The Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th centuries forever changed village life. The tulou itself houses most villagers-up to 800. These walled, circular buildings are constructed around a large, open, central courtyard.

A tulou, for example, is a traditional building among the Hakka people of Southern China. Many villages were surrounded by thick walls or gates. Villages surrounding the city of Damascus, Syria, for example, have been trading hubs for thousands of years. In this way, some villages function as trading centers. Primary activities provide basic goods and services for inhabitants and for people in surrounding areas. In many underdeveloped nations, these primary activities are still the focus of rural village life. In the United Kingdom, a 'pit village' is a settlement whose primary activity is mining. In the past, rural villagers usually engaged in a primary activity such as farming or fishing. An administrative unit is a single component of government, with its own leadership (similar to city councils) and services, such as mail delivery. In China and Japan, a village is an official administrative unit. Villages often function as units of local government. The nonprofit organizations that planned Tapiola were guided by the principles of providing local jobs, including all income levels, and establishing life in harmony with nature and the natural world. Planned villages are sometimes called 'new towns.' Tapiola, Finland, for instance, was planned as an 'ecological village' or 'garden city' in the 1950s. They are outlined by city planners, often to avoid land-use conflicts that are common in nucleated settlements.

Planned villages are communities that do not develop around a central point. (Fishing villages are often linear settlements.) Linear settlements can also develop around a transportation route, such as a railroad line. This line can be natural, such as a river bank or seashore. They are not clustered around a central public space, but around a line. This type of village organization is called a nucleated settlement. A public space can be a open space (sometimes called a village green), or developed square (sometimes called a plaza or piazza). A central point is most often a church, marketplace, or public space. In most parts of the world, villages are settlements of people clustered around a central point. It is generally larger than a ' hamlet' but smaller than a ' town.' Some geographers specifically define a village as having between 500 and 2,500 inhabitants. A village is a small settlement usually found in a rural setting.

Township geography definition