Different Types of Developed Settlements

Vasilyeva S.L., assistant professor.

2nd course, 3rd term

Topic “Problems of Modern Cities”

The text is taken and adapted from/developed_settlements

Different types of developed settlements

The different types of developed human settlements are: urban, suburban, ruraland exurban.

Urban: An urban area is an area with an increased density of human-created structures in comparison to the areas surrounding it. Urban areas are extremely dense population areas. An urban area is more frequently called a city or metropolitan area.

The main types of communities in urban areas can be: a metropolis (metropolitan area) (pop. usually over a 1,000,000) or a city (pop. over 100,000.)

Suburban: A residential area on the outskirts of a city. Suburbanareas have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods. Suburban areas are dense to semi-dense population areas. A suburban area is frequently a large community.

Populations in suburbs, a suburban area or a suburb in a nearby metropolitan area can vary from 10,000 to over a 1,000,000.

Exurban, Commuter Towns: A commuter town is an urban community that is primarily residential, from which most of the workforce commute out of the community to earn their livelihood. Most commuter towns are suburbs of a nearby metropolis that workers travel to daily, and many suburbs are commuter towns, but not always. There are exurban communities too. The expression "exurb" (for "extra-urban") was coined in the 1950s, to describe the ring of prosperous rural communities beyond older suburbs, that are commuter towns for an urban area. Most exurbs serve as commuter towns, but some commuter towns are not exurban. These communities can be dense, semi-dense and sparsely populated areas. These communities are mostly towns.

Populations in exurbs, commuter towns or an exurb of a nearby metropolitan area can be from 1,000 people to 20,000 people.

Rural: Rural areas are settled places outside towns and cities. Such areas are distinct from more intensively settled urban and suburban areas. These areas are mostly sparsely populated areas.

The main types of communities in rural areas can be: a village (pop. 200-800 people) or a hamlet (pop. fewer than 200 people.) or an isolated dwelling (which is just 1 or 2 buildings with families in it.)

Populations in Rural communities/areas are usually under 10,000 people.

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Suburbs

Suburbs, usually referring to a residential area, are defined in various different ways around the world. They can be the residential areas of a large city, or separate residential communities within commuting distance of a city. Some suburbs have a degree of political autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods. Modern suburbs grew in the 20th century as a result of improved road and rail transport and an increase in commuting. Suburbs tend to proliferate around cities which ideally have an abundance of adjacent flat land.Any particular suburban area is referred to as a suburb, while suburban areas on the whole are referred to as the suburbs or suburbia.

Prior to the 19th century, suburb often correlated with the outlying areas of cities where work was most inaccessible; implicitly, where the poorest people had to live. Charles Dickens used the word this way, albeit not exclusively, in his descriptions of contemporary London. The modern American usage of the term came about during the course of the 19th century, as improvements in transportation and sanitation made it possible for wealthy developments to exist on the outskirts of cities, for example in Brooklyn Heights. The Australian and New Zealand usage came about as outer areas were quickly surrounded in fast-growing cities, but retained the appellation suburb; the term was eventually applied to the original core as well.

The growth of suburbs was facilitated by the development of zoning laws, redlining and various innovations in transport. After World War II availability of loans stimulated a housing boom in American suburbs. In the older cities of the northeast U.S., streetcar suburbs originally developed along train or trolley lines that could shuttle workers into and out of city centers where the jobs were located. This practice gave rise to the term bedroom community, meaning that most daytime business activity took place in the city, with the working population leaving the city at night for the purpose of going home to sleep.

Economic growth in the United States encouraged the suburbanization of American cities that required massive investments for the new infrastructure and homes. Consumer patterns were also shifting at this time, purchasing power was becoming stronger and more accessible to a wider range of families. Suburban houses also brought about needs for products that were not needed in urban neighborhoods, such as lawnmowers and automobiles. During this time commercial shopping malls were being developed near suburbs to satisfy consumer needs and their car dependent lifestyle.

Westchester County, New York in the United States became the first large scale suburban area in the world to develop. Westchester's significance as a suburb derived mostly from the upper-middle-class development of entire communities in the late nineteenth century, and the rapid population growth that occurred as a result.

The growth in the use of trains, and later automobiles and highways, increased the ease with which workers could have a job in the city while commuting in from the suburbs. In the United Kingdom, railways stimulated the first mass exodus to the suburbs. This trend towards living away from towns and cities has been termed the urban exodus.

