Dispersed or Scattered Settlement

Dispersed or Scattered Settlement Also known as isolated settlements, such patterns are characterised by settlement units of small size which may consist of a single hamlet (two to seven huts). Hamlets are scattered over a vast area and the settlement follows no specific plan.

Such settlement patterns are generally distributed over undulating or hilly and forested areas. Those settlements which are situated on hillocks and knolls overlooking the fields along the slope are generally associated with tribal communities, as in northern West Bengal, Chhotanagpur plateau, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, etc. Such patterns are also 'common in the hills of Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Such settlements are a characteristic feature of regions where the households organise their labour on cooperative basis in order to carry out agricultural operations, as in the north-eastern region, especially in Meghalaya, Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. Sometimes, the dispersed settlements are totally shapeless or amorphous. This happens in south­western Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Malwa, Chhotanagpur plateau, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.'Scattered settlements are common in Africa. Such settlements are also found in mountainous regions of China.

Semi-Clustered Settlements

2. Semi-Clustered Settlements Also known as par­tially agglomerated settlements, such settlements are characterised by a small, but compact nucleus around which hamlets are dispersed and form a ring around the main settlement. In case the houses are situated along a road or stream, the settlement looks like a linear cluster.
Such settlements are situated along streams in Manipur, and in Mandla, Raigarh and Balaghat districts. Different tribal groups inhabit such settlements in the Chhotanagpur region. In Nagaland, such settlements are situated on hilltops and are fortified. In coastal areas, such settlements may be in the form of fishing villages. Apart from these, the semi-clustered settlements may acquire the following forms.
A checker board pattern is a feature of some of the large rectangular villages and occurs, generally, at the junction of two roads. The village streets meet each other at an angle of 90°, or are parallel to each other. This is because of the tendency to align the dwellings with cardinal axes. This type is common in the northern plains and in the south.
An elongated pattern occurs as a result of elongation of the rectangular pattern due to influence of site features. For instance, in the Ganga plains, in areas liable to inundation, the rectangular pattern becomes unusually elongated along the high ground. Even otherwise, the advantage offered by a riverside location forces such a pattern.
A fan-shaped pattern is seen where some focal point or line is situated at one end of the village. A focal object may be a tank, a riverside, a road, an orchard, a well or even a place of worship. Such patterns are common in the delta regions where the dwellings simply follow the fan­shaped profile of the delta, as in case of delta regions of Mahanadi, Godavari and Krishna. Such patterns are also common in the Himalayan foothills.

TYPES OF RURAL SETTLEMENTS

There are three main types of rural settlement patterns.

1. Clustered or Compact Settlement These are also known as agglomerated or nucleated settlements, and consist of a compact of rural dwellings with narrow, winding streets separating two rows of houses. Most of the river plains of monsoon Asia present compact settlements.

In the plains of India, China and Thailand, large nucleated village is the prevailing type. The Kwanto plain of Japan has the largest concentration of compact or clustered settlements. In Europe, compact settlements are typical in the river valley of Volga and Danube. The Rhine hill tops are also dotted with compact settlements leaving plain areas for farming.

The dwelling clusters may be fragmented due to social segregation on caste lines, as in. Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Here, the hamlets inhabited by the low castes are gen~rally situated away from the mainnucleus of the village. These secondary settlement units are often known as para, palli, nagla or dhani. These settlements are distributed over fertile, well- watered plains in thewhole of north Indian plains (from Punjab in north-we: to West Bengal in the east), Orissa coast, basins of Mahana( (in Madhya Pradesh), Cauvery and Vaigai, maidans ( Karnataka, Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh, an Assam and Tripura in the east. Very often, these settll ments have a definite layout plan-linear, square, rectal gular, circular, etc. Very often, clustered or compact settlements have definite layout plan-linear, square, rectangular circula etc.

A linear pattern is common along main roads or alon streams. It may have a single row of houses arranged alon the main artery. It may develop, in course of time, int some other type if conditions are favourable.

A rectangular pattern is a common type which evolvE around the rectangular shape of fields, since it is commo to find a system of land measurement based on squal units. Village paths and cart tracks also conform to tll rectangular field patterns and run through the village i north-south and east-west directions.

A hollow rectangular pattern is an interesting variar of the rectangular type. This happens when the rectangul2 pattern has an open space in the middle. This may be du to the location of an old, deserted fort, large house, mound or a pond in the middle. This open space may hay a few trees and used as a place for cattle grazing, for havin panchayat assembly or for having weekly or bi-weekl markets.

