Urban Hierarchies

What Are They? Settlements can be described as being part of the urban hierarchy. Where they stand on the hierarchy depends on a number of factors, the main ones being population, the number of services a settlement has and its sphere of influence.

Population The most obvious way of deciding where a settlement ranks on the urban hierarchy is by using the population of that settlement. The larger the population, the higher the settlement is placed on the hierarchy. In the UK, the largest city in terms of population is London, which most people would agree is the most important settlement in the country and so deserves to be placed on the top of the urban hierarchy for the UK.

Population After that the divisions between what is classified in each layer is a bit more vague. Different sources will have different numbers for how many people are needed for a place to be called a city rather than a town for instance. However the most important thing to notice on the diagram is that as you go up the hierarchy, there becomes a lot less of that type of settlement. So, the diagram shows us that there are huge numbers of isolated farmhouses and hamlets. There are less villages and small towns and so on.

Population In the UK, many people would argue that only London should be placed in the highest rung of the triangle. However some other large cities, such as Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds are growing fast, and may be considered to have reached the top level as well.

Settlement Hierarchy