LANDSCAPE
448 THECULTURAL
=
established nearby. This was possible becausenot all land
was under cultivation.
Homes, public buildings, and fields in a clustered rural
settlement are arranged according to local cultural and
physical characteristics.'Clusteredrural settlements are
often arranged in one of two types of patterns: circular or
linear.
Why Do Services
Clusterin Settlements?
r Servicesin RuralSettlements
r Urbanization
LearningOutcome 12.4.1
Describethe difference between clustered and
dispersedrural settlements.
Servicesare clusteredin settlements.Rural settlementsare
centers for agriculture and provide a small number of services.Urban settlementsare centersfor consumerand business services.One-half of the people in the world live in
rural settlementsand the other half in urban settlements'
in RuralSettlements
Services
Rural settlementsare either clusteredor dispersed.A clustered rural settlement is an agricultural-basedcommunity
in which a number of families live in close proximity to
each other, with fields surrounding the collection of houses
and farm buildings. A dispersed rural settlement, typical
of the North American rural landscape,is characterizedby
faimers living on individual farms isolated from neighbors
rather than alongsideother farmersin settlements.
CL USTER ER
DU R A LS E TTLE MENT S
A clustered rural settlement typically includes homes,
barns, tool sheds, and other farm structures, plus consumer services,such as religious structures,schools, and
shops.A handful of public and businessservicesmay also
be presentin a clusteredrural settlement.In common lanSuage,such a settlement is called a hamlet or village.
Each person living in a clustered rural settlement is allocated strips of land in the surrounding fields. The fields
must be accessibleto the farmers and are thus generally
limited to a radius of 1 or 2 kilometers (712ot L mile) from
the buildings. The strips of land are allocated in different
ways. In some places, individual farmers own or rent the
land. In other places, the land is owned collectively by
the settlement or by a lord, and farmers do not control the
choice of crops or use of the output.
Farmerstypically own, or have responsibility for, a collection of scatteredparcelsin severalfields. This pattern
of controlling several fragmented parcels of land has encouraged living in a clustered rural settlement to minimize travel time to the various fields. Traditionally, when
the population of a settlement grew too large for the capacity of the surrounding fields, new settlements were
CIRCULARRURALSETTLEMENTS.Circularrural settlements comprise a central open space surrounded bv
structures.The following are examples:
. Kraal villages in sub-SaharanAfrica were built by the
Maasi people, who are pastoral nomads. Women have
the principal responsibility for constructing them. The
kraal villages have enclosures for livestock in the center, surrounded by a ring of houses. Compare kraal to
the English word corral(Figuret2-27)'
. Gewandorf settlements were once found in rural
Germany. von Thiinen observed this circular rural pattern in his landmark agricultural studies during the
nineteenth century (refer to Figure 10-52)' Gewandorf
settlementsconsisted of a core of houses,barns, and
churches, encircled by different types of agricultural activities. Small garden plots were located in the first ring
surrounding the village, with cultivated land, pastures.
and woodlands in successiverings.
LINEARRURALSETTLEMENTS.Linear rural settlements
comprise buildings clustered along a road, river, or dike
to facilitate communications. The fields extend behind
the buildings in long, narrow strips. Long-lot farms can
be seen today along the St. Lawrence River in Qu6bec
(Figure 72-28).
In the French long-lot system, houses were erected
along a riveq which was the principal water source and
means of communication. Narrow lots from 5 to 100 kilometers (3 to 60 mites) deepwere establishedperpendicular
A kraalvillageKenya.
RURALSETTLEMENT
V FIGURE12-27 CIRCULAR
Chapter12: Services
and Settlements 449
as the church and school, around the
common. In addition to their houses,
each settler had a home lot of Yzto 2
hectares(1 to 5 acres),which contained
a bartt, a garden, and enclosures
for feeding livestock. New England
colonists favored clusteredsettlements
for severalreasons:
. They typically traveled to the New
World in a group. The English government granted an areaof land, in
New Englandperhaps4 to 10 square
miles (10 to 25 squarekilometers).
Membersof the group then traveled
to America to settle the land and
usually built the settlementnear the
center of the land grant.
. The colonists wanted to live close
A FIGURE'12-28CLUSTERED
LINEARRURALSETTLEMENT
longlots.
