Location and climate, as well as physical features such as natural resources, play a large part in determining how cultures and societies develop. For instance, in semi-arid regions, a type of culture called pastoralism, which is based on raising livestock, allows "optimal subsistence" because pastoralists are mobile and can move or disperse their herds in case local conditions take a turn for the worse, as in a drought. In pastoral societies, political boundaries are based on environmental boundaries.

Pastoralists do not settle permanently but live in dwellings such as tents that can be easily transported as they follow seasonal migration routes in search of pasturage for their animals, in a sustainable adaptation to irregular climates.

Some of the consequences of overlapping with the territories of other, more settled societies are culture clashes and the potential curtailment of a way of life. Read about how pastoralists are adapting to these circumstances at the link below.

https://www.voanews.com/africa/pastoral-societies-seek-place-amid-change

Other locations require other kinds of adaptations and ways of life. The Inuit and Yupik peoples of the Arctic regions adapted to their cold, snowy environment by building shelters of snow and ice (see a diagram of an igloo here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igloo ), hunting and fishing, wearing furs, and traveling overland by sled and over water using kayaks. As these people have modernized, they have turned to modern housing, wearing contemporary clothing, and traveling by snowmobile and four-wheel drive ATVs.