The Industrial Revolution: Urbanization Simulation

1. You will receive 1 piece of 11” x 17” paper to use for the simulation.
Don’t worry if you mess up… Do your best to follow directions!

2. Label at top: Urbanization- From Village to City

3. You will use the front to draw and the back to write
Round #1: Village Established!

1. Draw the following…

• 1 River across the paper about an inch wide
and extending across the entire paper
• 2 Bridges
• 4 Roads
• Draw the following 20 locations along the roads
15 houses
1 church
1 cemetery
2 stores
1 pub

• Select one house to be yours and label it!

Round #2: Enclosures

The community land for farms in your town have

been bought by a larger and wealthy landowner
who has ENCLOSED the areas to grow crops on
a bigger scale.

1. Draw the following…

• A broken line circle about the size of your fist

and label that area “Enclosed Agricultural Land”

• Any houses or buildings located in this circle need to

be relocated and nothing else may be drawn in this area!
Round #3: Agricultural Revolution

There has been an “agricultural revolution” as a result of innovations such as crop

rotation and Selective breeding along with new farm machines such as the seed drill.
Because of the resulting increases in food production from these innovations, less
farmers are needed and more rural people relocate to your village.

1. Now add the following to your drawing…

1 Road
10 houses
1 church
1 pub
1 bridge
1 store
Round #4: Textile Revolution

Factories come to your village and make it a town. A number of machines are
invented that greatly speed up the production of cloth (textiles). These
technological developments revolutionize the spinning and weaving of cotton
and wool and can spin/weave cloth 100 times faster than what had been done
by hand. Some wealthy merchants (capitalists) pool their money together to
buy land and new textile machines to build a factory in your village that is
powered by a water wheel.

1. Now add the following to your drawing…

1 Factory, next to the river for waterpower
1 Capitalist’s Estate, where the factory owner lives
Round #5: Canal Revolution

Workers are needed to work in the new factory. Since individual weavers and spinners cannot compete with the speed of the
new machines and have lost their land to the enclosure movement, many of these unemployed come to your village to work at
the factory.

1. Now add the following to your drawing…

15 houses 40
1 pub 3
5 Apartment buildings (tenements) 5
1 store 4
1 church 3
1 bridge 4
Any necessary roads to support your additions

Also, a new development in transportation comes to your village. This innovation can transport 100 times what one horse
could transport on the road. This innovation is the CANAL. Canals made rivers that significantly reduced the prices of
transportation.

1. Now add the following to your drawing…

1 Canal, that must run from the river to the edge of your paper. Relocate any buildings that the canal
displaces.
Prediction…
Total so far…
40 houses, 1 Capitalists Estate, 4 stores, 5 apartments,
4 bridges, 3 pubs, 1 factory, 3 churches, 1 cemetery
1. Now write a response to the following question on the
back of your paper…
Briefly explain what you predict will happen to your
village in the future. What might be good and bad about
the future of your village?
Round #6: Factors of Production Come Together

Since the profits from this textile factory are enormous, other capitalists start
investing their money and new factories are built. These factory owners are
called capitalists because they combine the Factors of Production (Land, Labor,
Capital) by offering their money(Capital) to finance the buying of raw
materials, machines, buildings (Land) and wages to pay the workers (Labor).

1. Now all the following to your drawing…

5 Factories, for a total of 6 so far. Remember to relocate
other buildings to make room if needed. Do not eliminate
anything on your drawing you’ve added so far.
Round #7: Village Becomes a Town
Word has reached surrounding villages of the new
sources of employment in your factory town. More and
more people move to your town. Housing is in great
demand and is constructed quickly with little direction.
1. Now add to your drawing quickly the following…
10 Houses
20 Apartment Buildings (Tenements)
Round #8: Social Impacts of Industrialization

Women and children are encouraged to work in factories. Families need the extra
money and factory owners like women and children because they are paid less. The
average workday began at 6AM and ended at 7PM with only a 30 minute break for
lunch. Fewer children attend school since families need their wages to pay bills.

After work mainly male workers stop at pubs to relax, socialize and drink alcohol,
often to excess.

#1. Add to your drawing the following…

4 Pubs
1 school
Round #9: Transportation Revolution- Steam Engines and Railroads

Inventor James Watt introduces the Steam Engine, which is a cheap and convenient
source of power to run machines. This makes it possible for more factories that
produce more goods and to transport those goods more efficiently on newly
developed railroads. The steam engine runs on coal which produces significant
amounts of pollution.

#1. Now add to your drawing…

3 Railroads
10 Factories
3 Coal Mines- Coal mines need to be connected to factories via
canals or railroads; if a building is in the way, relocate it.
Round #10: Town Becomes a City

As wages are higher in towns than in rural areas, the populations of workers in town keeps growing
making them cities. Many of these newcomers work on the construction of the railroad lines, factories
and coal mines. Factories provide money to workers and cheaper products for them to buy so new stores
also open in the growing city.

#1. Now add to your drawing…

5 Houses
10 Apartment buildings (tenements)
5 Stores
2 Cemeteries
5 Pubs
1 Church
3 Schools

#2 Due to the pressure of urban growth, eliminate one-half of the enclosed agricultural
land for new construction.
Round #11: Urban Problems Develop

About 50,000 people now reside in your city. Soon there is a surplus of workers.
Capitalists, wanting to maximize their profits, hire children and women before men
because they perform the same work for ½ to ¼ the wages paid to men. Since the
children find themselves doing factory work and coal mining schools lose enrollment.

As a result of growing male unemployment, the crime rate begins to soar. Family life is
disrupted and alcoholism reaches epidemic proportions.

#1. Make the following adjustments to your drawing…

ERASE: 1 School
Add:
4 Pubs
2 Jails
Round #12: More Urban Problems

Due to a lack of government regulations and an abundant source of desperate workers,

the working conditions in factories become very dangerous. Many workers contract
deadly lung diseases or are injured in factories.

Factory owners fire those who complain and replace those workers who are too sick or
injured to work.

Coal smoke and factory wastes not only sicken workers but pollute the cities, air and
water.

#1. Now add the following to your drawing…

2 Cemeteries
1 Hospital
Lightly shade in the entire sheet, including the river
Village to City: Urbanization Reflection
Life is bad now in your city.
On the back of your drawing, label “Urbanization
Reflection” and answer this question in complete
sentence, paragraph structure…
What kind of responses do you think people might
try to improve the quality of life in your city?