Landscapes of Rural Settlements

1. Landscapes of Rural Settlements Dwelling Types Examples of Dwellings Rural Settlements Settlement Patterns

2. Introduction • Shelter ranks high on list of human needs • Dwellings serve several functions • Houses reveal characteristics of region and culture • Layout and function of houses provides a glimpse of social values and economic needs • Materials used reflect local availability & purpose

3. Spacing of Housing • Dispersed Settlement • Houses lie far apart • Nucleated Settlement • Houses are grouped together in tiny clusters (hamlets) • Larger clusters (villages) • Arrangement of houses in villages takes on different forms

4. Housing and landscape • Early ancestors- lived in bands of dozen to 50 to 60 people • Early humans lived in holes covered w/ branches and leaves in temporary campsites • deBlij- unlikely first humans lived in caves because many humans lived where no shelter was available • Functional Differentiation: • As society developed, communal dwelling gave way to individual dwelling • Communities became larger & more organized • Buildings for food storage and livestock became necessary • Functional differentiation began in buildings

5. Environmental Influences Human communities existed as far back as 100,000 years ago Migrating people protected selves against elements Buildings reflect adaptations required of environmental changes Nomadic people had light-weight, tent-like shelters- Igloos for Inuit people

6. Changing Residential Traditions Unchanged-Traditional Traditional Modified-Traditional Modern

7. Dwelling Types • Unchanged-Traditional – layout, construction, appearance have not been significantly altered by external influences • Modified-Traditional – new building materials used, no change to original structure or layout • Modernized-Traditional – materials and layout have been changed (floor plan, multiple bathrooms, two-car garage, …) • Modern – reflects advanced technology, practicality, comfort, affluence, technology makes up for lack of style, suburbanization (most common in US) • Building Materials • Typically reflect what is locally available • Wood, brick, stone, wattle (tightly woven sticks & poles plastered w/ mud), grass and brush

8. Uygur yurtin Xinjiang Province, China

9. Masai manyatta, Kenya

10. Stone house, Nepal

11. Sod farm house, Iceland

12. Uros reed dwelling, Lake Titicaca, Peru

13. Traditional housing, Nias Island, off the west coast of Sumatera, Indonesia

14. Stone and cement house, Armenia

15. Adobe-style construction, Santa Fe, NM

16. Solar-powered T.V. hut, Niger

17. North American Folk-Housing Regions • Fred Kniffen studied three principal housing types (New England, Middle Atlantic & “Tidewater South” of the Lower Chesapeake); diffused South & West • Ranch house – evolved in California in 1920s; diffused eastward (first through Sunbelt, then to other regions); designed for balmy climate & outdoor living (cultural symbol) • Maladaptive diffusion – negative • Ranch house diffused to areas with greater extremes in temperature (north); image over practicality • New England style diffused into Hawaii

18. Ranch House

19. Buildings of the Lower St. Lawrence Hearth of North America

20. Norman Cottage

21. Quebec cottage

22. Montreal house

24. Buildings ofNew England

25. Saltbox house

26. Upright-and-wing house

27. Georgian-style NE large house

28. Buildings of theMiddle Atlantic States

29. Four-over four house

30. Traditional or classic “I” house, w/ 2 rooms per floor separated by central hallways

31. Buildings of the“Tidewater South”

32. Charleston single house

33. Rural Settlements • Hamlet = smallest • What constitutes a village? • Canada – up to 1,000 residents; US – 2,500; Japan – up to 30,000 (pop. numbers are not standard) • Functional differentiation: hamlet – offers very few services (gas station, store,…); village – may offer several dozen services • Traditionally- villagers either farmed surrounding land or provided services to those who did • Japan- houses tightly packed, only narrow passageway remains • W. Europeans built on dikes- look more linear • Over ½ of world’s population live in villages and rural areas

34. Village forms: Nucleated & Dispersed • Linear: e.g. low-lying areas in W. Eur. located on levees (Strassendorfs- ‘street villages’) • Clustered: Japan – need to allocate every available foot of land for farming • Round: Africa & parts of Europe – central cattle corral • Grid: US – township-and-range system adopted after Amer. Rev.- Rectangular Survey System • Basic unit is one square mile • Similar system used in Canada

37. Patterns of Settlements • Size and structure of rural regions depend on space, environment, and social norms (and laws) • Primogeniture – larger plots of land (N. Eur, Americas, S. Afr, Aus & N.Z.) – all land passes to eldest son • Land divided among heirs – smaller (S. Eur, Asia, Africa) • Township-and-Range system – U.S.; Northwest Ordinance (1787) – rectangular survey system (dispersed settlers more evenly) • Functional differentiation of buildings is greater in Western cultures – rural areas in core regions vary greatly w/ more isolated, poverty-stricken areas along the periphery