{"history":[],"article":{"id":"da965a6b-dcd8-407b-84bb-e9f82c998558","title":"Settlement hierarchy","slug":"settlement-hierarchy","content":":::summary\n:::\n\n# \nA **settlement [hierarchy](https://bliptext.com/articles/hierarchy)** is a way of arranging [settlements](https://bliptext.com/articles/human-settlement) into a [hierarchy](https://bliptext.com/articles/hierarchy) based upon their size.\nThe term is used by [landscape historians](https://bliptext.com/articles/landscape-history) and in the [National Curriculum](https://bliptext.com/articles/national-curriculum-england-wales-and-northern-ireland) for [England](https://bliptext.com/articles/england).\nThe term is also used in the [planning system for the UK](https://bliptext.com/articles/town-and-country-planning-in-the-united-kingdom) and for some other countries such as Ireland, India, and Switzerland.\nThe term was used without comment by the geographer Brian Roberts in 1972.\n\n# Overview\nIn Europe, centuries-old settlements were surrounded by farmland and tended not to be wider than 30 minutes' walk from one end to the other, with wealthier people monopolising the \"town centre\", and poorer people living on the town's outskirts or nearby countryside (the \"sphere of influence\").\nWith the advent of [decentralization](https://bliptext.com/articles/decentralization) technologies (e.g., bicycles, trains, cars, etc.), American settlements reversed this trend before reaching their saturation point, with vast farmlands managed by [homesteads](https://bliptext.com/articles/homestead-buildings) located dozens of miles away from the nearest settlement; lower-income communities occupied the \"centre\" as the middle-income and upper-income migrated into suburbia.\nThis created a phenomenon known as [urban decay](https://bliptext.com/articles/urban-decay).\nA settlement's population size, its geographic area, its status, and the availability of services can all affect this hierarchy.\nPosition in a settlement hierarchy can also depend on the sphere of influence.\nThis is how far people will travel to use the services in the settlement: if people travel further the town becomes more important and ranks higher in the settlement hierarchy.\nA collection of the most widely accepted units of measuring a settlement's size is as follows:\nIsolated Dwelling < [Hamlet](https://bliptext.com/articles/hamlet-place) < [Village](https://bliptext.com/articles/village) < Small [Town](https://bliptext.com/articles/town) < Large [Town](https://bliptext.com/articles/town) < [City](https://bliptext.com/articles/city) < [Conurbation](https://bliptext.com/articles/conurbation)\n\n## Problems with concept of a settlement hierarchy\nUsing the title of a settlement can be misleading in the absence of any widely accepted definition.\nFor example, [city status in the United Kingdom](https://bliptext.com/articles/city-status-in-the-united-kingdom) historically arose from its place in the [ecclesiastic hierarchy](https://bliptext.com/articles/church-of-england).\n(In modern times, city status is awarded for secular reasons but without reference to size.) Thus, some [cathedral cities](https://bliptext.com/articles/cathedral-city) in England (e.g., [Ely, Cambridgeshire](https://bliptext.com/articles/ely-cambridgeshire)) have a much smaller populations than some towns (e.g., [Luton](https://bliptext.com/articles/luton)).\nIn some parts of the United States, the distinction between town and city is a matter of a decision by local government to incorporate.\nIn addition, there is no agreement as to the number of levels in the hierarchy or what they should be called.\nMany terms used to describe settlements (e.g., village) have no legal definition, or may have contradictory legal definitions in different jurisdictions.\n\n## Hierarchy and status\nPosition in an accepted settlement hierarchy can imply status, which in turn reinforces the position of the settlement in the hierarchy.\nStatus can derive from being the residence of a King or high-ranking member of the nobility or from being the location of a major religious establishment.\nA formal hierarchy of settlements, known as a [multiple estate](https://bliptext.com/articles/anglo-saxon-multiple-estate), appears to have been common in 10th-century England.\nThe centre of an estate (often called a \"caput\") could be supported by subsidiary settlements, which were sometimes given specialised roles.\nFor example, a Saxon royal estate might be supported by settlements specialising in the production of cheese or barley or maintaining flocks of sheep.