different measurements.

Similarly, urban share and absolute urban population need not move in the same way. Between 1901 and 1911, the table records a slight rise in urban population alongside a fall in its share of total population. Reading the column headings prevents these measures being confused.

How are towns classified by function, and why do functions overlap?

Functional classification groups towns by their dominant or specialised activities, products or services. A dominant function is the activity that chiefly characterises a town. Each town nevertheless performs a number of functions, so a functional label does not mean that other activities are absent.

Which functions distinguish the main groups?

Exports are goods sent abroad and imports are goods brought in from abroad. Inland transport connects places within the land area. Transport cities can therefore be associated either with ports or with inland transport centres, rather than with ports alone.

Case study: What does Varanasi show about overlapping classifications?

Varanasi appears among ancient towns, educational towns, and religious and cultural towns. Its ancient-town label concerns historical development. Its other labels concern functions. The same example shows why the basis of classification must be clear before towns are compared.

Cities are not static in function. Even specialised cities become multifunctional, meaning they perform several important functions, as they grow into metropolises, or large cities. Industry, business, administration and transport become important, and their functions become so intertwined that a single functional class cannot categorise the city.

What does the Smart Cities Mission aim to achieve?

The Smart Cities Mission aims to promote cities that provide core infrastructure, a clean and sustainable environment, and a decent quality of life. Core infrastructure means basic facilities and systems supporting a city. The objective connects these facilities with environmental conditions and citizens' lives.

How do smart solutions relate to the objective?

Smart solutions are improvements applied to infrastructure and services to make them better. Examples include making areas less vulnerable to disasters, using fewer resources and providing cheaper services. Vulnerability here means susceptibility to harm from a disaster.

The focus is on sustainable and inclusive development: development that can be maintained while including people in its benefits. The emphasis on resource use, services and quality of life connects the mission's improvements with its wider development aim.

The idea is to focus on compact areas and create a replicable model, meaning an approach that other cities can reproduce. Such a model is intended to act like a lighthouse, guiding other aspiring cities. Compact areas are closely grouped areas chosen for this approach.

The intended sequence is therefore to improve infrastructure and services in compact areas and create an example that other cities can follow. The mission combines a local focus with a wider demonstration purpose. It is an objective and approach, rather than evidence that every city has already achieved these outcomes.

Glossary

• Human settlement — A cluster of dwellings of any type or size where human beings live.
• Resource base — The territory and resources used to provide a settlement with economic support.
• Hinterland — The surrounding rural area functionally linked to a city through exchanges.
• Clustered settlement — A compact group of houses with its living area separated from surrounding agricultural spaces.
• Semi-clustered settlement — A settlement involving restricted clustering or fragmentation of a large compact village.
• Hamleted settlement — A settlement divided into physically separate units that share a common name.
• Dispersed settlement — A settlement of isolated huts or small groups of huts in scattered locations.
• Population density — The number of people per unit area, here expressed per square kilometre.
• Level of urbanisation — Urban population expressed as a percentage of the total population.
• Decennial growth — Growth recorded over a period of ten years between successive observations.
• Functional classification — Grouping towns and cities according to their dominant or specialised activities and services.
• Multifunctional city — A city where several functions, such as industry, business, administration and transport, are important.
• Replicable model — An approach that can be reproduced elsewhere and guide other aspiring cities.

