This book presents both rural and urban settlement issues in a single and accessible text. The authors examine a range of spatial concepts and models and apply these to a variety of locations, providing students with both a general understanding of a broad range of study, and an in-depth knowledge of specific places. The general concepts are explored through varied case studies drawn from around the world. These look at issues ranging from socio-economic change in rural Thailand and land reform in the Kenyan Highlands, to the social geography of Chicago and the changing morphology of an English country town.