Qu6bec
together to reinforce common cultural and religious values. Most
came from the same English vilto the river, so that each original settler had river access.
lage and belonged to the same church. Many of them
This createda linear settlementalong the river. Theselong,
left England in the 1600sto gain religious freedom.
narrow lots were eventually subdivided. French law reThe settlement'sleaderwas often an official of the Puquired that each son inherit an equal portion of an estate,
ritan Church, and the church played a central role in
so the heirs establishedseparatefarms in each division.
daily activities.
Roadswere constructedinland parallel to the river for ac- . They clusteredtheir settlementsfor defense
against atcessto inland farms. In this way, a new linear settlement
tacksby NativeAmericans.
emergedalong eachroad, parallel to the original riverfront
Each villager owned severaldiscontinuous parcels on
settlement.
the periphery of the settlement to provide the variety of
Iand types needed for different crops. Beyond the fields,
CLUSTERED
SETTLEM ENTS
IN COLONIALAMERICA.
the town held pasturesand woodland for the common use
New England colonists built clustered settlements
of all residents.Outsiderscould obtain land in the settlecenteredon an open areacalled a common (Figure1,2-29).
ment
only by gaining permission from the town's resiSettlersgrouped their homes and public buildings, such
dents. Land was not sold but rather was awarded to an
individual when the town's residentsfelt confident that
the recipient would work hard. Settlements accommoV FIGURE12-29 CLUSTERED
COLONIALAMERICANSETTLEMENT
dated a growing population by establishing new settleNewfane,
Vermont,includesa courthouse
andchurchbuildinqsclustered
around ments nearby.As in
the older settlements,the newer ones
a centralcommon.
contained central commons surrounded by houses and
public buildings, home lots, and outer fields.
The contemporary New England landscape contains
remnants of the old clustered rural settlement pattern.
Many New England towns still have a central common
surrounded by the church, school, and various houses.
However,quaint New England towns are little more than
picturesque shells of clustered rural settlementsbecause
today's residentswork in shops and officesrather than on
farms.
Pauseand Reflect 12.4.'l
How might the presenceof clusteredrural
settlementsin New Englandhave contributed to
the region'sdistinctivedialect of Englishnoted in
Chapter 5?
450 THECULIURALLANDSCAPE
DISPERSER
DU R A LS E TTLE MENT S
LearningOutcome 12.4.2
Explain the types of servicesin early settlements.
alone and claim farmland on the frontier. In addition.
cultural bonds that had createdclusteredrural settle
were weakened.Descendantsof the original settlers
lessinterestedin the religious and cultural"valuesthat
unified the original immigrants.
DISPERSEDRURAL SETTLEMENTSIN THE UNI
KINGDOM. To improve agricultural production,
number of European countries converted their rural
scapesfrom clustered settlements to dispersedpatt
Dispersedsettlementswere consideredmore efficient
DISPERSEDRURAL SETTLEMENTSIN THE UNITED agriculture than clustered settlements. A prominent
ample was the enclosure movement in Great Bri
STATES. The Middle Atlantic colonies were settled by
more heterogeneousgroups than those in New England. between 1750 and 1850. The British government
Colonists came from Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, formed the rural landscape by consolidating indiv
ally owned strips of land surrounding a village into
Scotland, and Sweden, as well as from England. Most
single large farm owned by an individual. When
arrived in Middle Atlantic colonies individually rather than
as membersof a cohesivereligiousor cultural group. Some essary,the government forced people to give up t
bought tracts of land from speculators.Others acquired former holdings.
Owning severaldiscontinuous fields around a clus
land directly from individuals who had been given large
rural settlement had several disadvantages:Farmers
land grants by the English government, including William
Penn (Pennsylvania),Lord Baltimore (Maryland), and Sir time moving between fields, villagers had to build
roadsto connect the small lots, and farmerswere
GeorgeCarteret(the Carolinas).
in what they could plant. With the introduction of
Dispersed settlement pattems dominated in the
American Midwest in part becausethe early settlers came machinery, farms operated more efficiently at a larger
The enclosure movement brought greater agricul
primarily fuom the Middle Atlantic colonies. The pioneers
crossedthe AppalachianMountains and establisheddispersed efficiency,but it destroyedthe self-containedworld of r
farms on the frontier (Figure1,2-30).Land was plentiful and lage life. Village populations declined drastically as
cheap, and people bought as much as they could manage. placed farmers moved to urban settlements.Because
In New England, a disperseddistribution began to replace enclosuremovement coincided with the Industrial Rev
clustered settlementsin the eighteenth century. Eventually lution, villagers who were displaced from farming mo\
people bought, sold, and exchanged land to create large, to urban settlements and became workers in factories anr;!