\n\n# Example of a settlement hierarchy\nThe following settlement hierarchy is adapted from the work of [Konstantinos Apostolos Doxiadis](https://bliptext.com/articles/constantinos-apostolou-doxiadis) for the actual current world situation as of 2010, as opposed to Doxiadis' [idealized settlement hierarchy for the year 2100](https://bliptext.com/articles/ekistics) that he outlined in his 1968 book [Ekistics](https://bliptext.com/articles/ekistics).\nAs an example population criteria for each category of settlement might be different depending on context.\nIn this example, a [roadhouse](https://bliptext.com/articles/roadhouse-facility) is at the lowest level while the [ecumenopolis](https://bliptext.com/articles/ecumenopolis) is at the top with the greatest number of residents:\n\n## Extreme density: more than one billion residents\n\n## High density: more than one million residents\nAt this density, the settlement's population, spheres of influence, and [gross domestic product](https://bliptext.com/articles/gross-domestic-product) tends to exceed that of most countries with lesser density.\nThe need for [administrative divisions](https://bliptext.com/articles/administrative-division), [public transportation](https://bliptext.com/articles/public-transport), [public infrastructure](https://bliptext.com/articles/public-infrastructure) and other government [public services](https://bliptext.com/articles/public-service) is critically essential for the [sustainable growth](https://bliptext.com/articles/sustainable-growth) and continued prosperity of its citizens.\nHigh income jobs and non-essential luxury services are abundant (e.g. car dealerships, brain surgery centers, airports, financing, computer stores, coffee shops, etc.) as these cannot be sustained by lesser density.\nMedium income exceeds national average.\nThe first city in recorded history to reach a population of one million residents was [Ancient Rome](https://bliptext.com/articles/ancient-rome) in 133 B.C. During the [Second Industrial Revolution](https://bliptext.com/articles/second-industrial-revolution), London, England reached the mark in 1810 and New York City, United States made it in 1875.\nThe main type at this level is the\nLarger types at this level would be:\n\n## Upper medium density: quarter million to one million residents\nAt this density, there is ready access to more specialized [advanced services](https://bliptext.com/articles/service-economy) (e.g. doctors, mechanics, colleges, etc.) due to [economies of scale](https://bliptext.com/articles/economies-of-scale) and [economies of agglomeration](https://bliptext.com/articles/economies-of-agglomeration).\n\n## Lower medium density: 100,000 to 250,000 residents\nAt this density, there is ready access to less specialized services but residents may need to travel to a larger city in some circumstances.\n\n## Low density: 1,000 to 100,000 residents\nLess than one hundred thousand residents.\nCommon \"city features\" and [third place](https://bliptext.com/articles/third-place) services such as clinics, pharmacy, bank, [supermarket](https://bliptext.com/articles/supermarket), police station, [fire station](https://bliptext.com/articles/fire-station), schools, residential neighborhoods, restaurant, etc. become less available as size reduces.\nDensity may be sufficient to support local [commercial areas](https://bliptext.com/articles/commercial-area) which may include a \"Main Street\" or a [shopping mall](https://bliptext.com/articles/shopping-mall).\n\n## Minuscule density: Less than 1,000\nLess than one thousand residents.\nAt this number, settlements are too small or scattered to be considered \"urban\", and services within these settlements (if any) are generally limited to bare essentials: e.g., [church](https://bliptext.com/articles/church-building), [grocery store](https://bliptext.com/articles/grocery-store), [post office](https://bliptext.com/articles/post-office), etc. Throughout most of human history, very few settlements could support a population greater than 150 people.\n\n# Settlement hierarchy by country\n\n## Settlement hierarchy in the English planning system\nThe position of a settlement in the hierarchy is intended to inform decisions about new developments, such as housing.\nRather than define the hierarchy by population, an alternative way to construct the hierarchy is based on the services that are available within each settlement.\nSettlements are described as \"level 1\", \"level 2\", etc. rather than using terms such as village or town.\nThe Government planning statement ([PPS3](https://bliptext.com/articles/pps-3)) does not specifically mention \"settlement hierarchies\", but talks about the availability of services to small rural settlements.