Settlement

Human settlement

A human settlement, locality, or populated place is a place where people live and carry out social, economic, political, and cultural activities. The term encompasses a broad range of inhabited environments, including hamlets, villages, towns, cities, metropolitan regions, and larger settlement systems. Human settlements are created through human activity rather than natural processes and typically involve the construction of infrastructure and the modification of surrounding environments. They develop over long periods through the cumulative actions of many individuals and exist at scales ranging from individual dwellings to extensive urban regions.

Settlement (structural)

Settlement is the downward movement or the sinking of a structure's foundation. It is mostly caused by changes in the underlying soil, such as drying and shrinking, wetting and softening, or compression due to the soil being poorly compacted when construction started. Some settlement is quite normal after construction has been completed.

Settlement (finance)

Settlement is the "final step in the transfer of ownership involving the physical exchange of securities or payment". After settlement, the obligations of all the parties have been discharged and the transaction is considered complete.

settlement

Noun

1. The act of settling.
2. The state of being settled.