services.Some villages became the centers of the nerq
continuous holdings instead of severalisolatedpieces.
larger
farms, but villages that were not centrally located
pattern
The clusteredrural settlement
worked when the
to a new farm's extensiveland holdings were abandoned
population was low, but settlementshad no spareland to
and replaced with entirely new farmsteadsat more strat€-meet the needsof a population that was growing through
gic
locations.As a result, the isolated,dispersedfarmstead
natural increaseand net in-migration. A shortageof land
in medieval England, is now a common feature
unknown
eventually forced immigrants and children to strike out
of that country's rural landscape.
Dispersed rural settlements were more common in the
American colonies outside New England. Meanwhile, in
New England and in the United Kingdom, clusteredrural
settlementswere convertedto a dispersedpattern.
V FIGURE12-30 DISPERSED
RURALSETTLEMENT
Wisconsin.
IN EARLY
SERVICES
ENTS
SETTLEM
Before the establishment of permanent
settlements as service centers, people
lived as nomads, migrating in small
groups acrossthe landscapein searchof
food and water. They gathered wild berries and roots or killed wild animals for
food (see Chapter 10). At some point,
groups decided to build permanent settlements. Several families clustered together in a rural location and obtained
food in the surrounding area.What services would these nomads require?Why
would they establish permanent settlements to provide theseservices?
Chapter12: Services
and Settlements 451
Women used these materials to manufacture household
objects and maintain their dwellings. The variety of consumer servicesexpanded as people began to specialize.
One person could be skilled at repairing tools, another at
training horses. People could trade such serviceswith one
another. Settlements took on a retail-servicefunction.
EARLY PUBLIC SERVICES. Public servicesprobably followed religious activities into the early permanent
settlements.A group's politieal leadersalso chose to live
permanently in the settlement, which may have been
located for strategic reasons,to protect the group,s land
claims.
Everyone in a settlement was vulnerable to attack from
other groups, so for protection, some members became
soldiers,stationed in the settlement.The settlementlikely
was a good basefrom which the group could defend nearby
food sourcesagainst competitors. For defense,the group
might
surround the settlementwith a wall. Defenderswere
'12-31EARLY
A FIGURE
SETTLEMENT
Karain
Cave,
Turkey.
Evidence
of
stationed
at small openings or atop the wall, giving them
human
settlement
hasbeen
found
inthecave
datinq
back150,000-200,000
a great advantage over attackers.Thus settlements became
years.
citadels-centers of military power. Walls proved an extremely effective defensefor thousands of years,until warfare was revolutionized by the introduction of gunpowder
No one knows the precisesequenceof events through
which settlements were establishedto provide services. in Europe in the fourteenth century.
Based on archaeological research, settlements probably
originated to provide consumer and public services.Busi- EARLY BUSINESSSERVICES. Everyonein settlements
needed food, which was supplied by the group through
nessservicescame later.
hunting or gathering. At some point, someone probably
EARLYCONSUMERSERVICES. The earliestpermanent wondered: Why not bring in extra food for hard times,
settlementsmay have been establishedto offer consumer such as drought or conflict? This perhaps was the origin of
transportation services.
services,specificallyplacesto bury the dead (Figure 72-3I).
Not every group had accessto the same resourcesbePerhapsnomadic groupshad rituals honoring the deceased,
including ceremoniescommemorating the anniversaryof
cause of the varied distribution of vegetation, animals,
fuel wood, and mineral resourcesacross the landscape.
a death. Having establisheda permanent resting place for
People brought objects and materials they collected or
the dead,the group might then install priestsat the site to
perform the serviceof sayingprayersfor the deceased.
This produced into the settlement and exchanged them for
would have encouragedthe building of structures-places items brought by others.Settlementsbecamewarehousing
centers to store the extra food. The settlement served as
for ceremoniesand dwellings.By the time recordedhistory
began about 5,000 years ago, many settlements existed, neutral ground where severalgroups could safely come together to trade goods and services.To facilitate this trade,
and some featured temples. In fact, until the invention
of skyscrapersin the late nineteenth century, religious officials in the settlementprovided producer services,such
as regulating the terms of transactions,setting fair prices,
buildings were often the tallest structures in a community.
