The actual piece of land upon which a settlement is built is known as the settlement site. There are many reasons why a certain site might be chosen for the development of a settlement. Some factors will be more important than others. If we group and classify a number of settlements according to their size the result is called a settlement hierarchy. A settlement hierarchy ranks settlements according to their shape and size. As you move up the hierarchy the size of the settlement increases and the frequency - the number of similar settlements - decreases. As you can see from the diagram below, there are more cities than conurbations, more towns than cities, and more villages than towns.
Sphere of influence and hierarchy of settlement
All settlements have a sphere of influence which will vary in an area according to the position of the central place in the hierarchy of settlements. The number of services that a settlement provides will increase with settlement size. Small settlements will only provide such as a post office, doctors and newsagents. Large towns, cities and conurbations will provide low and such as leisure centres, chain stores and hospitals.
Settlements are ranked by Population Size; the range and number of services and the sphere of influence or area served by the settlement.
As settlement size increases, the number decreases – so there are many villages but few conurbations.
*A Conurbation is at the top of the hierarchy because it has a high population, a large range and number of services and will be a long distance from other Conurbations.
*An Isolated Dwelling is at the bottom of the hierarchy because it only has a few people living there, possibly no services, and it is likely to be close to other isolated dwellings.
THE NUMBER OF SERVICES PROVIDED IN A SETTLEMENT INCREASES WITH SETTLEMENT SIZE.
Hierarchy of Settlements according to Services.
Hamlet: Perhaps none, or public telephone.
Village: Church, Post Office, Public House, Shops for Daily goods, Small Junior School, Village Hall.
Small Town: Town Hall, Doctor, Several Churches / Chapels, Cafes and Restaurants, Small Secondary School, Railway Station, Several Shops.
Large Town: Several shopping areas / arcades, Hypermarket, Railway Station, Bus Station, Hotels, Banks, Small Hospital, Small Football Team.
City: Large Railway Station, Large Shopping Complex, Cathedral, Opticians and Jewelers, Large Hospital, Large Football Team, University, Theatre, County Hall, Airport.
Conurbation: Capital Cathedrals, Government Buildings, Banking HQ, Railway Termini, Museums and Art Galleries, Large Theatre, Shopping Centre, Several Universities, International Airport.
Large places provide HIGH and LOW order goods and services e.g. Furniture stores, Theatres which a high number of people
Will use.
Small places provide LOW order goods and services e.g. a local newsagent which a lower number of people will use.
I expect Ormskirk’s sphere of influence to cover the north west of England and to have a radius of 20 km which will reach Liverpool but I think it might be wider because of Manchester.
I think Ormskirk will compete with larger settlements like Liverpool, Preston and Manchester because it they are high order settlements and have a large sphere of influence where as Ormskirk is a low/medium order settlement.