Types of settlement patterns
Answer Text: Settlement patterns.- Patterns that settlements take are many, but the main ones are three:(i) Nucleated / clustered settlement pattern.(ii) Dispersed/ Scattered settlement pattern.(iii) Linear/ Scattered settlement pattern.(i) Nucleated / clustered settlement pattern.- Houses are closely packed to one another, compact and concentrated on the land area to form a cluster.- Found in rural setting like villages, around oases or I areas where irrigation settlement schemes have been established.- Are referred to by different names in accordance to their sizes and function e.g. villages, towns, ports and cities.- Population density is high and room for expansion is almost lacking.- People own very small pieces of land.- They can also be classified according to their shape e.g. square and compactor or star shape, with houses spread out in numerous directions.(ii) Dispersed/ scattered settlement pattern.- They consist of one family or few family residences scattered about in isolated places.- They are separated from one another by open space or geographical barriers.- Families own very large pieces of land.- Population density is very low.- A lot of room for expansion is available.- Farm sizes are large.- The population is sparse and scattered e.g. Northern Kenya.(iii) Linear settlement pattern.- Homesteads are built along lines of communication e.g. roads, railways or transport facilities such as river banks and edges of valleys.
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