Settlementsalso may have been placesto house fam- keeping records,and creating a currency system.
Through centuries of experiments and accidents, resiilies, permitting unburdened males to travel farther and
faster in their searchfor food. Women kept "home and dents of early settlementsrealizedthat some of the wild
hearth," making household objects, such as pots, tools, vegetation they had gathered could generate food if deliband clothing, and educating the children. These house- erately placed in the ground and nursed to maturity-in
other words, agriculture,as describedin Chapter 10. Over
hold-basedservicesevolved over thousands of years into
time, settlementsbecamesurroundedby fields,where peoschools, libraries, theaters, museums, and other institutions that create and store a group's values and heritage ple produced most of their food by planting seedsand raising animals rather than by hunting and gathering.
and transmit them from one generation to the next.
Peoplealso needed tools, clotfring, shelter,containers,
fuel, and other material goods. Settlementstherefore became manufacturing centers. Men gathered the materiPauseand Reflect 12.4.2
als needed to make a variety of objects, including stones
Infer what functions caves might have served for
for tools and weapons, grassfor containers and matting,
early
humans,in addition to burying the dead.
animal hair for clothing, and wood for shelter and heat.
452 THE CULTURALLANDSCAPE
Urbanization
Learning Outcome 12.4.3
ldentify important prehistoric, ancient, and medieval
urban settlements.
Settlementsexistedprior to the beginning of recordedhistory around 5,000 yearsago. With a few exceptions,these
were rural settlements.As recently as 1800, only 3 percent
of Earth'spopulation lived in urban settlements.Two centuries later, one-half of the world's people live in urban
settlements.
EARL IEST
U R B A NS E TTLE ME NT S
Settlements may have originated in Mesopotamia, part of
the FertileCrescentof SouthwestAsia (seeFigure8-10),and
diffused at an early date west to Egypt and east to China
and to South Asia'sIndus Valley.Or settlementsmay have
originated independently in each of the four hearths. In
any case,from these four hearths, settlementsdiffused to
the rest of the world.
PREHISTORICURBAN SETTLEMENTS.The earliest
urban settlements were probably in the Fertile Crescent of
Southwest Asia and North Africa (Figure 12-32). Among
the oldest well-documented urban settlements is Ur in
Mesopotamia (present-dayIraq). Ur, which means "fire,"
was where Abraham lived prior to his journey to Canaan
in approximately 1900 B.C., according to the Bible.
Archaeologistshave unearthed ruins in Ur that date from
approximately 3000 B.C. (Figure72-33).
ANCIENT URBAN SETTLEMENTS.Settlementswere
first established in the eastern Mediterranean about
2500 B.C. The oldest settlementsinclude Knossoson the
island of Crete, Troy in Asia Minor (Turkey), and Mycenae
in Greece.These settlementswere trading centersfor the
thousandsof islandsdotting the AegeanSeaand the eastern
Mediterranean and provided the government, military
protection, and other public servicesfor their surrounding
hinterlands. They were organized into city-statesindependent self-governing communities that included
the settlement and nearbv countrvside.
< FIGURE
12-32LARGEST
URBANSETTTEMENTS
IN
PREHISTORIC
TIMESThe
earliest
knownlargeurban
settlements
werein theFertile
Crescent
of Southwest
Asiaand
Egypt.
URBANSETTLEMENT
UR ThErCMAiru
A FIGURE12.33 PREHISTORIC
Ancient
L.lr
lraq,provide
evidence
of earlyurbancivilization.
Ur;in present-day
(250acres),
perhaps
andwassurroundec
wascompact,
covering
100hectares
thestepped
temple,
called
a ziggurat
bya wall.Themostprominent
building,
4,000yearsago.Theziggurat
wasoriginaltl
wasoriginally
constructed
around
a three-story
structure
with a basethatwas64 by46 meters(210 by 150feet
back.Fourmorestories
wereaddedinthesixt
andtheupperstories
stepped
wasa dense
network
of smallresidences
centuiyB.C.
Sunounding
theziggurat
ontonarrowpassageways.
Theexcavatiorn
builtaround
coufiardsandopening
sitewasdamaged
duringthetwowarsin lraq.
Athens, the largest city-state in ancient Greece (Figure 1.2-34),made substantial contributions to the development of culture, philosophy, and other elements of
Western civilization, an example of the traditional distinction between urban settlements and rural. The urban
settlements provided not only public servicesbut also a
concentration of consumer services,notably cultural activities. not found in smaller settlements.
