Urban Settlement
Patterns
Urban and Rural Interactions
• Agricultural Revolution – cultivation of plants and animals.
• More time to specialize in non-farming practices such as making
things they could sell.
• People wanted to live in closer proximity to other people (towns).
• Improvement of technology allowed more people to move into
urban places to work in manufacturing jobs.
• Villages grew into town, towns into cities, etc.
• Rural areas – hamlet, village, or town.
• Urban areas – suburb, city, or metropolis.
• Urban hierarchy (each one is a larger settlement going up the line
than the one before it).
hamlet
village
town
suburb
city
metropolis
Urban Hierarchy
Basic Industry – activities that bring money into an urban place. Eg.
Hotels, Restaurants, Factories
Non-Basic Industry – activities that do not bring in ‘outside’ money, but
circulate existing money. Eg. Local grocery stores, Variety stores.
Urban Hierarchy
Hamlet – less than 200 people
Village – 200-800 people – offer low-order goods and services
Town – 1000–10 000 – offer middle-order goods and services
City – more than 10 000 – offer high-order goods and services
Census Metropolitan Area – more than 100 000 – Consists of one or
more adjacent municipalities centred on a large urban core. Offer
specialized services
Low Order Goods or Services – goods that are needed for everyday living and
purchased frequently. Eg. food, clothing, hardware, post office.
Middle order Good or Services – goods or services only needed from time to time.
Eg., doctor’s offices and hair salons.
High Order Goods and Services – goods or services that are not needed for everyday
living and not purchased often. Eg., cars, furniture, Sick Kids Hospital
Urban Hierarchy
• Walter Christaller – Central Place Theory, based on the number of
people needed to keep a store in business.
• The minimum number of customers is known as a threshold
population.
Lake
Huron
Lake
Ontario
Lake
Erie
Lake
Huron
Mississauga
Kitchener-Waterloo
Cambridge
Oakville
Burlington
Lake
Ontario
Hamilton
London
Lake
Erie
Types of Urban Places
Transportation Hubs – Where ship,
train, and truck routes connect. Eg.,
Winnipeg – major hub for railways
across the country.
Tourist Cities – Where people vacation to
as a result of a unique physical or human
feature. Eg., Banff – Skiing, scenery, hot
springs.
Types of Urban Places
Resource Based Communities – Where
there is a presence of a rich natural
resource. Eg., Sudbury = Nickel.
Manufacturing Cities – Where goods
are mass produced. Eg., Sarnia – oil
refining.
Types of Urban Places
Government Centres – Where local,
regional and national government
services are provided. Eg., Ottawa.
Urbanization
• Urbanization – movement of people UP the urban hierarchy. People
general move to cities because of:
– reduced need for farm labour due to
farm modernization (e.g. tractors)
– improvements in mobility (better
transportation systems reduces need
for local stores)
– consolidation of goods & services
(most things one needs has relocated
to urban areas)
Year
% Urban
% Rural
1853
15
85
1908
50
50
2001
85
15