Final answer:
Rural/Urban settlement is influenced mainly by economic factors, such as employment opportunities, and environmental elements, such as climate and resources. Urbanization trends reflect the economic development and physical geography effects on the growth and distribution of settlements.
Step-by-step explanation:
Rural/Urban settlement is part of various factors that influence population distribution. Among those factors, it falls primarily under the economic and environmental categories.
Economic factors include the availability of jobs, the level of wealth or poverty in an area, and the economic activities such as agriculture, industry, or services that are predominant. Environmental factors comprise aspects such as climate, landforms, water resources, and living conditions.
The shift from rural to urban settlement, also known as urbanization, is often driven by economic opportunities in urban areas as economies develop. For instance, in the United States, roughly 80% of the population lives in metropolitan areas, demonstrating significant urbanization since 1900.
In contrast, developing regions like many African countries have a lower proportion of their populations in urban areas (around 30%), but face the challenge of managing urban growth as their economies expand.
WG.6A and WG.6B, from the World Geography TEKS, address how human and physical features influence settlements and the changes in settlement patterns respectively. These underline the significance of both economic development and physical geography in the distribution and development of settlements.