The rise of the Roman Empire encouragedurban settlement. With much of Europe,North Africa, and Southwest
Asia under Roman rule, settlements were established
as centers of administtative, military, and other public
services,as well as retail and other consumer servicesTrade was encouraged through transportation and utility services,notably construction of many roads and aqueducts, and the security the Roman legions provided.
The city of Rome-the empire's center for administration, commerce, culture, and all other services-grew to at
least 250,000 inhabitants, although some claim that the
population-may have reached 1 million. The city's centrality in the empire's communications network was reflected
in the old saying "All roadslead to Rome."
With the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth centun-.
urban settlementsdeclined. The empire's prosperity had
rested on trading in the secure environment of imperial
Rome.But with the empire fragmentedunder hundreds of
rulers, trade diminished. Large urban settlementsshrank
or were abandoned. For severalhundred years, Europe's
cultural heritage was preservedlargely in monasteries and
isolatedrural areas.
MEDIEVAL URBAN SETTLEMENTS.Urban life began
to revive in Europe in the eleventh century, as feudal
and Settlements 453
Chapter'12:Services
ATHENS
Dominating
12-34ANCIENT
URBANSETTLEMENT
A FIGURE
hilltopsiteof thecity,theAcropolis.
of modern
Athensistheancient
theskyline
MeA FIGURE12-35 MEDIEVALURBANSETTLEMENT
CARCASSONNE
andthey
it wasdefensiblg
Ancient
Greeks
selected
thishighplacebecause
France,
wereoften
dievalEuropean
cities,
suchasCarcassonne
in southwestern
Themostprominent
structure
to theirgods.
chose
it asa placeto erectshrines
in most
surrounded
by wallsfor protection.
Thewallshavebeendemolished
B.C.
to honorthe
istheParthenon,
builtin thefifthcentury
ontheAcropolis
places,
buttheystillstandaround
themedieval
center
of Carcassonne.
goddess
AtticusOdeon,
istheHerodes
Athena.
Thestructure
in theforeground
whichwasthe
isthePropylaea,
buihin 161A.D.Behind
theOdeon
a theater
gateto theAcropolis.
in thebackground,
Totherightof theParthenon,
entrance
century
atopMount
builtinthenineteenth
istheChapel
of St.George,
pointinAthens.
Lycabettus,
thehighest
1 , 0 0 0 ' ,p o o "u e s
#
0
1,000 2,0q0Kilomcters
lords established new urban settlements.
The lords gave residents charters of rights
with which to establish independent cities
in exchange for their military service. Both
the lord and the urban residents benefited
from this arrangement. The lord obtained
people to defend his territory at lesscost than
maintaining a standing army. For their part,
urban residents preferred periodic military
serviceto the burden faced by rural serfs,who
farmed the lord's land and could keep only a
small portion of their own agricultural output.
12-36LARGEST
A FIGURE
SINCE
1 r.o.
SETTLEMENTS
With their newly won freedom from the
past
years.
The
largest
cities
have
been
in
China
for
most
of
the
2,000
relentlessburden of rural serfdom, the urban
dwellers set about expanding trade. Surplus
from the countryside was brought into the city for sale or
massive churches and palaces surviving. Modern tourists
exchange,and marketswere expandedthrough trade with
can appreciate the architectural beauty of these medieval
other free cities. The trade among different urban settle- churches and palaces,but they do not receive an accurate
ments was enhancedby new roads and greateruse of rivimage of a densely built medieval town.
After the collapseof the Roman Empire, most of the
ers. By the fourteenth century, Europe was covered by a
densenetwork of small market towns servingthe needsof
world's largesturban settlementswere clusteredin China
(Figure12-36).Severalcitiesin China are estimatedto have
particular lords.