Zoning laws also contributed to the location of residential areas outside of the city centre by creating wide areas or "zones" where only residential buildings were permitted. These suburban residences are built on larger lots of land than in the urban city.

While suburbs had originated far earlier; the suburban population in North America exploded during the post-World War II economic expansion. Returning veterans wishing to start a settled life moved en masse to the suburbs.

In the U.S., 1950 was the first year that more people lived in suburbs than elsewhere. In the U.S, the development of the skyscraper and the sharp inflation of downtown real estate prices also led to downtowns being more fully dedicated to businesses, thus pushing residents outside the city center.

Commuter town

A commuter town is an urban community that is primarily residential, from which most of the workforcecommute out to earn their livelihood. Many commuter towns act as suburbs of a nearby metropolis that workers travel to daily, and many suburbs are commuter towns. Commuter towns belong to the metropolitan area of a city, and a ring of commuter towns around an urban area is known as a commuter belt.

A commuter town may also be known as a bedroom community or "bedroom suburb" (Canada and U.S. usage), a dormitory town (UK Commonwealth and Ireland usage), or less commonly a dormitory village (UK Commonwealth and Ireland). These terms suggest that residents sleep in these neighborhoods, but mostly work elsewhere; they further suggest that these communities have little commercial or industrial activity beyond a small amount of retail, oriented toward serving the residents.

Distinction between suburbs and commuter towns

Suburbsand commuter towns are often the same place, but sometimes not. As with college town, resort town, and mill town, the term "commuter town" describes the place's predominant economic function. A suburb in contrast is a community of lesser size, density, political power and/or commerce than a nearby community. Economic function may change, for example when improved transport brings commuters to industrial suburbs or railway towns in search of suburban living. Some suburbs, for example Teterboro, New Jersey and Emeryville, California, remain industrial when they become surrounded by commuter towns. Many commuters work in such industrial suburbs, but few reside, hence they are not commuter towns.

As a general rule, suburbs are developed in areas adjacent to main employmentcentres, such as a town or a city, but may or may not have many jobs locally, whereas bedroom communities have few local businesses and most residents who have jobs commute to employment centers some distance away. Commuter towns may be in rural or semi-rural areas, with a ring of green space separating them from the larger city or town. Where urban sprawl and conurbation have erased clear lines among towns and cities in large metropolitan areas, this is not the case.

Commuter towns can arise for a number of different reasons. Sometimesa town loses its main source of employment, leaving its residents to seek work elsewhere. In other cases, a pleasant small town over time attracts more residents but not large businesses to employ them, requiring them to commute to employment centers. Another cause, particularly relevant in the American South and West, is the rapid growth of once-small cities. Owing largely to the earlier creation of the Interstate Highway System; the greatest growth was seen by the sprawling metropolitan areas of these cities. As a result many small cities were absorbed into the suburbs of these larger cities.

Often, however, commuter towns form when workers in a region cannot afford to live where they work and must seek residency in another town with a lower cost of living.

In certain major European cites, such as London and Berlin, commuter towns were founded in response to bomb damage in World War II. Residents were relocated to semi-rural areas within a 50-mile (80km) radius, firstly because much inner city housing had been destroyed, and secondly in order to stimulate development away from cities as the industrial infrastructure shifted from rail to road. Around London, several towns – such as Stevenage, Basildon, and Crawley – were built for this purpose by the Commission for New Towns.

Exurbs

The expression exurb (for "extra-urban") was coined by Auguste Comte Spectorsky in his 1955 book The Exurbanites to describe the ring of prosperous communities beyond the suburbs that are commuter towns for an urban area. Most exurbs serve as commuter towns, but most commuter towns are not exurban.

Exurbs are not unique to the United States. They are also found in other land-rich developed countries, notably Canada and Australia. Reasons for exurban growth vary. In the 1970s, rampant crime and urban decay in U.S. cities was the primary 'push force', whereas exurban growth has continued in the 2000s even as most U.S. cities experience plummeting crime and urban revitalization. However, house prices have skyrocketed, so middle-class people who want a large yard or farm are pushed beyond suburban counties.

Exurbs vary in wealth and education level. Exurban areas typically have much higher college education levels than closer-in suburbs, and have average incomes much higher than nearby rural counties. Depending on local circumstances, some exurbs have higher poverty levels than suburbs nearer the city.

