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Types and Patterns of Rural Settlements

Rural settlements can take various forms, from small individual dwellings to larger clustered villages. There are four main types of rural settlements: compact/clustered, semi-compact/fragmented, hamleted, and dispersed. Compact settlements have closely built dwellings concentrated in a central site, separated from farm areas. They are common in northern India and are often formed for security or due to limited land. Compact villages typically contain 30-500 dwellings and can have over 10,000 people. Rural settlements also exhibit various patterns, such as linear along roads, rectangular around fields, square bounded by features, circular with adjoining dwellings, and radial with streets radiating from a center.

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87 views2 pages

Types and Patterns of Rural Settlements

Rural settlements can take various forms, from small individual dwellings to larger clustered villages. There are four main types of rural settlements: compact/clustered, semi-compact/fragmented, hamleted, and dispersed. Compact settlements have closely built dwellings concentrated in a central site, separated from farm areas. They are common in northern India and are often formed for security or due to limited land. Compact villages typically contain 30-500 dwellings and can have over 10,000 people. Rural settlements also exhibit various patterns, such as linear along roads, rectangular around fields, square bounded by features, circular with adjoining dwellings, and radial with streets radiating from a center.

Uploaded by

Nilesh Khadse
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© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Definition - settlement defined as any form of human habitation which ranges from a single dowelling to

large city. Or settlement is a process of grouping of people and acquiring of some territory to build
houses as well as for their economic support.
Types Rural and urban - Rural areas have predominantly primary activities, whereas urban areas have
domination of secondary and tertiary activities. Generally the rural areas have low density of population
than urban.
TYPES AND PATTERNS OF RURAL SETTLEMENTS-
Type - category of things having some common features whereas
Pattern - a regular form or order in which a series of things occur. Settlement pattern refers to the
spatial arrangement or distribution of settlements within a given area.
Settlement form relates more to the spatial characteristics of individual settlement.
Types of Rural Settlements- Four categories:
1. Compact/clustered/nucleated settlement
2. Semi-compact/Semi-clustered/fragmented settlement
3. Hemleted settlement
4. Dispersed settlement.
1. Compact Settlements:-
What-have closely built up area-all the dwellings are concentrated in one central sites and these
inhabited area is distinct and separated from the farms and pastures.
Examples- distributed over the entire northern Indo-Ganga plain (from Punjab in the north-west to West
Bengal in the east), Orissa coast, basins of Mahanadi in Chhattisgarh, coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh,
cauvery delta of Tamil Nadu, Maidaus of Karnataka, lower Assam and Tripura, in the valleys of Siwaliks
etc.
Why -for security or defence purpose e.g. Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh
and the scarce availability of cultivable land and water body e.g. In Rajasthan.
Features - cluster of about thirty to hundreds of dwelling of different forms, size and functions. On an
average their size various from 500 to 2,500 persons in sparsely populated parts of Rajasthan to more
than 10,000 persons in Ganga plain.
Five major patterns--> i) Linear Pattern : It is commonly found along main roads, railways, streams, etc.
It may have a single row of houses arranged along the main artery. For example rural settlements found
along the sea coast, river valley, mountain ranges etc
(ii) Rectangular Pattern : This is a very common type which develops around the rectangular shape of
agricultural fields as it is common to find a system of land measurement based on square units. Village
paths and cart tracks also confirm to the rectangular field patterns and run through the village in north-
south and east-west directions. settlements of coastal Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh and either
side of Aravali hills
(iii) Square Pattern: Such a pattern is associated with villages lying at the crossing of cart tracks or roads
and also related to features restricting the extension of the village outside a square space. These
features may include an old boundary wall, thick orchards, a road or a pond.
(iv) Circular Pattern : The outer walls of dwellings adjoin each other and present a continuous front so
that when viewed from outside, the villages look like a walled and fortified enclosure pierced by a few
openings.
(v) Radial Pattern :In this type, a number of streets converge on one centre which may be a source of
water (pond, well), a temple or mosque, a centre of commercial activity or simply an open space. Thus,
the streets seem to be radiating from a common centre. Examples are settlements near Gurushikar,
Mount Abu in Rajasthan,

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