Human Settlement PatternA human settlement pattern is the science that studies the settlement patternsof humans by analyzing data. Like data that concludes that people like to live in huge clusters rather than in an solitary space and why (example America the east coast is more densely populatedbecause this is where most immigrant ships would arrive and it is near the sea which also provides jobs)This science is related to anthropology (ex. Why humans adopt a this pattern of living close together is because of a human’s need for contact and attention etc.), demography (It’s easier totrack how many people live in an country if you knew where people were most likely to live)and for future references such as when a city is being built governments will note that peoplewould be more attracted to areas with a greater number of neighbors around them.

Clustered Settlement• A clustered settlement is an assembly residences that are grouped together in very close proximity in that

the number of people per capita of the settlement are much more crowded than in a dispersed settlement or that of a linear settlement. Most clustered settlements happen because of not enough land or usable land is available so whatever space is available is used to full capacity or another reason is also because there isn’t any affordable housing in non clustered settlements or jobs aren’t available in the country side. For these reasons many poor people live in clustered settlements. Clustered settlements can be temporary (example: Earthquake destroyed all the homes and now people live in clustered settlements until their houses are rebuilt) but it can also be longstanding (Ex. People are born into slums and since they have no education they cannot leave to build a better life so they begin a family in the slum, this cycle continues).

Scattered Settlement• A scattered settlements are dwelling that spaced far apart from each other (the total

opposite of a clustered settlement) and don’t follow a settlement pattern. These settlements are often used for farming (a house for the farmer to live in, a barn for the animals and the rest of the land is used for crops) because of the need for an immense amount of land. They can also happen because the area is hard to settle in or has a lack of jobs or (in a case of a beautiful area) the houses are not affordable for the non-wealthy.

Population Density • Population density is the measure of population in an area. Usually human population

density is expressed as a number per square km or square mile. This could be used to prove a settlement pattern (Ex. because there is 5 people per square mile in the Swiss Alps people therefore people avoid mountainous areas) and to find out if an area is overpopulated (ex. There are 7000 lambs per square km) so that action may be set in place to improve overcrowding ex. building more towns.

Overpopulation• When there is too many people or other living things in an area that because of the

population that it causes an environmental crash (lots of people equal in a lot of garbage, cow feces contain methane gas which is toxic and is extremely dangerous resulting in death when there is a lot of it), an impaired quality of life (there is not enough jobs for everyone to be able to feed their family) or population crash (such as when there is so many rabbits creating more rabbits there is not enough lettuce to go around so a lot of the rabbits die). This usually happens in clustered settlements due to the immense amount of people living in that one area and the area has reached over capacity.

Population DistributionPopulation distribution is the pattern of the spread of population throughout an area and how the population is distributed (examples: children ages 4-12 go to elementary school because of the curriculum). This is used to create balance (ex. 4 year olds cannot be in the same class as high school kids because their curriculum is different and it is too hard for the teacher to go from an extremely easy curriculum to a very different and much harder one ina very short period of time. But overall human distribution is very poorly spread out; some people live in very crowded areas where it is hard to find resources and other places where there is a lot of land there isn’t a lot of people occupying that space.

Linear settlement• Linear settlement is a group of dwellings arranged in a long line. They are created because

other patterns of living are not suitable for the area of residence (coastlines, mountains, hills etc) and just for the convenience of living (like being close to the highway; the south service road on the way to school is lined with homes). For those reasons linear settlements usually don’t have a great population of population density