Grade 8 · Social Studies · Unit 11 of 15
Where People Live
Settlement patterns, density and cities
What your child practises
Linear, clustered and scattered settlement patterns, how to calculate population density, how climate, landforms and water shape where people live, and trends such as urbanization and sprawl.
Ontario Curriculum expectation: Geography A1.1, A3.1, A3.2, A3.4, A3.7 · global settlement patterns, population density, how the physical environment influences settlement, and trends such as urbanization
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
What is urban sprawl?
- a farm market
- low-density development spreading from a city onto surrounding land
- a city shrinking
- tall buildings in a downtown
Show answer
low-density development spreading from a city onto surrounding land
Hint: Sprawl can use up farmland and natural areas.
Question 2
Inuit communities in the Arctic are small and widely spaced. What helps explain this?
- There is no ocean.
- The cold climate and limited food and fuel in the region limit how many people can live together.
- The Arctic has fertile soil.
- Inuit have never lived there.
Show answer
The cold climate and limited food and fuel in the region limit how many people can live together.
Hint: Inuit have lived in the Arctic for thousands of years, and communities are located where the land and sea provide resources.
Question 3
Which settlement pattern does each description show?
Sort into: ➖ Linear · ⚫ Clustered · ✳️ Scattered
- 🌲isolated cabins in forest
- 🚂buildings along a railway
- 🐄ranches across a dry plain
- 🏘️a compact village around a market
- ⛏️houses around a mine
- 🏞️homes along a river bank
Show answer
➖ Linear: buildings along a railway, homes along a river bank · ⚫ Clustered: a compact village around a market, houses around a mine · ✳️ Scattered: isolated cabins in forest, ranches across a dry plain
Hint: Linear settlements follow a line, clustered ones group tightly, and scattered ones are widely spaced.
Question 4
A region has 10 000 people living in 500 km². What is its population density, in people per km²?
answer boxper km²
Show answer
20 per km²
Hint: Density = population ÷ area.
Question 5
More than half of the world's people now live…
- in cities
- in deserts
- on farms
- on boats
Show answer
in cities
Hint: The share of people living in cities has grown rapidly.
Question 6
Most Canadians live within a few hundred kilometres of the southern border. Why?
- No one lives in the south.
- The climate is milder, farmland is better and early settlement and trade started there.
- The north has the most roads.
- The Arctic has the most farms.
Show answer
The climate is milder, farmland is better and early settlement and trade started there.
Hint: Climate and soil strongly affect where large populations settle.