Evolution of Human Settlements

Abstract

The population of the world is growing at an unprecedented rate. Many believe and fear that the day is not far distant when it will outstrip the earth’s capacity to provide for man’s essential needs, particularly at the high levels of material comfort and sophistication to which a large part of the population is already accustomed and an even larger part is aspiring. But whatever steps may be taken to curb the rate of growth, they cannot affect the situation in which many now find themselves and which many more will experience by the end of this century. For it is not only the total population that is growing fast: so too is the rate at which men are coming together in large settlements, and it is in these concentrations of human life and activity that the relationship between man and his environment is most complex, most difficult to plan and manage and most crucial to man’s happiness, prosperity and welfare.