The construction of railways in the Victorian period hastened the suburbanisation of London and the population of Battersea increased from 6,617 in 1841 to 168,907 in 1901.

The 21st century has seen another raft of changes in north Battersea with the wholesale redevelopment of the iconic Battersea Power Station site and of the Nine Elms area, which now houses the US Embassy. The expansion of the Royal College of Art has encouraged creative industries such as the Royal Academy of Dance to move into the area, and the river front between Vauxhall and Chelsea bridges has been opened up for public use for the first time since the pre-industrial era. Much of Battersea is now seen as a highly desirable area to live, whether between the Commons or overlooking the Thames; but there are still areas of considerable deprivation on many of the estates. Some headway is being made with social housing, for example on the redeveloped York Road and Winstanley estates, but there is little sign of the demand for affordable housing being fully met any time soon, especially for families.

One area of significant improvement has been public transport, with the advent of the Overground or ‘Orange Line’ from Clapham Junction and the imminent opening of the Northern Line tube extension to Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station. The ‘Thames Clipper’ calls regularly at Battersea Power Station, and attempts to reduce the extent of Battersea’s bus network have so far been successfully rebuffed. However, it remains to be seen what impact the Covid 19 pandemic will have on the transport network after the huge losses in passenger revenue since March 2020; and indeed on the wider economy of Battersea, with changes such as the demise of Debenhams in the Arding & Hobbs building and many smaller retail and hospitality outlets likely to impact upon the lives and livelihoods of Battersea’s citizens for some years to come.

The arrival of the railways from the 1830s had a major impact on Battersea. The population increased from 6,617 in 1841 to 168,907 in 1901 as the former market gardens and farmland were rapidly swallowed up by the railway companies, speculative housebuilders and a wealth of different industries. These included Price’s Candles, Morgan Crucible and Garton's Glucose Works, alongside flour mills, breweries and utilities such as the Nine Elms Gas Works. The opening of Battersea Park in 1858 happened just in time to save the whole of Thames-side Battersea from being engulfed by industry.

The quality of housing in industrial north Battersea was shockingly poor, but from the 1870s a higher calibre of terraced housing began to appear south of Lavender Hill between Wandsworth and Clapham Commons, most of which survives today. Overcrowding however was rife throughout the borough particularly in Nine Elms, the Orville Road district and the area now occupied by the Patmore Estate. The townscape changed little until bombing in the Second World War decimated large swathes of north Battersea, hastening the programme of slum clearance and rebuilding that had begun somewhat tentatively before the war. From the 1950s onwards the overcrowded terraced streets that lay between Lavender Hill and the river were largely swept away in a vast municipal re-building programme, creating such behemoths as the Winstanley and Doddington estates. At the same time the riverside industries west of Albert Bridge have either closed down or relocated, making way for the proliferation of a new type of accommodation in tall apartment blocks designed to appeal to young professionals, of which Richard Rogers’ Montevetro Building is probably the best known. Virtually no trace of the teeming industrial Battersea waterfront remains.