Depending on the size and the services available and functions rendered, urban centres are designated as town, city, million city, conurbation, megalopolis.
- Town: The concept of ‘town’ can best be understood with reference to ‘village’. Population size is not the only criterion. Functional contrasts between towns and villages may not always be clear-cut, but specific functions such as manufacturing, retail and wholesale trade, and professional services exist in towns.
- City: A city may be regarded as a leading town, which has outstripped its local or regional rivals. In the words of Lewis Mumford, “ the city is in fact the physical form of the highest and most complex type of associative life”. Cities are much larger than towns and have a greater number of economic functions. They tend to have transport terminals, major financial institutions and regional administrative offices. When the population crosses the one million mark it is designated as a million city.
- Conurbation: The term conurbation was coined by Patrick Geddes in 1915 and applied to a large area of urban development that resulted from the merging of originally separate towns or cities. Greater London, Manchester, Chicago and Tokyo are examples.
- Megalopolis: This Greek word meaning “great city”, was popularised by Jean Gottman (1957) and signifies a ‘super- metropolitan’ region extending, as union of conurbations. The urban landscape stretching from Boston in the north to south of Washington in the U.S.A. is the best-known example of a megalopolis.
- Million City: When the population crosses the one million mark it is designated as a million city. The number of million cities in the world has been increasing as never before. London reached the million mark in 1800, followed by Paris in 1850, New York in 1860, and by 1950 there were around 80 such cities.
Further Reading:
FAQs
Depending on the size and the services available and functions rendered, urban centres are designated as town, city, million city, conurbation, megalopolis.
What are the five urban settlements? ›
Types of Urban Settlements - Town, City, Million City, Conurbation, Megalopolis. Urban settlements vary greatly in terms of their size, the services they offer, and the functions they perform. Some of the common types of urban settlements include towns, cities, million cities, conurbations, and megalopolises.
What are the main types of settlement? ›
The four main types of settlements are urban, rural, compact, and dispersed. Urban settlements are densely populated and are mostly non-agricultural. They are known as cities or metropolises and are the most populated type of settlement. These settlements take up the most land, resources, and services.
What are the urban settlement patterns? ›
Urban settlement patterns refer to the ways in which cities and towns are organised and distributed across a landscape. In general, urban settlement patterns are shaped by a range of factors, including physical geography, historical development, economic activity, and social and cultural factors.
What are 10 differences between urban and rural areas? ›
Rural areas are typically quieter and less developed, whereas urban areas offer more educational and job opportunities and have rapidly developing infrastructure. Rural areas usually have small communities with less than 2,500 people and Urban areas have bigger towns and more crowded places.
What are the five settlements? ›
There are 5 types of settlement classified according to their pattern, these are, isolated, dispersed, nucleated, and linear.
What are the 5 elements of urban form? ›
finding was that the mental maps which people use to help them find their way through cities are composed of five fundamental, reasonably invariant elements: paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks. Lynch's study focused on the very practical task of wayfinding.
What are the 3 settlements? ›
There are three main settlement patterns: nucleated, linear and dispersed.
What is the largest type of settlement? ›
A city is the largest type of settlement, containing lots of buildings and lots of people.
What is the most common type of settlement? ›
The most common type of settlement in the world is a nucleated settlement. Nucleated settlements are characterized by buildings clustered together in close proximity to one another. This type of settlement is commonly found in urban areas, where buildings are constructed close together due to limited space.
Urban settlements are characterized by a diverse economic base, high population density, and government recognition. Classification considers factors such as age, population, functions, and physical forms.
What qualifies as a megacity? ›
A megacity is a very large city, typically with a population of more than 10 million people.
What is urban settlement morphology? ›
Urban morphology is considered as the study of urban tissue, or fabric, as a means of discerning the environmental level normally associated with urban design. Tissue comprises coherent neighborhood morphology (open spaces, building) and functions (human activity).
What is an urban settlement? ›
An urban settlement is a concentrated settlement that is part of an urban area. It is an area with high density of human-created structures. Municipal urban settlement, a type of subdivision such as Cape Town in Western Cape.
Why do people like to live in urban areas? ›
Towns and cities appeal to people for a lot of reasons: Improved public transport, a mix of cultures, job opportunities and easy access to shops and amenities. But the lifestyle that comes with an urban area might not be what you're used to, so make sure you're aware of the pros and cons before any big moves.
What are the 5 early urban areas? ›
Five world regions are considered as hearth areas, providing the earliest evidence for urbanization: Mesopotamia and Egypt (both parts of the Fertile Crescent of Southwest Asia), the Indus Valley, Northern China, and Mesoamerica (Figure 12.9).
What are some of the major urban problems name 4 to 5? ›
Major issues and problems confronting US cities today include those involving fiscal difficulties, crowding, housing, traffic, pollution, public education, and crime.
What were the first urban settlements? ›
Mediterranean and Mesopotamia
The earliest known city is Çatalhöyük, a settlement of some 10,000 people in southern Anatolia that existed from approximately 7400 BCE to 5200 BCE. Hunting, agriculture and animal domestication all played a role in the society of Çatalhöyük.
