Section 2: Settlement Site, Function and Hierarchy
Part 2
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of settlement
hierarchy (with reference to places for illustration only):
 Population size
 Function, high and low order
 Range and
 Threshold
It is a fairly obvious fact that some places are more important that others! The big
question that geographers disagree about is what is it that actually makes one
place more important than another place – is it size? Number of residents? The
number of people who work in the place? The function that the place develops?
The distance that people are prepared to travel to come into this place? There
are perfectly good arguments for each to be the most important . . . but they all
help us to realise that without doubt – some places are more important!
Work on Settlement Hierarchies!
1. Title: What is a settlement hierarchy? Take notes from the first
paragraph on page 3
2. Draw out your own copy of a settlement hierarchy pyramid and try to
identify some places from within Northern Ireland
3. Sub Heading: Population Size. Take notes from Page 3
4. Sub Heading: Function. Take notes from Page 7 and Page 8
5. Sub Heading: Order of Goods and Services. Take notes from Page 5
6. Sub Heading: Range (and number of services). Take notes from Page 3
and make sure that you make a copy of Fig 2.13 which lists the different
services you might expect to find in each settlement type. Then take
notes from Page 6 on Range also.
7. Sub Heading: Threshold. Take notes from Page 6
8. Sub Heading: Sphere of Influence. Take notes from the information
below
Sphere of Influence (or market area) is the area that is served by a particular
place. The area of the sphere of influence depends on the size and services of a
town and the level of competition from rival settlements. For example – in terms
of shopping, the sphere of influence of Ballymena is quite large – much bigger
than similar sized towns like Antrim or Larne. In other words, more people would
be prepared to travel to Ballymena to shop. People would be prepared a longer
distance (the Range is bigger) because the perception is that the shops might
be better or that there might be more shops that cater for High order Goods
rather than Low order goods.
Activity: How much of this can you recall?
In 10 minutes, write a 2 sentence definition of the following:
1. Settlement
2. Settlement Hierarchy
3. Range
4. Function
5. Site
6. Situation or Location of settlement
7. Threshold
8. Sphere of Influence
Settlement Functions
The Function of a settlement relates to its economic and social development and refers to its
main activities. Today, most larger settlements tend to be multifunctional (they have several
functions) although one or two functions may be predominant. In some cases, the original
function may be no longer applicable eg towns no longer need a definesive function (like
Carrickfergus) or a town which used to be a fishing village might now have become a tourist
resort.
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Market Town: Collection and distribution centres for farmers and services to
machinery
Mining Town: Exploration of fuel and minerals
Industrial Town: Where raw materials are processed into manufactured goods
Port: Transport node on coast, rivers, lakes
Route Centre: On junctions of several natural roads
Service Centre: To provide for needs in parts of a country
Cultural/ Religious Settlement: Attract people from parts of the world to live and study
Administrative centres: These offer government offices and general office buildings
Residential town: Where the majority of inhabitants might work somewhere else
Tourist resort: cater for the needs of tourists, mostly on the coast or in mountains.
Questions that you now need to answer
Answer the Get Active Question on Page 6