\nThe term is used a number of times in the guidance for preparing evidence for planning decisions; a settlement hierarchy starts with an isolated dwelling, then hamlet, then village, town, city then a conurbation.\n\n## Settlement hierarchy in the German planning system\nThe German planning system is based on the [Central Place Theory](https://bliptext.com/articles/central-place-theory) developed by [Walter Christaller](https://bliptext.com/articles/walter-christaller) in the 1930s and first applied in the Nazi Era, especially in Poland.\nEvery settlement is categorized by function: highly central cities (e.g. [Hamburg](https://bliptext.com/articles/hamburg), with speciality clinics for tropical diseases), middle central cities (for periodic functions e.g. [Homburg (Saar)](https://bliptext.com/articles/homburg-saar) with major schools (starting at 5th grade)) and basic central towns /Unterzentrum (e.g. Illingen with basic doctors and Supermarket).\nThe number of inhabitants is less important: thus a city such as [Kaiserslautern](https://bliptext.com/articles/kaiserslautern) (100,000 people) can be a highly specialized city, because it is a centre for the surrounding rural area.\nIt is used at the federal level for the regional planning system of states and planning regions for the \"State Development Programmes\" ([Landesentwicklungsprogramm](https://bliptext.com/articles/landesentwicklungsprogramm) [[de](https://bliptext.com/articles/de-landesentwicklungsprogramm)]) and the \"Regional Spatial Structure Plans\" ([Regionaler Raumordnungsplan](https://bliptext.com/articles/regionaler-raumordnungsplan) [[de](https://bliptext.com/articles/de-landesentwicklungsprogramm)]).\nThese are political plans to achieve goals such as equivalent [living standards](https://bliptext.com/articles/living-standard) ([Gleichwertige Lebensverhältnisse](https://bliptext.com/articles/gleichwertige-lebensverh-ltnisse) [[de](https://bliptext.com/articles/de-gleichwertige-lebensverh-ltnisse)]) in rural and urban areas in all of Germany, east and west.\n\n# Overview of categories\n\n## By size categorization\n\n## By socio-political categorization","current_revision":null,"created_by":"kACnuQmH5k9Nr5VNVEpVeg7XpvUmMctD","created_at":"2025-01-26T10:03:40.021Z","updated_at":"2025-01-26T10:03:40.021Z","search_vector":"'hierarchi':2 'settlement':1","search_content":" \n \n\n# \nA **settlement [hierarchy](https://bliptext.com/articles/hierarchy)** is a way of arranging [settlements](https://bliptext.com/articles/human-settlement) into a [hierarchy](https://bliptext.com/articles/hierarchy) based upon their size.\nThe term is used by [landscape historians](https://bliptext.com/articles/landscape-history) and in the [National Curriculum](https://bliptext.com/articles/national-curriculum-england-wales-and-northern-ireland) for [England](https://bliptext.com/articles/england).\nThe term is also used in the [planning system for the UK](https://bliptext.com/articles/town-and-country-planning-in-the-united-kingdom) and for some other countries such as Ireland, India, and Switzerland.\nThe term was used without comment by the geographer Brian Roberts in 1972.\n\n# Overview\nIn Europe, centuries-old settlements were surrounded by farmland and tended not to be wider than 30 minutes' walk from one end to the other, with wealthier people monopolising the \"town centre\", and poorer people living on the town's outskirts or nearby countryside (the \"sphere of influence\").\nWith the advent of [decentralization](https://bliptext.com/articles/decentralization) technologies (e.g., bicycles, trains, cars, etc.), American settlements reversed this trend before reaching their saturation point, with vast farmlands managed by [homesteads](https://bliptext.com/articles/homestead-buildings) located dozens of miles away from the nearest settlement; lower-income communities occupied the \"centre\" as the middle-income and upper-income migrated into suburbia.\nThis created a phenomenon known as [urban decay](https://bliptext.com/articles/urban-decay).\nA settlement's population size, its geographic area, its status, and the availability of services can all affect this hierarchy.\nPosition in a settlement hierarchy can also depend on the sphere of influence.\nThis is how far people will travel to use the services in the settlement: if people travel further the town becomes more important and ranks higher in the settlement hierarchy.