Module 4: Generating Regional and District settlement pattern (Notes)

Essence of urban settlement pattern

- Agents of economic development

- Centres of innovation and competition

- Organizers of cultural and social change

- Environment of opportunity and employment

- Areas of efficiency and provision of services

- Enclaves of democratic change and meeting and struggle for joint interests

- Agents of change for their hinterland

Statement of the problem

Settlements are:-

- Below the threshold level of innovation

- Are not attractive in regards to location condition

- Are not sufficiently integrated with the national communication system

- Dominated by the capital city or other major centres which absorb national investment

- Weakly dispersed urban centres thus linking poorly the hinterland poor access to services and productive activities and inhibit development

Methods in settlement planning

- Demographic

- Functional

- Urban hinterland delineation

Demographic analysis

Settlement analysis takes the national context into consideration to grasp trends and forces; also help to identify spatial distribution of settlements, their sizes and functions, settlement hierarchy and the degree of vertical and horizontal integration.

Aim

- Identification of gaps in hierarchy of settlement and their spatial distribution

- Context analysis

- Classification of settlement system

- Identification of hierarchies

- Spatial distribution to identify gaps and deficiencies (use of maps)

- Analysis of past relative growth trends to show current pattern and problem identification.

- Absolute urban size help in classification lower, middle and high order

- Demographic analysis and trend projection for balanced or unbalanced urban system

Functional analysis

- Demographic analysis provided insight into development tendencies of the settlement patterns, the functional analysis reveals underlying forces and into agglomeration economies

- Agglomeration of economy play an important role in development

- Extensive range of services and the concentration of economic activities stimulate information exchange

Essence of functional analysis

- To classify settlement pattern according to functions

- To show which settlements in the region are equipped with adequate functions which need only investments to maintain their current advantage

- Which settlements are functionally deficient or could serve a greater hinterland in case of investments?

- Which settlements have the potentials to be upgraded in the future for economic development?

- Which settlements are below the standard level of service and should be designed as remote centres?

 - Which settlements fully fill threshold values needed to support services and facilities or which threshold values can be achieved in the future?

Process of functional analysis

- Prepare a map which shows the spatial distribution of all regional, urban places and their population size

- List up urban places in descending order

- List up all the important functions and activities

- Count the numbers of quantities for each function

- Calculate the percentage column by column

- Count the percentages, row by row, to obtain the total functional index (See figure 1)

Delineation of hinterland

- Functional diversified settlements

- Network of socio-economic and physical interactions and essence of integration

- Roads among settlements and  access to economic activities, infrastructure and social and administrative facilities, market places

- Prices for agriculture products and increasing rank of an urban place within urban hierarchy

- Transport costs and impact on production costs

Measure of degree of functional integration

- Distance matrix: Identification of those locations from which all other locations can be supplied with goods and services at minimum transportation costs: 

- Procedure: Measure all travel distances between all urban centres and villages along the road obtain travel time

- Opportunity matrix: Functional and Distance matrix identification of places which functions are missing in an area and where and how far they could be found

- Isoline: Lines around a centre in the same physical or time distance measured from the urban centre. Isolines construction requires a decision on what

might be called the maximum travel time for people outside the urban place to obtain a specific urban good or service

Accessibility model

- To indicate problems areas with a low access to urban facilities and to determine areas with favourable location conditions (good accessibility)

Location Evaluation for upgrading of rural centers

Delineate of area under consideration integrated separated from disintegrated area or Later represents the area of investigation

What are integrated and disintegrated areas of a district

Integrated areas: well integrated into the interaction network by the physical road system; location of higher ordered services, facilities, small scale industry with market threshold

Disintegrated: Not well integrated into the network; usually characterised by low level of production, low social mobility, subsistence and trade

Identification criteria

- Physical: Topography, slope, soil conditions, land suitability, water resources, natural hazards and climate

- Social and Economic: Population distribution, cultural characteristics, income level, job opportunities, land use specific resources, raw materials etc

- Social, Technical Infrastructure: 

> Proximity to transport network, density of feeder roads

> Proximity to the next urban centre, availability of renewable energy resources and distribution of public facilities

Four criteria for selection of settlement for upgrading

a) Resource assessment Eg role of agriculture, and other more

b) Level of functions. Functional analysis which is deeply elaborated infrastructure, economic activities etc.

c) Demographic potential – Population size, consumer pattern and demand potential, catchment population etc

d) Physical integration– integration into the existing transport system the smaller public investment

Absolute and Relative Rating Criteria

- Factor weighing method is introduced for priority setting. Although arbitrary, weighing is improved by involving experts

- Views of households, farmers, village chiefs, regional key figures to be included in selection procedure

Village Setting Criteria

- Good agricultural land for all households within a comfortable land

- Good accessibility to next rural service centre with basic services

- Clean water resources and fuelwood as local resources of energy within walking distance

- Availability of construction materials

- Economic bases (resources that support economic activities)

- Population size