ABSTRACT
During the Industrial Revolution, many rural inhabitants migrated to cities in search of factory employment. With the movement of people away from the countryside and into cities for factory work, there was a need to plan, organize, and design dwellings to accommodate the new populations of workers and their families. The city of Birmingham was one of the first cities to experience a flux of migrant workers, and the new type of housing stock that was created were back-to-backs.
Back-to-backs are a type of row housing development that dates back to the late 1700s. The name derives from rows of dwelling units that were constructed back-to-back from one another. The characteristics are an economical housing solution to accommodate the urban working poor in late-1700s to mid-1800s England; the back of one house joined onto the back of another house, built at right angles to the street, and they were separated from each other by narrow alleys and large, shared communal courtyards. Dwelling units were attached on three sides to neighbouring units, stacked atop one another two or three storeys in height.
