population considered residents of cities. Regardless of the world region in which
they are located, most rurallandscapesshow distinct patterns of settlement, which
are typically determined byenvironmental and economic factors, cultural prac-
tices, social relations, and sometimes the type of crop produced.
The presence or absence of water may influence the spatial nature of rural set-
tlement. Indesertsand other regions where rainfall is scarce and agrarian produc-
tion is dependent on surface water sources for irrigation, or on underground
supplies from wells or springs, settlements are centralized around or near the
source of water. These may be gathered at an oasis, where a single freshwater
spring provides water for the human population, livestock, and usually a limited
amount of cultivation. If local farm production is dependent on a lake or river to
supply a system of irrigation canals, rural settlements tend to be located adjacent
to the water source or to the central irrigation works. The construction and main-
tenance of irrigation canals, along with the equitable allocation of water, requires
significant oversight and collective effort and results in a settlement pattern that
is closely tied to the availability of water.
The predominant settlement pattern encountered in most of Europe, East and
South Asia, Africa (among indigenousgroups), and most of Latin America is a
clustered formation of dwellings, in the form of a farming community or village.
Here farmers live in a group, which gives advantages of security, shared resources,
and social contact. Farmland may be held in common or individually, and fields
usually are adjacent to the farmhouses or only a short distance away. In some parts
of the world, such villages may be centuries old, and as a result may show little
structural organization, having grown and changed with no central planning. Such
clustered settlements probably emerged quite early in the history of agriculture,
because they allowed for more effectivedefense against nomadic peoples who
attempted to raid the food surpluses produced by the agriculturalists; they also pro-
vided a pool of collective labor that could be tapped at harvest time or at other
times when required, such as for barn raisings, construction of irrigation works,
or communal buildings.
In other regions, farm villages reveal at least a rudimentary level of planning,
with homesteads aligned along a central avenue that runs the length of the settle-
ment. These are found quite commonly in Russia and much of Europe, parts of
the Middle East, and in some regions of Asia. The land under cultivation lies along
either side of the village, often immediately adjoining the residential property of the
farmers, a geographical feature that gives ready access to the farmland and that min-
imizes time and transport costs for cultivation. Geographers call a small settlement
of this sort a “street settlement,” because of the single thoroughfare that linearly
connects the residences. In parts of Europe, North America, and Australia, the
spatial character of rural settlement follows the pattern of a “commons” or “green”
Rural Settlement 289