Slums are not confined to under-developed or poor countries only. There are slums teeming with awfully poor people, even in the most developed nations of the world. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a quick look into 10 of the most horrid slums found in comparatively well-off places:
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The Tent Cities of Seattle, Washington
Tent cities are now a permanent fixture in Seattle especially in an area called “Nickelsville”. In a city like Washington you all would be surprised hear about this slum area but the fact is very much true. Tent cities spring up all over from time to time, but in Seattle around 275 people call these makeshift communities their home. Moreover hundred more “camp out” each night only to pull up their stakes and disappear the next morning. Whether permanent or temporary, all of the residents are poor and most are unskilled, with little in the way of job prospects or hope of a better life.
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Vancouver, British Columbia’s Downtown Eastside
Vancouver is one of the best beautiful cities in the world which is known for its beautiful architecture and scenic views. Just east of Main Street, one can witness the dreadful scene where lots of street dwellers reside. The downtown eastside is the poorest urban postal code in all of Canada. It’s an area where thousands of drug addicts, many of whom are HIV-positive reside. Theft, prostitution, murder, and mental illness plague the district, and the homeless and disenfranchised can be found everywhere within the blighted area. It’s a dark-spot in a beautiful place like Vancouver.
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Colonias in Texas
The Colonias are found in Texas and in the American Southwest. These are Hispanic people and it is believed that some of these people have come from Mexico to America seeking better life and living conditions. They reside in shantytowns with no real infrastructure and they are deprived of basic amenities like proper drinking water and electricity facilities. In a country like America finding such a community might shock everyone but it’s a real fact.
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The Cage Slums of Hong Kong, China
China is one of the most developed nations in the world. People will get scared thinking about living in cages but the situation in some parts of China is such that people have to stay in cages. Amazingly, they can be found in Hong Kong, one of China’s most prosperous cities. An estimated 200,000 people live in such conditions in the city. Some of the cages are stacked on top of each other, 10 cages high or more. Some of the people who call these places home have lived there for decades, and some were even born into the lifestyle. Life within these homes offers no protection from the weather, no sense of privacy, and a constant atmosphere of noise and pollution.
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La Courneuve, France
Does this city need any description? Well Paris better known as the city of romance attract many lovers all over the world every year but there is a darker side of this city. An area known as La Courneuve has been labelled by the local police as a no go-zone. This is the place where most of the slum population of the city reside. The area is entirely gray. “The buildings are gray. The people are gray. Everything is gray. It’s the same people, and there is nothing to do, literally nothing to do. You wake up every morning looking for work. But why? There isn’t any.”
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Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Dubai is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world. Dubai seemed like a heaven to most immigrants until the worldwide financial meltdown of 2008, after which its ugly side was exposed for all to see. The city that boasts some of the world’s most expensive buildings also houses some of the world’s worst slums. The slum population in Dubai are basically immigrants from Pakistan and India who came to the country for work only to end up in one of Dubai’s well-hidden slums. These people are Dubai’s forgotten, left to fend for them in a city where they remain unwelcome even though they played an important role in constructing it.
- Khayelitsha, Cape town, South Africa.
Cape-town the capital city of South Africa is one of the most beautiful and picturesque cities of the world but it also home to one of world’s largest slum community known as Khayelitsha. It mainly consists of the black population of South Africa. Many black people rushed to the capital city in search of jobs after the apartheid but ended up in the slum areas because of lack of job opportunities. The only good sign is that due to constant efforts of the government the township where these people are residing is constantly developing.
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Horrid Slums in Canada Real, Madrid, Spain
Madrid the capital city of Spain needs no introduction. It is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. Canada Real which is near Madrid’s garbage incineration site provides shelter to around 30,000 people who are seen scrounging the garbage for reusable good. The situation there is quiet hopeless as the government refuses to help them or even recognize them. In a city like Madrid such type of slum areas are really shocking and hard to digest.
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Hollywood, California
California, the city which don’t need any description. Hollywood also has its share of dark spots. These dark places started popping up with the boom of the film industry due to which thousand flocked into this dream city aiming to earn a fortune and become stars. Never-the-less many hopes got dashed and remained unfulfilled due to which slums cropped up basically inhabited by failed dreamers. Consequently crimes, drugs abuse and prostitution rose.
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Dharavi, Mumbai, India
Guys remember ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, the Oscar winning movie directed by Danny Boyle. The Dharavi slums of Mumbai were described broadly in the same movie. These slums are one of world’s largest slums and Asia’s largest. Well this is not in some underdeveloped nation of the world rather it is in Mumbai, India one of world’s largest city.