Some environmentalists, architects, and urban planners consider exurbs to be manifestations of poor or distorted planning. Extremely low densities – often featuring large lots and large homes – create heavy car dependency. This also makes the construction of municipal infrastructure and deployment of services unusually costly and inefficient. Such communities typically include big box stores, fast food chains, and large shopping malls, but lack amenities such as parks and cultural institutions. Nevertheless, relatively cheap land, cheap fuel, and low taxes fuel rapid economic and population growth in many exurbs. Many Middle class families with children are attracted to low costs, ample private space, and the lower crime rates compared with more intensively developed areas.

Rural area

Rural areas (referred to as "the countryside") are large and isolated areas of a country, often with low population density.

About 91 percent of the rural population now earn salaried incomes, often in urban areas. The 10 percent who still produce resources generate 20 percent of the world’s coal, copper, and oil; 10 percent of its wheat, 20 percent of its meat, and 50 percent of its corn. The efficiency of these farms is due in large part to the commercialization of the farming industry, and not single family operations.[1]

Company town

A company town is a town or city in which much or all real estate, buildings (both residential and commercial), utilities, hospitals, small businesses such as grocery stores and gas stations, and other necessities or luxuries of life within its borders are owned by a single company. The term is used in the US and UK to refer to a town or city where loyalty to the company that is perceived to be responsible for its success is expected and that company is, or was, a major employer in the area.

Traditional settings for company towns were where extractive industries — coal, metal mines, lumber — had established a monopoly franchise. Dammed sites and war-industry camps founded other company towns. Since company stores tend to have a monopoly in company towns, it was not uncommon for truck systems to emerge in isolated company towns.

Typically, a company town will be isolated from neighbors and centered (figuratively, if not literally) around a large production factory such as a lumber or steel mill or an automobile plant; and the citizens of the town will either work in the factory, work in one of the smaller businesses, or be a family member of someone who does. The company may also operate parks, host cultural events such as concerts, and so on. Needless to say, when the owning company cuts back or goes out of business, the economic effect on the company town is devastating, and often fatal.

Company towns sometimes become regular publiccities and towns as they grow. Other times, a town may not officially be a company town, but it may be a town where the majority of citizens are employed by a single company, thus creating a similar situation to a company town (especially in regard to the town's economy).

Mill town

A mill town, also known as factory town or mill village, is typically a settlement that developed around one or more mills or factories (usually cotton mills or factories producing textiles).

College town

A college town or university townis a community (often literally a town, but possibly a small or medium sized city, or in some cases a neighborhood or a district of a city) which is dominated by its university population. The university may be large, or there may be several smaller institutions such as liberal arts colleges clustered, or the residential population may be small, but college towns in all cases are so dubbed because the presence of the educational institution(s) pervades economic and social life. Many local residents may be employed by the university - which may be the largest employer in the community, many businesses cater primarily to the university, and the students' population may outnumber the local population.

In Europe, a university town is generally characterized by having an old university often founded before, or in some cases shortly after, the industrial revolution. The economy of the city is closely related with the university activity and highly supported by the entire university structure, which may include university hospitals and clinics, university printing houses, libraries, laboratories, business incubators, student rooms, dining halls, students' unions, student societies, and academic festivities. Moreover, the history of the city is often intertwined with the history of the university itself. Many European university towns have not been merely important places of scientific and educational endeavor, but also centers of political, cultural and social influence to its respective society throughout the centuries. Examples of these cities include Oxford, Cambridge, St Andrews, Krakow, Leiden, Bologna, Coimbra, Salamanca, Leuven, Heidelberg, Göttingen, Pisa, Marburg, Ferrara, Uppsala, Siena, Pavia, Delft, Tartu, Tübingen, or Poitiers. Potchefstroom and Stellenbosch are South African examples of university towns in the European tradition.

Besides a highly educated and largely transient population, a stereotypical college town often features a high number of people living non-traditional lifestyles and subcultures ("college town hippies") and high tolerance for unconventionality in general, an unusually active musical or cultural scene, and unusually left-wing politics. While relatively lacking heavy industry, many have become centers of technological research and innovative startups.

Model village

A model village is a separate, mostly self-contained community to house workers away from the industrial city in which they work. "Model" is used in the sense of it being an ideal.

Model villages were created in the United Kingdom by some of the first industrialists. Eighteenth-century industrialists such as Arkwright and Wedgwood built housing for their workers, but fully developed settlements are more typical of the nineteenth century and continue into the twentieth. Most on the news recently has been Poundbury, a model village in rural Dorset guided by the Prince of Wales.