Human Settlements and Transport and Communication Chapter Notes | Footprints Class 7: Book Solutions, Notes & Worksheets PDF Download

• Good survival instincts and the intelligence to make optimum utilisation of the resources, opportunities and conditions have seen the evolution of human beings over the years.
• Our interaction with nature has resulted in the development of the human environment.
• The Industrial Revolution accelerated the growth and spread of human civilisation.
• Settlements grew from tiny hamlets to villages, towns, and cities as communities began to set aside areas for work, worship, administration, and recreation.

Settlements

• A settlement is defined as an organised group of human habitation where people build their houses to live in.
• The choice of location for a settlement, its growth and evolution are influenced by a number of factors such as:
  • Topography of the region
  • Availability of water
  • Fertile soil
  • Favourable climate
  • Trade potential
• Settlements can be permanent where people build homes to live in, or temporary, which are only occupied for a short period of time.

Classification of Settlements

Based upon their shape or pattern, stage of development and function, settlements are classified in the following ways.

Patterns of Settlements

• Linear settlements: Develop along a linear feature such as a river, road, railway track, canal, or coastline in an elongated and narrow form.
• Circular settlements: Develop in a circular shape around a water body such as a tank, lake, pond, and oasis.
• Dispersed settlements: Also known as scattered settlements. This pattern consists of isolated dwellings or a few clusters of houses scattered over a large area. Commonly found in forested regions, hilly areas, deserts, or areas which are not easily accessible.
• Nucleated settlements: Compact, agglomerated settlements where dwellings are located close together with narrow winding streets between them.
• Radial settlements: Come up along roads and lanes which diverge in all directions from a central point. A star-like pattern is formed wherein the flow of traffic becomes easy.

Main Economic Activity

Based on the main economic activity of the people, settlements can be classified into rural and urban settlements.

• The economy is based on any form of primary activity, such as agriculture, fishing, and livestock rearing. Cottage industries that are based upon the local raw materials are usually an integral feature of rural settlements.
• The population is small and the density of population is low in rural areas.
• The climate and local environment play a more important role in the construction of settlements in rural areas. For instance, in flood-prone areas, houses are built on stilts in order to provide protection against the floods.
• Rural settlements may vary in size from an isolated dwelling located in the mountains to numerous villages around fertile agricultural land in the plains.
• A village, however, has very few houses and limited facilities in terms of infrastructure such as health care, education centers, and markets.

• Secondary activities such as industries and tertiary services such as banking or trade comprise the main occupations of the people.
• Urban settlements are bigger in size as compared to rural settlements and are characterized by a plethora of services and amenities such as education and healthcare facilities, banks, markets, and transport and communication facilities.
• Building materials such as cement, iron, bricks, and stone are uniformly used irrespective of the environmental conditions.

Types of Urban Settlements

• Administrative towns are centers of administration and governance or national and state capitals such as New Delhi, Bengaluru, Washington DC, Madrid, and Beijing.
• Market or trading towns develop as centers of buying and selling, as well as for distribution of agricultural and industrial produce.
• Defense towns cater to the security and defense of a region.
• Mining towns are centered in areas rich in mineral deposits.
• Industrial towns are centers of industrial activity and automatically attract people for employment.
• Collection centers are places like mining towns, lumbering centers, and fishing ports, where raw materials are obtained and refined to a certain extent.
• Cultural and educational centers are well-known for their cultural significance and promotion of art, culture, and education.
• Religious towns develop around religious shrines or places of pilgrimage.
• Port towns on the coast may come up where a natural harbor exists.
• Resort towns cater to the recreational need of the people and are famous centers of tourist attraction.
• Residential towns refer to the suburbs and small towns which serve as the residence of a large population.

Urban-Rural Interdependence

A high degree of interdependence exists between urban and rural areas since villages supply food grains, industrial and agricultural raw materials, and a labor force to cities and towns. The towns and cities, on the other hand, supply industrial goods, healthcare facilities, education, and most importantly, employment opportunities for people in rural areas. Therefore, a complementary relationship exists between villages and cities wherein both benefit each other.

Transport and communication are important means which facilitate this interdependence. The need to travel from one place to another and establish channels of communication is an important human need for a variety of other purposes as well. This requires the establishment of modern and fast means of transport and communication in order to enable holistic growth and development.

Transport 

• Roadways
  • Roads connect cities, towns, and villages with the help of automobiles.
  • Roadways can be laid in all kinds of terrain including mountainous and desert. They provide door-to-door flexibility, acting as a feeder to all other forms of transport.
  • Narrow country roads or village roads known as lanes are usually unsurfaced or unmetalled (kuchcha) or mud roads, while bigger roads that connect parts of a town or city are usually surfaced or metalled (pucca).
  • Subways/underpasses are roadways that are built underground.
  • Modern highways aid in fast movement of traffic in both directions. They may vary in the number of lanes and are known by different names in various parts of the world.
  • Expressways are hi-tech roads with two or more traffic lanes in each direction that connect two major destinations. These roads have controlled entries and exits and are not hindered by crossings that slow traffic down.
  • Trans-continental roads link different parts of various countries within a continent.
• Railways
  • Rail transport has made important technological developments, from coal steam engines to modern rail systems.
  • Countries with a high population density have a dense network of railways.
  • Trans-continental railways refer to long-distance railway networks built across a continent.
  • Railways have made previously inaccessible areas reachable, such as the Qinghai-Tibet railway.
• Waterways
  • Huge ships, ocean liners, oil tankers, and trawlers ply on seas and oceans, handling most of the world's trade.
  • The two important types of waterways include inland water transport and ocean transport.
• Airways
  • Airways transport people and freight quickly, with helicopters and aircraft also aiding in times of natural calamities and for defense purposes.
  • Domestic airways connect places within a country, while international airways connect different countries.
  • The largest volume of air traffic is registered in Eastern USA, Western Europe, and Southeast Asia.
• Communication:
  • Process of exchanging ideas, thoughts, and information through speech, writing, behavior, or signals.
  • Efficient communication system is fundamental to advanced human civilization.
• Types of Communication:
  • Personal Communication:
    • Takes place between two or more individuals through letters, telephones, emails, fax, or cellular phones.
  • Mass Communication:
    • Reaches a large audience simultaneously through mediums like radio, TV, newspapers, and magazines.
    • Advancements in science and technology have enabled global communication through satellites, the World Wide Web (WWW), and the Internet.
• Impact on the Environment:
  • Human settlements, transport, and communication networks dynamically interact with the environment.
  • Human activities sometimes disrupt the ecological balance by encroaching on habitats of other species during urbanization or infrastructure development.
  • It is crucial for human progress to harmonize economic activities, lifestyles, and infrastructure with nature.