Urbanisation From 1801 to 1901

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Urbanisation From 1801 to 1901

Our population has risen greatly in towns over the last century.  More people are moving to towns because they want more jobs because the countryside is becoming over-populated.  But, because more people are moving into towns, the towns are too becoming over-crowded and the need for food, clothes and shelter are becoming a great demand.  Factories have to advertise for more people to help the demand.  This endless cycle has been given a name, the ‘Multiplier Effect’.  Why is the population growing?  Well, young people are migrating to towns for money or jobs and over half the population at the current moment are under the age of 23.  Most people migrate locally, usually between 10 and 20 miles.  Migrants marry earlier and have larger families because due to our child labour system, children as young as five years old can earn a wage.  This rapid rise in our population has led to a desperate housing shortage.  The poor form most of the urban population and the standard of their housing is terribly poor.  This urban growth led to a frenzy of building.  The number of houses in Britain has doubled and most new houses are built as cheaply and as quickly as possible.  Little thought is given to drainage, sewage, water supply or pavements on the street.  There are no building regulations and our unjust councils do not interfere.  Perhaps if we set some building regulations and if more things were taken into account when building a house then we would live in better conditions and the population might settle.

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Most of the houses built are back-to-back housing and they are built to pack in as many people as possible and as cheaply as possible. Most back-to-backs were built as courts, with housing surrounding a central courtyard on three sides, with single access to the main street.  The entrance to the court is often very narrow and they are very dark with little sunlight, damp with poor ventilation and incredibly smelly. With demand for housing so high, houses were built on any plot of land which a builder or landlord could buy. There are no gardens and each street has ...

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