Shanty town
A shanty town, squatter area or squatter settlement is a settlement of improvised buildings known as shanties or
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
Construction
Shanty towns tend to begin as improvised shelters on
Development and future prospects
While most shanty towns begin as precarious establishments haphazardly thrown together without basic social and civil services, over time, some have undergone a certain amount of development. Often the residents themselves are responsible for the major improvements.
Some Brazilian
In Africa, many shanty towns are starting to implement the use of
Pope Francis argues in his 2015 encyclical letter Laudato si' that shanty town settlements should be developed, if possible, rather than people being moved on and their settlements destroyed. He and the Catholic Church's Council for Justice and Peace have emphasised the need for information, involvement and choice being offered to people being moved on.[10][11]
Instances
Shanty towns are present in a number of
Africa
In 2016, 62% of Africa's population was living in shanty towns.
In Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, Kibera has between 200,000 and 1 million residents. There is no running water and inhabitants use a flying toilet in which faeces are collected in a plastic bag then thrown away.[14] Mathare is a collection of slums which contain around 500,000 people.[17] In Zambia, the informal housing areas are known as kombonis and approximately 80% of the people in the capital Lusaka are living in them.[18]
Asia
The largest shanty town in Asia is
Thailand has 5,500 informal settlements, one of the largest being a shanty town in the
In Hong Kong, the Kowloon Walled City housed up to 50,000 people,[28] with rooftop slums currently providing some additional housing.
Part of a series on |
Living spaces |
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Latin America
The world's largest shanty town is
Brazil has many favelas. In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, it was calculated in 2000 that over 20% of its 6.5 million inhabitants were living in more than 600 favelas. For example, Rocinha is home to an estimated 80,000 inhabitants. It has developed into a densely populated neighbourhood with some buildings reaching six storeys high. There are theatres, schools, nurseries and local newspapers.[1]
In Argentina, shanty towns are known as
Developed countries
During the 1930s
Although shanty towns are now generally less common in
In Madrid, Spain, a shanty town named Cañada Real is considered the largest informal settlement in Europe. It has an estimated 8,628 inhabitants, who are mainly Spanish, Romani and north African, but only one mobile health unit.[36][37] After 40 years, property developers began to take an interest in the site in 2012.[38]
There have been cardboard cities in London and Belgrade. In some cases, shanty towns can persist in gentrified areas that local governments have yet to redevelop, or in regions of political dispute. A major historical example was the Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong.[39]
In Australia and New Zealand, there were many shanty towns before World War II, some of which still exist (for example Wyee,[40] a suburb of the Central Coast).
In popular culture
Many films have been shot in shanty towns.
The 2016 Chinese TV series Housing tells the story of shantytown clearance in Beiliang, Baotou, Inner Mongolia.[45]
A 2023 Nigerian crime thriller titled Shanty Town was released on Netflix on January 20, 2023. It is a six-part series that tells the story of a ruthless leader named Scar (Chidi Mokeme) who handles a lot of dirty business and is popularly regarded as the King of Shanty Town.[46]
Video games such as Max Payne 3 have levels located in fictional shanty towns.[47]
Reggae singer Desmond Dekker sang a song called "007 (Shanty Town)".[48]
See also
- Informal settlement
- New village
- Refugee camp
- Slum
- Tent city
References
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- ^ Stewart Brand,Stewart Brand on New Urbanism and squatter communities Archived 2011-03-20 at the Wayback Machine, The New Urban Network, reprinted from Whole Earth Discipline, Penguin.
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- ^ Clarke, Felicity (May 16, 2011). "Favela Tourism Provides Entrepreneurial Opportunities in Rio". Forbes. Archived from the original on July 29, 2017. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
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- ^ Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Thomson Reuters Foundation". Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
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- ^ Pope Francis (2015), Laudato si', paragraph 152, accessed 16 February 2024
- ^ Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (2004), Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, paragraph 482, accessed 16 February 2024
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- ^ García Gallo, Bruno (March 12, 2012). "Cañada Real, censo definitivo: 8.628 personas". El País. Madrid. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
- ^ Fotheringham, Alasdair (November 27, 2011). "In Spain's heart, a slum to shame Europe". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on September 14, 2017. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
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- ^ 007 (Shanty Town) by Desmond Dekker - Track Info | AllMusic, retrieved 2023-06-16
Further reading
- Daniel Carter Beard (1920). Shelters, shacks, and shanties. C. Scribner's Sons. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
- Slate article about an economist proposing New Orleans to be reconstructed with shanties