Which is initially more favorable; large or small settlements in a new planetary colony?
I have a question that concerns a story I am writing and I hope it is a valid one to ask. But in my story, several groups of colonists, each arriving on different ships at relatively the same time, land on a newly discovered habitable world with the goals of spreading and populating the new world while establishing new, yet individual, societies that fit their ideologies and views as quickly as possible. They start from complete scratch using the tech and resources they brought from earth. My question is: Initially, in detail and realistically, which would be more favorable; large or small settlements built with the in mind goal of quick expansion but also quick population growth?
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1 answer
It is a trade-off between benefits.
Large settlements allow more efficient collective action, trade, etc. It is easier to dig one water well than 10 water wells.
If I want all settlements to be fenced, say for protection against local wildlife, then it is 1/3 the effort to fence one large settlement versus fencing 10 smaller settlements. (Because area enclosed goes up with the square of the fence length).
A single large population allows market fluidity: In ten settlements of some distance apart (to allow for growth), you need more doctors, so simultaneous illness or emergency in multiple settlements can all get the attention they deserve. You just need fewer of each kind of specialist in a single large settlement, and this in turn allows for more types of specialist: If you have three doctors in one settlement instead of ten doctors in ten settlements, then the other seven people that could have been doctors can be researchers, teachers, or of some other profession that utilizes their intellectual capabilities, bettering the community as a whole.
But there are drawbacks to a single large community. Diseases can infect everybody. A fire can devastate or kill more people. A flood or drought can wipe everybody out.
Basically there are many problems with a large concentration of people in one place, including getting supplies (food and water) into the place, and waste out of it. Sewage and garbage disposal presented a large problem when small villages became larger cities, sanitation and running water became more difficult than when everybody had their own well and their own piping. Power generation and distribution can become a problem, too.
In many smaller villages (historically on Earth) the solution to pollution was dilution. There was enough air, water and fields that waste and garbage wasn't a problem. But as they grew larger, the distance to disposal increased and crap piled up (literally).
It is easier to grow a small village (or start another small village) than it is to grow a large settlement, because growth of a large settlement serves to make the center of it increasingly barricaded and distant from the edges, where we need to go to dispose of waste (if we aren't going to dump it on our neighbors).
You have a trade-off between the complexity of a large settlement and its advantages, and the simplicity of small settlements and forgoing those advantages.
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