Which one you think is more practical when forming a community in a Zombie apocalypse?

Let's say that there is somewhere between 1000-10,000 survivors trying to settle. What do you think is the practical way to sort this? (for this scenario let's say the zombies are a secondary concern at the moment)

Population distribution:

1. Concentrate the entire population in one area
2. Have the population spread out into different settlement (like towns, villages, wards or compounds)

Area to establish this

1. In an decently intact portion of a city
2. In the countryside