(a) Rural Settlement.
A rural settlement is a small settlement containing a few people. It consists of homestead, farmstead, hamlet and village. It engages mainly in primary activities such as agriculture, lumbering, fishing, etc.
(b) Description of rural settlement.(i) Homestead: It is made up of one compound and usually isolated. One family residence separated by farmland and bushes. It may be kilometres apart with little or no opportunity for social gathering.
(ii) Farmstead: This form of settlement consists of two or more homesteads which are usually dispersed. They are separated by farmlands and occupied by upto 50 (fifty) persons.
(iii) Hamlet: It is made up of dispersed, nucleated or linear homestead which may have shops/school with hundreds of people. The people usually engaged in primary activities such as farming, fishing, hunting. etc. In advanced countries, hamlets are usually located at road intersections while they are usually inaccessible in d•eloping countries.
(iv) Village: A village may be dispersed, nucleated or both. !t may be linear in shape or dispersed but has many homestead. The population may be up to several thousands and people engaged in primary activities. Some villages may have crafts or village industries with services centres such as schools, post offices health centres and markets. The population in the village is homogeneous; poorly accessible, no planned layout and always free from environmental pollution.
(c) Differences between rural and urban settlements.
(1) Rural settlements are graded into homesteads, farmsteads, hamlets and villages while Urban settlements are graded into conurbations, Megalopolis, Millionaire city, agglomeration, etc
(2) Rural settlements are generally smaller in sizes than Urban settlements.
(3) Urban settlements are essentially nucleated or compact in shape whereas rural settlements are isolated, dispersed or linear in pattern.
(4) Urban settlements have distinct cores or centres (Central Business Districts) whereas rural centres do not usually have these.
(5) Urban settlements have more developed infrastructure than rural settlements. Urban dwellers engage in secondary and tertiary production While rural dwellers engage mainly in primary production.
(6) Urban areas provide higher order services such as banking, insurance, information technology, etc. than rural areas.
(7) Streets in Urban areas are generally planned where as in rural areas roads are not planned.
(8) Urban centres have well developed or planned layouts whereas rural settlements do not have such planned layouts.
(9) While houses in Urban areas are constructed with modern materials like cement, bricks, corrugated iron / asbestos roofing sheets and glass windows, rural houses, until recently, are built with local materials like mud and thatch.
(10) Urban centres are more prone to pollution than rural areas.
(11) Urban centres are more densely populated than rural areas.