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.