A shanty town (also called a squatter settlement) is a type of slum settlement (sometimes illegal or unauthorized) containing improvised dwellings made from. A shanty town or squatter area is a settlement of improvised buildings known as shanties or shacks, typically made of materials such as mud and wood.
Full Answer
What is a shanty town?
A shanty town or squatter area is a settlement of improvised housing, called shanties or shacks, made of plywood, corrugated metal, sheets of plastic, and cardboard boxes.
How do shanty towns change over time?
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. Globally, some of the largest shanty towns are Ciudad Neza in Mexico, Orangi in Pakistan and Dharavi in India.
How do shanty towns help the poor?
Shanty towns sometimes have an active informal economy, such as garbage sorting, pottery making, textiles, and leather works. This allows the poor to earn an income. The above shanty town image is from Ezbet Al Nakhl, in Cairo, Egypt, where garbage is sorted manually.
Why are there so many shanty towns in South Africa?
A shanty town near Cape Town, South Africa. These slums were built by the apartheid era government to segregate people by color and ethnic origin. The above Khayelitsha Township is Africa's largest, with shanty homes served with disorganized electrical lines, with one shed showing a car parked inside.
What is meant by shanty towns?
Definition of shantytown : a usually poor town or section of a town consisting mostly of shanties.
Is a shanty town illegal?
A shanty town (also called a slum or squatter settlement) is a settlement (sometimes illegal or unauthorized) of impoverished people who live in improvised dwellings made from scrap materials: often plywood, corrugated metal, and sheets of plastic.
What is a shanty town slum?
Definition A deprived area on the outskirts of a town consisting of large numbers of shanty dwellings--that is, small, crudely built shacks.
Why are shanty towns called?
As the Depression worsened and millions of urban and rural families lost their jobs and depleted their savings, they also lost their homes. Desperate for shelter, homeless citizens built shantytowns in and around cities across the nation. These camps came to be called Hoovervilles, after the president.
What is the biggest shanty town in the world?
Ciudad NezaThe world's largest shanty town is Ciudad Neza or Neza-Chalco-Itza, which is part of the city of Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, next to Mexico City. Estimates of its population range from 1.2 million to 4 million.
Are there shanty towns in the US?
Homeless shantytowns have been growing across the United States in the past 25 years. It is important to illustrate that this is not confined to any one city or region and as long as our society is unconscious of this epidemic, it will continue to grow.”
What does a shantytown look like?
Shantytowns are real Dwellings are typically made from scrap plywood, corrugated metal and sheets of plastic. Often, shantytowns do not have adequate access to safe water, sanitation, electricity or telephone services. The number of people living in shanty- towns is expected to grow to 2 billion by 2030.
What's another word for shanty town?
•slum (noun) public squalor, skid row, shanty town, blighted area.
What do shanty towns look like?
The characteristic features of these shanty towns are that one can see them near the parks, the periphery of the urban cities, railroad sites, and river settlements. There is no urban planning or any house number and even no street name. Moreover, they even lack the basic amenities of the life.
What is it like to live in a shanty town?
Some of the worst conditions are found in the shanty towns on the edge of the city, near the CBD or along main transport routes. They tend to be unplanned and are often illegal. Houses are self-built using basic materials and shanty towns have few services. Shanty town residents face many problems on a daily basis.
Who lived in shantytowns?
Summary and definition: The Shanty Towns, known as Hoovervilles, sprang up across the nation during the Great Depression (1929 - 1941). They were built by unemployed impoverished Americans that had been made homeless and had nowhere else to live. By 1932, between one and two million American people were homeless.
Why do shanty towns catch fire easily?
However, during the cold winter nights, migrants light fires to warm themselves and the materials used to build the shacks - mainly wood and plastic - can catch fire easily.
Are there still shanty towns in South Africa?
Shanty towns are a familiar sight across the picturesque coastal city, with a third of Cape Town's 3.7 million residents living in slums or informal settlements with limited access to basic services, such as water, electricity and toilets.
What is it like to live in a shanty town?
Some of the worst conditions are found in the shanty towns on the edge of the city, near the CBD or along main transport routes. They tend to be unplanned and are often illegal. Houses are self-built using basic materials and shanty towns have few services. Shanty town residents face many problems on a daily basis.
Why do shanty towns catch fire easily?
However, during the cold winter nights, migrants light fires to warm themselves and the materials used to build the shacks - mainly wood and plastic - can catch fire easily.
Are there still slums in South Africa?
Population living in slums (% of urban population) in South Africa was reported at 25.6 % in 2018, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources.
What is a shanty town?
A shanty town or squatter area 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.
What are shanty towns called?
In Argentina, shanty towns are known as villas miseria. As of 2011, there were 500,000 people living in 864 informal settlements in the metropolitan Buenos Aires area. In Peru they are known as pueblos jóvenes ("young towns"), as campamentos in Chile and as asentamientos in Guatemala.
Which country has the largest shanty town?
Latin America. The world's largest shanty town is Ciudad Neza or Neza-Chalco-Itza, which is part of the city of Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, next to Mexico City. Estimates of its population range from 1.2 million to 4 million. Brazil has many favelas.
What is the economy of shanty towns?
Shanty towns sometimes have an active informal economy, such as garbage sorting, pottery making, textiles, and leather works. This allows the poor to earn an income. The above shanty town image is from Ezbet Al Nakhl, in Cairo, Egypt, where garbage is sorted manually. Residential area is visible at the top of the image.
