ADB_book_18 April.qxp - Himalayan Document Centre - icimod

Agglomeration village in the central hills of NepalDispersed settlement type village in the central hills ofNepalMorphological FeaturesRural settlements are primarily of two forms:scattered and agglomerated. Scattered settlementsare usually small, with large distances betweenbuildings within the locality, as well as between thesettlement localities. Agglomerated settlements, onthe other hand, are usually large because theycontain buildings that are relatively closely spaced orsometimes attached to each other. The density ofbuildings in agglomerated settlements is usuallyB. PradhanB. Pradhanhigh. Market towns in rural areas are usuallycompact, with buildings commonly attached to eachother. The rural settlement study carried out by theCentral Department of Geography (CDG 2004)indicates that dispersed settlements are foundwidely across the Hill region. However, in thewestern Hills some of the settlements inhabited bythe Gurung and Magar ethnic groups are ofagglomerated form. The rural settlements in the Teraiand the Mountain regions are mostly agglomeratedor compact. However, the size of agglomeratedsettlements in the Mountain region is smaller thanthose in the Terai. In some parts of the easternMountain region, rural settlements are mostly in thescattered form.These settlement forms are chiefly related to theamount and type of available resources, ruggednessof the topography, climatic conditions, amount ofinfrastructure services, and so on. Dispersedsettlements in the Hills are chiefly the result oflimited and scattered production resources andhabitable environments in the rugged topography.The compact or agglomerated settlements in theTerai result from the abundant land resources andflat topography, while those of the Mountains are dueto cold climate and social reasons. Because of poorsanitation and drainage, the environment of compactsettlements is mostly unhealthy.Distribution PatternTable 2.8 shows the distribution of settlementlocalities as reported by the 2001 census. Details ofthe number of localities by population size class andregion, and their total population, for 1991 and 2001are shown in Tables 2.9 and 2.10, respectively. Allrural localities lie below the population size class20,000–49,999. However, settlement localities in thepopulation size class 10,000–19,999 also containsome designated urban areas, since in Hill andTable 2.8: Distribution of Settlement Localities , 1991 and 2001Population Size Mountain Hill Terai Country TotalClass 1991 2001 1991 2001 1991 2001 1991 2001Below 1,000 60 55 12 15 0 0 72 701,000–4,999 459 399 1,722 1,477 842 520 3,023 2,3965,000–9,999 25 73 304 433 432 561 761 1,06710,000–19,999 0 27 28 53 137 205 165 28520,000–49,999 0 2 2 18 14 35 16 5550,000–99,999 0 0 3 3 5 8 8 11Over 99,999 0 0 2 3 1 2 3 5Total 544 556 2,073 2,002 1,431 1,331 4,048 3,889% Country total 13.4 14.3 51.2 51.5 35.4 34.2 100 100Source: CBS (2002b)10 Environment Assessment of Nepal : Emerging Issues and Challenges