Picture of a shanty town over "La Planicie" tunnel, created because of the rural flight to Caracas.
A shanty town, squatter area or squatter settlement is a settlement of improvised buildings known as shanties or shacks, typically made of materials such as mud and wood. A typical shanty town is squatted and in the beginning lacks adequate infrastructure, including proper sanitation, safe water supply, electricity and street drainage. Over time, shanty towns can develop their infrastructure and even change into middle class neighbourhoods. They can be small informal settlements or they can house millions of people.
First used in North America to designate a shack, the term shanty is likely derived from French chantier (construction site and associated low-level workers' quarters), or alternatively from Scottish Gaelic sean (pronounced[ʃɛn]) meaning 'old' and taigh (pronounced[tʰɤj]) meaning 'house[hold]'.
Globally, some of the largest shanty towns are Ciudad Neza in Mexico, Orangi in Pakistan and Dharavi in India. They are known by various names in different places, such as favela in Brazil, villa miseria in Argentina and gecekondu in Turkey. Shanty towns are mostly found in developing nations, but also in the cities of developed nations, such as Athens, Los Angeles and Madrid. Cañada Real is considered the largest informal settlement in Europe, and Skid Row is an infamous shanty town in Los Angeles. Shanty towns are sometimes found on places such as railway sidings, swampland or disputed building projects.
A shantytown, squatter area or squatter settlement is a settlement of improvised buildings known as shanties or shacks, typically made of materials such...
"In a Shanty in Old ShantyTown" is a popular song written by Ira Schuster and Jack Little with lyrics by Joe Young, published in 1932. Ted Lewis and...
primitive dwelling Shantytown, a settlement of shacks or shanties Logging camp, or shanty, a camp where lumberjacks live Shanty Bay, in the Oro-Medonte...
of the Pasig and many factories took their place. During this time, shantytowns filled with squatters emerged wherever there was room, including on stilts...
Hoovervilles were shantytowns built during the Great Depression by the homeless in the United States. They were named after Herbert Hoover, who was President...
international reggae hits with "Israelites" (1968). Other hits include "007 (ShantyTown)" (1967), "It Mek" (1969) and "You Can Get It If You Really Want" (1970)...
Lace curtain Irish and shanty Irish are terms that were commonly used in the 19th and 20th centuries to categorize Irish people, particularly Irish Americans...
country below. In developing countries and least developed countries, shantytowns often begin as squatted settlements. In African cities such as Lagos...
neighbourhood, many still refer to it as a favela. It developed from a shantytown into an urbanized slum. Today, almost all the houses in Rocinha are made...
studio which is owned by Mo Abudu. In 2023, she starred as Shalewa in ShantyTown. Hex (2015) Tales of Eve (2015) On the Real (2016) A Trip to Jamaica...
December 2012. Web. 8 Dec. 2013. "Doncaster man sets up music school in Rio shantytown". ITV News. 28 July 2016. Retrieved 30 January 2021. Manfred, R. Poverty...
country below. In developing countries and least developed countries, shantytowns often begin as squatted settlements. In African cities such as Lagos...
Numerous other non-English terms are often used interchangeably with slum: shantytown, favela, rookery, gecekondu, skid row, barrio, ghetto, banlieue, bidonville...
Media. She is best known for being an executive producer and producer of ShantyTown, a Netflix original series released in January 2023. Chinenye Nworah...
Lagos—the Lagos Lagoon, the University of Lagos waterfront and Makoko, a shantytown built on the Lagos Lagoon. On 6 July 2020, it was announced that the...
construction of a shanty-town erected to demand Yale's divestment from apartheid South Africa. After students erected the shanty-town, designed to mimic...
democratic institutions, as an ambassador. In 2023, Ini Edo produced ShantyTown, a 2023 Nigerian crime thriller released to Netflix on 20 January 2023...
Guryong Village (Korean: 구룡마을) is a shantytown in Seoul, South Korea. It is just across a six-lane motorway from Dogok-dong of the affluent Gangnam District...
Villa 31, sometimes called Barrio Padre Mugica or Barrio 31, is a large villa miseria (slum) in the Retiro area of Buenos Aires, near the local railway...
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