LESSON 3: FACTORS AFFECTING SETTLEMENT
Learning Goal: We are learning to make connections between physical features in the environment and human settlement.
Key Ideas:
- Physical features impact human settlement patterns
- The physical location can increase or decrease the amount of movement into a settlement
- If a settlement is physically isolated, it can have lower flow of information and products into the community and a lower population density
Geography in Action!
The community depicted above is one of the most isolated villages in all of Canada. For decades, movement into the village has been limited to one logging road, closed during the winter; a bush plane that flies into the community three times a week; and (recently) a slow internet connection.
The flow of people, products and information into the community is slow. People must fly in on a bush plane that seats only 20 individuals, which costs $500/ flight. Food comes in using a small container freight system via the logging road. The main public transit system is not a subway or bus route, like it is in Toronto, but rather the river that flows through the community. People use the river to get to friends’ houses, to the store, to work and to neighbouring communities
Recently, the BC government decided to build a hydroelectric dam downstream of the community on the river. This dam would create electricity to power Fort Ware, as well as other communities in the province, and would help to create jobs. The dam also created a fast-moving, dangerous, and over-flowing river, flooding Fort Ware and dividing it into two communities, now separated by a large expanse of water. The community members can no longer use the river as a major pathway of movement.
What would be an alternative method of movement in the community? Why do you think this will work? Make sure to justify your answer.
Make sure to think about restraints/ problems with traditional movement methods, including:
- the weather
- the small population
- the slow flow of building materials into the community
The flow of people, products and information into the community is slow. People must fly in on a bush plane that seats only 20 individuals, which costs $500/ flight. Food comes in using a small container freight system via the logging road. The main public transit system is not a subway or bus route, like it is in Toronto, but rather the river that flows through the community. People use the river to get to friends’ houses, to the store, to work and to neighbouring communities
Recently, the BC government decided to build a hydroelectric dam downstream of the community on the river. This dam would create electricity to power Fort Ware, as well as other communities in the province, and would help to create jobs. The dam also created a fast-moving, dangerous, and over-flowing river, flooding Fort Ware and dividing it into two communities, now separated by a large expanse of water. The community members can no longer use the river as a major pathway of movement.
What would be an alternative method of movement in the community? Why do you think this will work? Make sure to justify your answer.
Make sure to think about restraints/ problems with traditional movement methods, including:
- the weather
- the small population
- the slow flow of building materials into the community
lesson_3_fort_wares_population_density.pdf | |
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