The largestmedieval Europeanurban settlementsserved exceeded 1 million inhabitants between 700 and 1800
aspower centersfor the lords and church leaders,aswell as A.D., including Chang'an (now Xian), Kaifeng,Hangzhou,
major market centers. The most important public services Jinling (now Nanjing), and Beijing. London grabbed the
occupied palaces, churches, and other prominent buildtitle of world's largesturban settlement during the nineings arranged around a central market square. The tallest teenth century, as part of the Industrial Revolution. New
and most elaboratestructureswere usually churches, many
York held the title briefly during the mid-twentieth cenof which still dominate the landscapeof smaller European tury, and Tokyo is now considered to be the world's largest
towns. In medieval times, Europeanurban settlementswere urban settlement.
usually surrounded by walls even though by then cannonballscould destroythem (Figure12-35).Denseand compact
Pauseand Reflect 12.4.3
within the walls, medieval urban settlements lacked space
Medievalwalled citieswere constructednear
for construction, so ordinary shops and housesnestled into
political boundaries.How far is the medievalwalled
the side of the walls and the large buildings. Most of these
city of Carcassonne,
France,from an international
modest medieval shops and homes, as well as the walls,
boundary?
have been demolished in modern times, with only the
LANDSCAPE
454 THECULTURAL
for fewer farm workers has pushed people out of rural
areas,and rising employment opportunities in manu
turing and serviceshave lured them into urban areas.
causeeveryone resideseither in an urban settlement or
rural settlement, an increase in the percentage living in
urban areashas produced a correspondingdecreasein t
percentageliving in rural areas.
RAPIDGROWTHOF URBAN
S E T T LE M E N T S
Learning Outcome 12.4.4
Explainthe two dimensionsof urbanization.
IN URBAN
NUMBEROF PEOPLE
INCREASING
Developed countries have a higher percentage of urban
residents,but developing countries have more of the ven
large urban settlements(Figure 12-38).Eight of the 10
populous cities are currently in developing countries: Cairo"
Delhi, Jakarta, Manila, Mexico City, Sio Paulo, Seoul, and
Shanghai. New York and Tokyo are the two large cities in
developedcountries. In addition, 44 of the 50 largesturban
INCREASINGPERCENTAGE
OF PEOPLE IN URBAN settlements are in developing countries. That developing
largest urban settlements is
SETTLEMENTS.The population of urban settlements countries dominate the list of
was once associatedwith
remarkable
because
urbanization
exceededthat of rural settlements for the first time in
1800,
7 of the world's 10 largest
In
economic
development.
human history in 2008 (Figure 72-37). The percentage
of the Industrial
Asia.
In
1900,
after
diffusion
were
in
cities
of people living in urban settlementshad increasedfrom
to
developed
Kingdom
today's
Revolution
from
the
United
3 percent in 1800 to 6 percentin 1850, 14 percentin 1900,
were
in Europe
world's
largest
cities
10
of
the
countries,
all
30 percentin 1950,and47 percentin 2000.
North
America.
and
The percentageof people living in urban settlementsreIn developing countries, migration from the countn-flects a country's level of development. In developed counis fueling half of the increasein population in urban
side
tries, about three-fourths of the people live in urban areas,
even though job opportunities may not be
settlements,
compared to about two-fifths in developing countries. The
The
other half resultsfrom high natural increase
available.
major exception to the global pattern is Latin America,
rates;
in
Africa,
the natural increaserate accountsfor threewhere the urban percentageis comparableto the level of degrowth.
of
urban
fourths
veloped countries. The higher percentageof urban residents
ih developed countries is a consequenceof changesin ecoBET WEEN
UR B A N
DIF F ERENCES
nomic structure during the past two centuries-first the InRevolution
in
the
nineteenth
century
and
then
the
dustrial
AND RURALSET T L EM EN TS
growth of servicesin the twentieth. The world map of urban
percentageslooks very much like the world map of percent- A century ago, social scientistsobservedstriking differences
between urban and rural residents.Louis Wirth argued durage of GDP derived from services(seeFigure 12-2).
wav
The percentageof urban dwellers is high in developed ing the 1930sthat an urban dweller follows a different
Thus
Wirth
defined
a
cig'
does
a
rural
dweller.
of
life
than
countries becauseover the past 200 years,rural residents
permanent
that
has
three
characteristics:
settlement
as
a
have migrated from the countryside to work in the factoheteroge.'
ries and servicesthat are concentratedin cities. The need large size, high population density, and socially
neous people. These characteristics produced differences in the
social behavior of urban and rural
residents.
The processby which the population of urban settlements
grows, known as urbanization, has two dimensions: an
increasein the number of people living in urban settlements and an increasein the percentage
of people living in
urban settlements.The distinction between thesetwo factors is important becausethey occur for different reasons
and have different global distributions.
___r __
i ATLANTIC
]
OCEAN
40"
, 'lropic of Cance.