\nA collection of the most widely accepted units of measuring a settlement's size is as follows:\nIsolated Dwelling < [Hamlet](https://bliptext.com/articles/hamlet-place) < [Village](https://bliptext.com/articles/village) < Small [Town](https://bliptext.com/articles/town) < Large [Town](https://bliptext.com/articles/town) < [City](https://bliptext.com/articles/city) < [Conurbation](https://bliptext.com/articles/conurbation)\n\n## Problems with concept of a settlement hierarchy\nUsing the title of a settlement can be misleading in the absence of any widely accepted definition.\nFor example, [city status in the United Kingdom](https://bliptext.com/articles/city-status-in-the-united-kingdom) historically arose from its place in the [ecclesiastic hierarchy](https://bliptext.com/articles/church-of-england).\n(In modern times, city status is awarded for secular reasons but without reference to size.) Thus, some [cathedral cities](https://bliptext.com/articles/cathedral-city) in England (e.g., [Ely, Cambridgeshire](https://bliptext.com/articles/ely-cambridgeshire)) have a much smaller populations than some towns (e.g., [Luton](https://bliptext.com/articles/luton)).\nIn some parts of the United States, the distinction between town and city is a matter of a decision by local government to incorporate.\nIn addition, there is no agreement as to the number of levels in the hierarchy or what they should be called.\nMany terms used to describe settlements (e.g., village) have no legal definition, or may have contradictory legal definitions in different jurisdictions.\n\n## Hierarchy and status\nPosition in an accepted settlement hierarchy can imply status, which in turn reinforces the position of the settlement in the hierarchy.\nStatus can derive from being the residence of a King or high-ranking member of the nobility or from being the location of a major religious establishment.\nA formal hierarchy of settlements, known as a [multiple estate](https://bliptext.com/articles/anglo-saxon-multiple-estate), appears to have been common in 10th-century England.\nThe centre of an estate (often called a \"caput\") could be supported by subsidiary settlements, which were sometimes given specialised roles.\nFor example, a Saxon royal estate might be supported by settlements specialising in the production of cheese or barley or maintaining flocks of sheep.\n\n# Example of a settlement hierarchy\nThe following settlement hierarchy is adapted from the work of [Konstantinos Apostolos Doxiadis](https://bliptext.com/articles/constantinos-apostolou-doxiadis) for the actual current world situation as of 2010, as opposed to Doxiadis' [idealized settlement hierarchy for the year 2100](https://bliptext.com/articles/ekistics) that he outlined in his 1968 book [Ekistics](https://bliptext.com/articles/ekistics).\nAs an example population criteria for each category of settlement might be different depending on context.\nIn this example, a [roadhouse](https://bliptext.com/articles/roadhouse-facility) is at the lowest level while the [ecumenopolis](https://bliptext.com/articles/ecumenopolis) is at the top with the greatest number of residents:\n\n## Extreme density: more than one billion residents\n\n## High density: more than one million residents\nAt this density, the settlement's population, spheres of influence, and [gross domestic product](https://bliptext.com/articles/gross-domestic-product) tends to exceed that of most countries with lesser density.\nThe need for [administrative divisions](https://bliptext.com/articles/administrative-division), [public transportation](https://bliptext.com/articles/public-transport), [public infrastructure](https://bliptext.com/articles/public-infrastructure) and other government [public services](https://bliptext.com/articles/public-service) is critically essential for the [sustainable growth](https://bliptext.com/articles/sustainable-growth) and continued prosperity of its citizens.\nHigh income jobs and non-essential luxury services are abundant (e.g. car dealerships, brain surgery centers, airports, financing, computer stores, coffee shops, etc.) as these cannot be sustained by lesser density.\nMedium income exceeds national average.\nThe first city in recorded history to reach a population of one million residents was [Ancient Rome](https://bliptext.com/articles/ancient-rome) in 133 B.C. During the [Second Industrial Revolution](https://bliptext.com/articles/second-industrial-revolution), London, England reached the mark in 1810 and New York City, United States made it in 1875.\nThe main type at this level is the\nLarger types at this level would be:\n\n## Upper medium density: quarter million to one million residents\nAt this density, there is ready access to more specialized [advanced services](https://bliptext.com/articles/service-economy) (e.g. doctors, mechanics, colleges, etc.) due to [economies of scale](https://bliptext.com/articles/economies-of-scale) and [economies of agglomeration](https://bliptext.com/articles/economies-of-agglomeration).