Common errors and misconceptions

• Misconception: Rural and urban settlements are economically separate. Correct: Villages supply food and raw materials, while cities supply goods and services through transport and communication networks.
• Misconception: Every compact settlement develops for the same reason. Correct: Water scarcity in Rajasthan and security or defence in Bundelkhand and Nagaland illustrate different reasons for compact settlement.
• Misconception: Semi-clustered settlements form only by splitting a village. Correct: They may result from clustering within a restricted part of a dispersed settlement; more often, they may result from fragmentation of a compact village.
• Misconception: Every separated group of houses is a hamleted settlement. Correct: The hamleted type specifically involves physically separate units bearing a common name; dispersed settlements consist of isolated huts or small hamlets.
• Misconception: The stated employment criterion covers 75 per cent of all residents working in agriculture. Correct: The 1991 description specifies at least 75 per cent of male workers in non-agricultural pursuits.
• Misconception: Falling urban growth percentages mean fewer urban residents. Correct: Urban population rose from 2,17,611 thousand in 1991 to 2,85,355 thousand in 2001 even as the decennial growth rate fell from 36.47 per cent to 31.13 per cent.
• Misconception: A religious town cannot also be educational. Correct: Towns perform several functions, and Varanasi appears in both educational and religious-cultural groups.
• Misconception: Smart-city objectives prove that improvements have already been achieved everywhere. Correct: The mission describes aims, smart solutions and a replicable approach for compact areas.

Exam-style questions with model answers

Q1. Rural settlements depend on land-based primary activities and have intimate social relations. Urban settlements depend on processing, manufacturing and services, with formal social relations. Using this information, state two differences between them. [2 marks]

1. Rural economic support comes from land-based primary activities, while urban support comes from processing, manufacturing and services.
2. Rural social relations are intimate, whereas urban social relations are formal.

Q2. Settlement factors include terrain, altitude, climate and water; social structure, caste and religion; and defence against thefts and robberies. Water scarcity encourages compact settlement in Rajasthan. Classify these factors into three groups, using only the supplied examples. [3 marks]

1. Physical factors include terrain, altitude, climate and water availability. Rajasthan illustrates the connection between scarcity of water and compact settlement.
2. Cultural and ethnic factors include social structure, caste and religion. These describe the social and community setting of a rural settlement.
3. Security factors include defence against thefts and robberies. This group concerns protection, rather than the physical features or social composition of a settlement.

Q3. Use the categories clustered (agglomerated or nucleated), semi-clustered (fragmented), hamleted, and dispersed (isolated). Identify the types from these descriptions: compact houses separated from surrounding farms; restricted clustering or fragmentation of a compact village; physically separate units with a common name; and isolated huts or small hamlets in remote jungles or hills. Explain each identification. [4 marks]

1. The first is clustered, also called agglomerated or nucleated: houses form a compact living area distinct from surrounding agricultural land.
2. The second is semi-clustered or fragmented: it involves limited clustering or separation of sections from a larger compact village.
3. The third is hamleted: its distinguishing feature is several physically separate units bearing a common settlement name.
4. The fourth is dispersed or isolated: scattered huts or small groups of huts occur in remote jungle or hill settings.

Q4. Ancient towns have histories spanning over 2,000 years, and most developed as religious and cultural centres. About 100 existing towns have medieval roots, and most developed as headquarters of kingdoms or principalities. Modern industrial towns evolved after 1850. Explain these three historical categories using these details. [3 marks]

1. Ancient towns have histories extending over 2,000 years. Most developed as religious and cultural centres, linking their early development with those roles.
2. Medieval towns include about 100 existing towns with medieval roots. Most developed as headquarters of kingdoms or principalities, giving administration a major role.
3. Modern industrial towns evolved after 1850. Their development is associated with modern industries, distinguishing this part of modern town growth from the earlier categories.

Q5. The urban figures are: 1991, population 2,17,611 thousand, share 25.71 per cent, decennial growth 36.47 per cent; 2001, population 2,85,355 thousand, share 27.78 per cent, growth 31.13 per cent; 2011 provisional, population 3,77,000 thousand, share 31.16 per cent, growth 31.08 per cent. Describe the population trend, share trend, growth-rate trend, relationship between population and growth rate, and status of the 2011 figures. [5 marks]

1. Urban population increased across the three observations, from 2,17,611 thousand in 1991 to 2,85,355 thousand in 2001 and 3,77,000 thousand in 2011.
2. The urban share of total population also increased, rising from 25.71 per cent to 27.78 per cent and then 31.16 per cent.
3. The decennial growth rate fell from 36.47 per cent in 1991 to 31.13 per cent in 2001, then fell slightly to 31.08 per cent in 2011.
4. Between 1991 and 2001, urban population rose while the decennial growth rate fell. A lower growth rate therefore need not mean a smaller urban population.
5. The 2011 figures are provisional, meaning they are not final. That qualification should accompany the figures when describing the final observation.

