Human Factors affecting growth of San Salvador

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 497.

· Transport: The Pan-American highway runs through San Salvador making trade with the rest of San Salvador and Central America easier. Also El Salvador's only international airport is located just outside San Salvador.

· Education: San Salvador is home to the best international schools and universities. This means that there are trained and skilled workers to work in business, but also facilities to carry out research.

· Communications:San Salvador has the best internet connections and mobile phone network making it easier for businesses to communicate with customers and suppliers.

· Market: San Salvador is the biggest settlement in EL Salvador, so businesses have a large market to sell their products to.

· Workforce: Again because San Salvador has the largest population of any settlement in El Salvador there is a large supply of workers (both manual and professional).

· Capital: San Salvador is home to the country's main banks, so it is easier for companies to raise capital to invest in their businesses.

Hierarchy: Placing things in an order of importance.

Sphere of Influence: The distance or area people travel from to access a service i.e. the area served by a settlement or service.

Services: Facilities that are offered to people e.g. supermarket, cinema, school or train station. Services have a threshold population, which helps explain why bigger settlements have more services.

Range: This usually refers to the number of different services e.g. a school, a post office, etc. It can also refer to the distance people travel to access a service or settlement.

Threshold Population: The minimum amount of people required for a service to be offered and remain open.

High Order Goods (Comparison): Goods that people buy less frequently. They tend to be more expensive and people will normally compare quality and price before purchasing e.g. a TV, car or holiday.

Low Order Goods (Convenience): Goods that people buy every day. They don't usually cost much money and people would not normally travel far to buy them e.g. bread and milk.

The Hierarchy of the settlement mainly depends on the:

· size of the settlement,

· The range and number of services,

· its sphere f influence

· CBD: The Central Business District. This the area in the middle of urban areas where there tends to be a concentration of retail and commercial land uses.

· Transition zone: The area between the CBD and the largely residential suburbs. Traditionally this used to be an area of industry, but as industry has relocated these areas are being regenerated into mixed land use areas including houses, shops and entertainment.

· Suburbs: The ares near the edge of the urban area that has a concentration of residential land use. There will also be some recreational land use within the suburbs and possibly some retail and educational.

· Rural-urban fringe: This is the boundary between the urban area and the rural area (countryside). This area is demand by multiple land users e.g. agriculture, recreational, residential, retail, industrial. The large demand can often lead to conflict.

· Commuter belt or Commuter villages (dormitory villages): Areas of residential land use where people travel from to their work place. People might access services near their place of work so commuter villages are often devoid of any other land uses or services.

· Greenfield Site: Land that has never been built on before, greenfield sites will often be used for agriculture. Many countries are trying to restrict the amount of building on greenfield sites and encouraging building on brownfield sites.

· Brownfield Site: This is land that has been built on previously but has been left abandoned and often become derelict. Most commonly brownfield sites are former factories found in the transition zone.

· Derelict: Land that has been abandoned (no longer used) and often become run down or vandalised. Derelict sites is a sign of disinvestment (companies and people leaving an area).

· Greenbelt: Greenbelts are protected areas of land around large urban areas. They have been used by the UK government to try and protect greenfield sites and promote building on brownfield sites.

· Housing Density: The number of houses per km2.

· Urban Sprawl or Urban Growth: The spread or growth of an urban area into the rural-urban fringe.