How many informal settlements are there in Thailand?
Thailand has 5,500 informal settlements, one of the largest being a shanty town in the Khlong Toei District of Bangkok. In China, 171 urban villages were demolished before the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. As of 2005, there were 346 shanty towns in Beijing, housing 1.5 million people.
Where are shanty towns found?
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 usually found on places such as railway sidings, ...
Do shanties have composting toilets?
In Africa, many shanty towns are starting to implement the use of composting toilets and solar panels.
When were shanty towns first developed?
Shanty town history in the U.S. dates back to the year 1929 when the unemployed people were thrown out of their houses, and they started building these shanty settlements. In the year 1930, when the economy saw a setback, the condition also worsened as more and more people settled here. As these shanty towns were first developed in America, so they were known as Hoovervilles but, by the year 1940, as the economy recovered so too did the conditions. The examples from the developing countries include Asia’s largest shanty town, which is Orangi in Karachi, Pakistan, and many others across South Africa, Haiti, Kenya, India, and Bangladesh. In the developed countries, these can be found in some parts of the European Union, Spain, the United States of America, and France.
Why are there so many diseases in Shanty?
Shanty dwellers suffer from sanitation problems, and diseases are caused by the poor upkeep in these shanty towns. They have to drink poor quality of water, which results into diseases like Cholera and Typhoid. Even some of the natural disasters may occur in the areas formed near the hillsides which can result in death sometimes due to hill slides. As there is sanitation problem and due to lack of toilets or any kind of proper sewage pipes, the human waste becomes the breathing ground for mosquitoes and diseases.
What are shanty towns made of?
These improvised housing developments are often made up of corrugated metal, plywood, cardboard boxes and sheets of plastics, with these impromptu homes often called shacks. The characteristic features of these shanty towns are that one can see them near the parks, ...
How can we make shanty towns better?
Effective solutions to make the shanty towns better may come in the form of help from the government or nongovernmental organizations, and they should be given education regarding public cleanliness. The self-help schemes should be introduced and they should be provided with the loans for making improvements in their lives. It is seen that the breeze-blocks and the ceramic tiles on the roof were used to stop the rain, schools are built for education and for healthcare facilities hospitals are also built in this area. Renovation of water pipes for fresh water, hygienic toilets, and road tarring may also be provisioned for.
What is a shanty town?
What are shanty towns? A shanty town (also called a slum or squatter settlement) is a settlement (sometimes illegal or unauthorized) of impoverished people who live in improvised dwellings made from scrap materials: often plywood, corrugated metal, and sheets of plastic.
Why are shanty towns so dangerous?
These areas are often susceptible to fire due to the high concentration of homes.
How far away are shanty towns from CDBs?
The infrastructure is usually very poor with inadequate transport communications. As urbanisation has led to urban sprawl in LEDCs some shanty towns are over 30 miles away from CDBs.
Overview
A shanty town, squatter area or hooverville (in the US) 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 infra…
Construction
Shanty towns tend to begin as improvised shelters on squatted land. People build shacks from whatever materials are easy to acquire, for example wood or mud. There are no facilities such as electricity, gas, sewage or running water. The squatters choose areas such as railway sidings, preservation areas or disputed building projects. Swiss journalist Georg Gerster has noted (with specific refere…
Development
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. Community organizations sometimes working alongside NGOs, private companies, and the government, …
Instances
Shanty towns are present in a number of developing countries. In Francophone countries, shanty towns are referred to as bidonvilles (French for "can town"); such countries include Haiti, where Cité Soleil houses between 200,000 and 300,000 people on the edge of Port-au-Prince.
In 2016, 62% of Africa's population was living in shanty towns. Khayelitsha in Ca…
In popular culture
Many films have been shot in shanty towns. Slumdog Millionaire centres on characters who spend most of their lives in Indian shanty towns. The Brazilian film City of God was set in Cidade de Deus and filmed in another favela, called Cidade Alta. White Elephant, 2012 Argentinian movie, is set in a villa miseria in Buenos Aires. The South African film District 9 is largely set in a township called …
See also
• Informal settlement
• New village
• Refugee camp
• Slum
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
External links
• Photos of Dharavi, a shanty town in Mumbai, India.
Characteristics
Historic and Modern Examples
- Shanty town history in the U.S. dates back to the year 1929 when the unemployed people were thrown out of their houses, and they started building these shanty settlements. In the year 1930, when the economy saw a setback, the condition also worsened as more and more people settled here. As these shanty towns were first developed in America, so they were known as Hooverville…
Sanitation and Disease
- Shanty dwellers suffer from sanitation problems, and diseases are caused by the poor upkeep in these shanty towns. They have to drink poor quality of water, which results into diseases like Cholera and Typhoid. Even some of the natural disasters may occur in the areas formed near the hillsides which can result in death sometimes due to hill slides. As there is sanitation problem a…
Economy and Crime
- Areas with shanty towns often pop up where the economic output is lower, and there are minimal levels of access to schools, hospitals, and other needful facilities that are often seen provided by the government and the private sector alike in more affluent areas. The income rate per capita of a person is low as the residents are often officially unemployed, and they work as a menial labo…
Solutions and Alternatives
- Effective solutions to make the shanty towns better may come in the form of help from the government or nongovernmental organizations, and they should be given education regarding public cleanliness. The self-help schemes should be introduced and they should be provided with the loans for making improvements in their lives. It is seen that the breeze-blocks and the ceram…