\n\n## Lower medium density: 100,000 to 250,000 residents\nAt this density, there is ready access to less specialized services but residents may need to travel to a larger city in some circumstances.\n\n## Low density: 1,000 to 100,000 residents\nLess than one hundred thousand residents.\nCommon \"city features\" and [third place](https://bliptext.com/articles/third-place) services such as clinics, pharmacy, bank, [supermarket](https://bliptext.com/articles/supermarket), police station, [fire station](https://bliptext.com/articles/fire-station), schools, residential neighborhoods, restaurant, etc. become less available as size reduces.\nDensity may be sufficient to support local [commercial areas](https://bliptext.com/articles/commercial-area) which may include a \"Main Street\" or a [shopping mall](https://bliptext.com/articles/shopping-mall).\n\n## Minuscule density: Less than 1,000\nLess than one thousand residents.\nAt this number, settlements are too small or scattered to be considered \"urban\", and services within these settlements (if any) are generally limited to bare essentials: e.g., [church](https://bliptext.com/articles/church-building), [grocery store](https://bliptext.com/articles/grocery-store), [post office](https://bliptext.com/articles/post-office), etc. Throughout most of human history, very few settlements could support a population greater than 150 people.\n\n# Settlement hierarchy by country\n\n## Settlement hierarchy in the English planning system\nThe position of a settlement in the hierarchy is intended to inform decisions about new developments, such as housing.\nRather than define the hierarchy by population, an alternative way to construct the hierarchy is based on the services that are available within each settlement.\nSettlements are described as \"level 1\", \"level 2\", etc. rather than using terms such as village or town.\nThe Government planning statement ([PPS3](https://bliptext.com/articles/pps-3)) does not specifically mention \"settlement hierarchies\", but talks about the availability of services to small rural settlements.\nThe term is used a number of times in the guidance for preparing evidence for planning decisions; a settlement hierarchy starts with an isolated dwelling, then hamlet, then village, town, city then a conurbation.\n\n## Settlement hierarchy in the German planning system\nThe German planning system is based on the [Central Place Theory](https://bliptext.com/articles/central-place-theory) developed by [Walter Christaller](https://bliptext.com/articles/walter-christaller) in the 1930s and first applied in the Nazi Era, especially in Poland.\nEvery settlement is categorized by function: highly central cities (e.g. [Hamburg](https://bliptext.com/articles/hamburg), with speciality clinics for tropical diseases), middle central cities (for periodic functions e.g. [Homburg (Saar)](https://bliptext.com/articles/homburg-saar) with major schools (starting at 5th grade)) and basic central towns /Unterzentrum (e.g. Illingen with basic doctors and Supermarket).\nThe number of inhabitants is less important: thus a city such as [Kaiserslautern](https://bliptext.com/articles/kaiserslautern) (100,000 people) can be a highly specialized city, because it is a centre for the surrounding rural area.\nIt is used at the federal level for the regional planning system of states and planning regions for the \"State Development Programmes\" ([Landesentwicklungsprogramm](https://bliptext.com/articles/landesentwicklungsprogramm) [[[de](https://bliptext.com/articles/de-regionalplanung)](https://bliptext.com/articles/de-landesentwicklungsprogramm)]) and the \"Regional Spatial Structure Plans\" ([Regionaler Raumordnungsplan](https://bliptext.com/articles/regionaler-raumordnungsplan) [[[de](https://bliptext.com/articles/de-regionalplanung)](https://bliptext.com/articles/de-landesentwicklungsprogramm)]).\nThese are political plans to achieve goals such as equivalent [living standards](https://bliptext.com/articles/living-standard) ([Gleichwertige Lebensverhältnisse](https://bliptext.com/articles/gleichwertige-lebensverh-ltnisse) [[de](https://bliptext.com/articles/de-gleichwertige-lebensverh-ltnisse)]) in rural and urban areas in all of Germany, east and west.\n\n# Overview of categories\n\n## By size categorization\n\n## By socio-political categorization","revisionCount":0},"hasMore":false,"nextCursor":null}

History