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l
;- - - l- .- .
20" i!
!-- -:----- i
il
0 ".i 160"
140'
OCEAN
Tropicof cap.icorn
r--
i
i
100" 80'
60"
20"0"20"
tl
40"
I
gl
o
60"
-Zopo
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80"
i
i
.-..
i ,qmui i ei ;ti l
':o&"1*"
4,oooKilometeF
100"
120"
140"
160"
havehigher
countries
LIVINGlN URBANSETTTEMENTS
Developed
A FTGURE
12-37 PERCEI\ITAGE
percentages
than do developing
countries.
of urbanresidents
LARGESIZE. If you live in a rural
settlement, you know most of the
other inhabitants and may even
be related to many of them. The
people with whom you relax are
probably the sameonesyou seein
local shops and at church.
In contrast, if you live in an
urban settlement, you can knolt
only a small percentage of the
other residents.You meet most of
them in specific roles-your supervisor,your lawyer,your supermarket cashier, vour electrician-
Chapter12:Services
and Sett €-:-=
160'
80"
60"
'*" "n'..1X1".;:,''
Bo'
40,?0,0.t0,40"
60"
80"
100'
l:oi
r+g" 1eo;
:1r::
I go,
:-. rr.:.. .
'":,
-:''";::':;lt';'i,
..
,i,,- ;
/
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16 0d
Urbansettlements
with
at least2 millionpopulation
. 10.0million
andabove
. 5.0million-9.9
million
, 3.0million-4.g
million
. 2.0million-2.9
million
Horizonte.
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xlo uoe
a u
Janelro
orrExu
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il.,,l! SioPauto
i
,i
ATLANTTC
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santiaso.! I
ocEA/v
sienos
lires
,Tropicol Capilrorn
.i\
2,000
2,000
t100,
Boi
60d
4A"
20"
0'
?0,
80"
4,000Miles
4,000Kilomete6
100"
120d
140"
A FIGURE
12.38URBANSETTLEMENTS
WITHAT LEAST
2 MILLION
INHABITANTS
Mostof theworld'slargest
urbansettlements
arein developing
countries,
especially
in EastAsia,
SouthAsia,and
LatinAmerica.
Most of these relationships are contractual: you are paid
wages according to a contract, and you pay others for
goods and services.Consequently, the large size of an
urban settlement produces different social relationships
than those formed in rural settlements.
Wirth's three-part distinction between urban and rural
settlementsmay still apply in developing countries. But
in developedcountries, social distinctions between urban
and rural life have blurred. According to Wirth,s defini_
tion, nearly everyone in a developed country now is
urban. All but 1 percent of workers in developed societ_
HIGH DENSITY. High density also produces social ies hold "ltrbarr" types of jobs. Nearly universal
ownership
consequencesfor urban residents/accordingto Wirth. The of automobiles,telephones,televisions,and other
modern
only way that a large number of people can be supported communications and transportation has also reduced
the
in a small areais through specialization.Eachperson in an
differencesbetweenurban and rural lifestylesin developed
urban settlementplays a specialrole or performs a specific countries. Almost regardlessof where you live in
a devel_
task to allow the complex urban system to function
oped country, you have accessto urban iobs, services,cul_
smoothly. At the sametime, high density also encourages ture, and recreation.
socialgroups to competeto occupy the sameterritory.
SOCIAL HETEROGENEITY.The larger the settlement,
the greater the variety of people. A person has greater
freedom in an urban settlementthan in a rural settlement
to pursue an unusual profession, sexual orientation, or
cultural interest. In a rural settlement, unusual actions
might be noticed and scorned, but urban residents are
more tolerant of diverse social behavior. Regardlessof
values and preferences, in a large urban settlement,
individuals can find people with similar interests. But
despite the freedom and independence of an urban
settlement, people may also feel lonely and isolated.
Residentsof a crowdedurban settlementoften feel that they
are surrounded by people who are indifferent and reserved.
CHECK-IN:
KEYTSSUE
4
Why Do ServicesClusterin Settlements?
,/
Settlements
are eitherruralor urban;rural
settlements,
whichspecialize
in agricultural
services,
may be clusteredor dispersed.
I
Fewhumanslivedin urbansettlementsuntil
the nineteenthcentury.
,/
Developedcountrieshave higher percentages
of urbanresidents,
but developingcountries
have most of the very largecities.