Population Change and Railways in Victorian England

Lab Fall 2000

Using the GIS to explore patterns of change and the impact of the rail system on the human and natural environments of Victorian England.

One domain for exploration is the relationship between "objective" socioeconomic history and "subjective" cultural history, i.e., the links between patterns of social/economic change and patterns of thought and perceptions among Victorians.

“Objective” Change

Population change from 1830s to the eve of World War I (1914):

1.General increase and the shifting density of populations in specific areas and regions of England and Wales

2. Urbanization: growth in the number and size of cities

3. Migration: the geographic movement of people among localities, and the patterns of these movements among different areas of England and Wales

The Extension of the Rail System from the 1830s to the eve of World War I

1. The growth in the extent of rail service, and the geographic patterns of this growth

2. The explanation of these patterns.

3. The consequences for rural communities, urban communities, the landscape, tourism, etc.

The Relationship between The Extension of the Rail System and Population Change (and Environmental Change)

1. To what extent did the extension of the rail system affect patterns of urban growth?

2. To what extent did the extension of the rail system affect patterns of rural development: rural outmigration, the decline of rural production, the concentration of population in cities, the dispersion of population from city centers to city peripheries, etc.?