right|thumb|250px|Ki Gompa settlement, [[Lahaul and Spiti|Spiti, India]]
A settlement is a general term used in archeology, landscape history and other subjects for a permanent or temporary community in which people live which avoids being specific as to size, population or importance. A settlement can therefore range in size from a small number of dwellings grouped together to the largest of cities with surrounding urbanized areas. The term may include hamlets, villages, towns and cities.http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/urbanrural/settlementtypesrev_print.shtml The National Curriculum for England uses the term and expects 12 year old children to understand and define it.

The medieval settlement research group (a British organisation) includes as part of a settlement, associated features such as roads, enclosures, field systems, boundary banks and ditches, ponds, parks and woods, mills, manor houses, moats and churches.

Settlements can be ordered by size (or some other factor such as availability of services) to define a settlement hierarchy.
Landscape history studies the form (morphology) of settlements – for example whether they are dispersed or nucleated.