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In areas of high population density and high poverty, shacks are often the most prevalent form of housing; it is possible that up to a billion people worldwide live in shacks. [1] Fire is a significant hazard in tight-knit shack settlements. [2] Settlements composed mostly or entirely of shacks are known as slums or shanty towns.
Picture of a shanty town over "La Planicie" tunnel, created because of the rural flight to Caracas.. A shanty town, squatter area, squatter settlement, or squatter camp is a settlement of improvised buildings known as shanties or shacks, typically made of materials such as mud and wood, or from cheap building materials such as corrugated iron sheets.
One of the identifying characteristics of slums is the lack of or inadequate public infrastructure. [136] [137] From safe drinking water to electricity, from basic health care to police services, from affordable public transport to fire/ambulance services, from sanitation sewer to paved roads, new slums usually lack all of these.
Rocinha is the largest hill favela in Rio de Janeiro (as well as in Brazil and the second largest slum and shanty town in Latin America).Although Favelas are found in urban areas throughout Brazil, many of the more famous ones exist in Rio.
An estimated 170,000 people were living in slums in 1992. [173] In Guayaquil , Ecuador's largest city and main port, around 600,000 people in the early 1980s were either squatting on self-built structures over swamplands or living in inner-city slums.
Most people, however, resorted to building their residences out of wood from crates, cardboard, scraps of metal, or whatever materials were available to them. They usually had a small stove, bedding and a couple of simple cooking implements. [ 4 ]
Kibera and other slums developed throughout Nairobi. [22] [29] Kibera slum was established in early 20th century, and has grown ever since on public lands, around water streams and railway tracks. Its current residents are people from all major ethnic groups of Kenya. [7]
This category is for articles about slums, shanty towns, favelas and other urban areas faced with extreme problems of poverty. Subcategories This category has the following 6 subcategories, out of 6 total.