A circular pattern is seen in the Upper Doab an Trans-Yamuna districts, Malwa, Punjab and Gujarat, wher large villages are characterised by a very high degree c compactness. The outer walls of dwellings adjoin eac other and present a continuous front, so that when viewel from outside, the villages look like a walled and fortifiel enclosure pierced by a few openings. The round form wa a natural outcome of maximum aggregation for the purpos of defence during the past.

A hollow circular pattern is a variant of the circula type. This pattern has an inbuilt, open space in the middl of the village. The causes for this pattern are more or les the same which lead to the rectangular pattern of settle ment.
A square pattern is basically a variant of the rectan gular type. Such a pattern is associated with villages lyinl at the crossings of cart-tracks or roads and also related features restricting the extension of the village outside, square space. These features may include an old boundar~ wall, thick orchards, a road or a pond.
A herring bone pattern occurs where the rectangle i: characterised by a main lane with all the subsidiary lane: meeting the former almost at right angles. The patten evidently is a result of the unusual importance of the mair street indicated by the tributary nature of the by-lanes.

In the radial pattern:, a number of streets converge or one centre which may be a source of water (pond, well) a temple, a centre of commercial activity or simply an oper space. Thus, the streets seem to be radiating from, common centre.
A polygonal pattern may be identified as an interme­diate type between the rectangular and circular patterns It seems to be a later development of the circular pattern,... with the need for defence having ended and subsequent expansions not confining themselves to the circular aggre­gation.

A horse-shoe shaped pattern is characteristic of a large number of foothill villages in the peninsular upland. The villages built on the site or at the base of the rounded ridges or hillocks line, the advantageous side of the hill, forming a girdle around it and the resulting form is like a thick crescent of horse-shoe shaped pattern.

The 'dopple-dorfer' (double village) is a group of two villages so near each other that it would seem that one of them has grown up by colonisation upon the edge of the other. A minor physical obstacle may be the cause of such a form, which may include, a nala, a pond, a mound or hillock, an intervening road, etc.

RURAL SETTLEMENT

RURAL SETTLEMENT
PATTERN Villages in India, where the concept of planned rural settlements does not seem to exist, are a sort of natural growth in their physical and cultural setting. Thus, although they do not possess well-defined shapes and a distinct internal plan, there is considerable organisation, both in the internal structure and in external profile of villages, which is very closely related to the attributes of the site and its cultural setting. The configu­ration of the site, surface water, nature of soil, cultivation patterns, tracks, roads and the level of security in the past along with the present social structure of the village are significant factors in the evolution of rural settlement patterns in India.
A typical Indian rural settlement consists of houses, streets and the surrounding farmland, along with areas for commercial and religio-cultural activities.
Rural settlements can be of three sizes:

1. Isolated Settlements These consist of single or two­
three dwellings in a remote farmland. There is no shopping or religio-cultural activity.
2. Hamlet This comprises two-three to ten dwellings.

3. Village It consists of a number of dwellings,
farmland around them, a street network, a religious centre like a temple, mosque or gurudwara, and areas for com­mercial and cultural activities.

Human Settlements and Migration

Human response to environment finds expression in settlements. A settlement is a group of human dwellings. In some places, like India, the term 'settlement' may imply a unit area identifiable for revenue collection (in which case it may be an uninhabited settlement, too).

CLASSIFICATION

Settlements may be classified in several ways. The most common division is into towns and villages, the basic
difference between them being that the chief occupation of the. people in towns is trade or indus~1'Y. while most of the people in villages deal in agricultural work. '.
Settlements can also be classiffed by their design or spatial structure: in some areas large numbers of farms or homes may be spread over aq area to produce a dis~ersed pattern, while at other places people prefer to live close to one anothe.!- in compact or nucleated settlements.

Yet another way of looking at settlements is by virtue of their site or position.
The shapes of settlement are often related to their sites. If farming is the major concern, the shape ofthe settlement may have a grid pattern. If the settlement is focussed on a water supply source ora fort, it tends to take a circular pattern; settlements at the convergence of transport routes often assume the shape of a star.
Whatever type it may be, basic requirements for a settlement art! availability of water, food supplies, material for building shelters, means of protection against natural hazards as well as human enemies.