Q6. Classify five towns using these clues: Chandigarh supports administrative headquarters; Jamshedpur has industry as its prime motive force; Kandla is a port primarily handling exports and imports; Kolkata specialises in trade and commerce; and Jharia developed in a mineral-rich area. Give one category and its reason for each town. [5 marks]

1. Chandigarh is an administrative town because it supports administrative headquarters. The supplied clue identifies administration as the basis for placing it in this functional category.
2. Jamshedpur is an industrial town because industry is its prime motive force. Its classification therefore rests on the importance of industrial activity to the town.
3. Kandla is a transport city because it is a port primarily handling exports and imports. Port activity is the transport function identified in this example.
4. Kolkata is a commercial town because the clue identifies trade and commerce as its specialisation. Buying and selling provide the basis of this classification.
5. Jharia is a mining town because it developed in a mineral-rich area. The stated connection with mineral resources explains its place in the mining category.

Q7. Each town performs several functions. As specialised cities grow into metropolises, industry, business, administration and transport become important and intertwined. Using this information, explain in two points why a city cannot necessarily be placed in one functional class. [2 marks]

1. A specialised function does not exclude other activities because each town already performs several functions.
2. As a city grows into a metropolis, important functions become intertwined, making a single functional classification inadequate.

Q8. The Smart Cities Mission aims at core infrastructure, a clean and sustainable environment and decent quality of life. Its solutions include reduced disaster vulnerability, fewer resources and cheaper services. It focuses on sustainable and inclusive development in compact areas, creating a replicable model for other cities. Explain its objective, solutions and model in three points. [3 marks]

1. The objective is to improve urban living through core infrastructure, a clean and sustainable environment, and a decent quality of life for citizens.
2. Smart solutions improve infrastructure and services by making areas less vulnerable to disasters, using fewer resources and providing services at lower cost.
3. The approach focuses on sustainable and inclusive development in compact areas, creating a replicable model that other aspiring cities can follow.

Key takeaways

• Human settlement involves both a group of dwellings and territory that provides economic support to the people living there.
• Rural and urban settlements differ in activities and social relations, while exchanging food, raw materials, goods and services.
• Physical conditions, cultural and ethnic factors, and security concerns help explain the varied forms of rural settlements.
• Clustered, semi-clustered, hamleted and dispersed settlements differ in the concentration of houses and the relationship between their separate parts.
• Ancient, medieval and modern classifications describe town evolution, while functional classifications describe dominant or specialised activities.
• India's provisional 2011 urban share was 31.16 per cent; a lower growth rate does not mean a falling urban population.
• Each town performs several functions, and growing cities can become too multifunctional for a single functional category.
• The Smart Cities Mission links better infrastructure and services with sustainability, inclusion and replicable improvements in compact areas.

Test yourself

What two spatial features help determine rural settlement type?

The extent of the built-up area and the distance between houses help determine rural settlement type.

Why has water scarcity encouraged compact settlement in Rajasthan?

Water scarcity has necessitated compact settlement for maximum utilisation of the available water resources.

What distinguishes the units of a hamleted settlement?

They are physically separated from one another but bear a common name; local terms include panna, para, palli, nagla and dhani.

What often causes extreme dispersion of settlements?

The extremely fragmented nature of terrain and the land resource base of habitable areas often causes extreme dispersion.

Which workers does the 75 per cent employment criterion concern?

The 1991 description specifies male workers engaged in non-agricultural pursuits, rather than all residents or agricultural workers.

Which three principal centres consolidated British urban development?

The three principal centres were Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, then called Bombay, Madras and Calcutta.

Why can Varanasi appear in more than one classification?

Varanasi is an ancient town by historical development and also appears among educational and religious-cultural towns by function.

What is intended by a replicable smart-city model?

Improvements in compact areas are intended to create a model that other aspiring cities can reproduce and follow.