Settlement Systems and Linkages

The District has over 70 dispersed settlements with numerous small scattered villages.  This has come about as a result of the agrarian form of the local economy which demands demand large tracts of land for the farming purposes.  The effect of the scattered settlement is evidenced by the small population sizes of the communities. No settlement in the District has a population of 5,000 and above. The largest community has a population of about 3,500.  

The dispersed nature of these communities and their linkages affects the distribution of infrastructural facilities as most communities do not meet the population threshold for the provision of educational and health facilities.

Functional Heirarchy of Settlements and its Implications (Scalogram Analysis)
 
From the reconnaissance survey and responses received from base line data collected from these communities, the various services and facilities present at some towns in the district were identified. The population figure for 2000 population and housing census were taken and using the district growth rate of 3.1%. The settlements were rank –ordered.

A cut off point of 1,000 population was set as communities of below 1,000 people were considered as too small for the analysis and were not considered.

Facilities and services available in selected communities were identified and weighted. The total centrality for each settlement was calculated by adding all the weighted centrality indices (which is the total centrality divided by the number of functions) applicable to each settlement.