1980

1980 is a management game about running a small urban village as the city around it develops. You try to fit as many people as possible into limited space, attract immigrants with advertisements and renovate the village to make it more attractive. As the city grows and skyscrapers surround the village, you see how it faces gentrification and explore different characters’ stories.

The village and the city

The game draws inspiration from Gangxia Village in Shenzhen, China. Urban villages have a distinct history: they grew alongside Shenzhen from the 1980s, when immigrant workers arrived seeking better opportunities and settled in affordable housing. Despite their high population density, these villages offered rents that workers who could not afford to buy a home in the city could manage.

Workers came for different reasons, and their labor helped Shenzhen grow from a small fishing village into a major city of over 10 million people in 40 years. As the city expands, modern buildings replace older ones, and urban villages face gentrification. Before Gangxia, Baishizhou was already facing this change, leaving its residents to find somewhere else to live or return home.

1980 tells the stories behind these villages and their role in making dreams possible, even as they gradually disappear and are replaced by modern buildings.