SETTLEMENT INTERACTION

Week 8

 Class:      SS2   

Topic: Settlement Interaction

Specific Objectives: By the end of this lesson the students should be able to;    

1. Discuss types of settlement interactions
2. Explain settlement interaction patterns with respect to migration

SETTLEMENT INTERACTION

Urban and rural settlements interact because they are interdependent. They depend on each other for their continuous existence.

Dependence of urban settlement on rural settlement

1. Provision of food: Urban areas depend on rural areas for foodstuffs like yam, plantain, beans and cassava etc.
2. Unskilled labour supply: Unskilled labours are usually from rural to urban industries.
3. Medical Herbs: Medicinal herbs and roots are usually brought from rural to urban areas for use by individuals or pharmaceutical companies.
4. Provision of market: Village always provides market for industrial goods.
5. Industrial raw materials: Raw materials like cocoa, rubber and cotton for industries are supplied from rural areas to the industries in the urban areas.
6. Provision of Houses: Villages supplies houses for urban dwellers e.g. Umuodu Okpuno for Awka.

However, problems which may limit the performance of the above functions by rural areas include:

1. Rural-urban migration
2. Higher educational attainment by rural dwellers
3. Lack of agricultural lands to farm
4. Natural disaster like soil erosion and flooding

 Dependence of rural settlement on urban settlement

Urban centres perform the following functions for rural areas

1. Manufactured goods: Manufactured goods or finished goods like milk, sugar, bread, etc. usually come from urban to rural areas. Urban centres also process raw materials from the rural areas.
2. Market: Urban settlements provide markets for agricultural products from rural areas.
3. Employment: Rural areas depends on urban areas for employment in offices and industries
4. Medical services: Rural areas depend on urban centres for their medical services. Teaching and specialist hospitals are located in urban centres
5. Administrative headquarters: Most of the administrative headquarters are in the urban areas. Rural areas therefore depend on the urban areas for effective governance.
6. Information: Information dissemination usually flows from urban to rural areas. Radio, Television, Newspapers, etc. usually disseminate information from urban to rural areas.

However, problems which may limit the performance of the above functions by urban centres include:

1. Inadequate communication facilities between urban and rural areas
2. Storage problems due to seasonality of products
3. Political discrimination due to different voting patterns for different administrative centres
4. Inadequate job opportunities in the urban centres