shantytown
Improvised housing district
A shantytown is a settlement of makeshift dwellings built from scrap materials—corrugated metal, plywood, tarps.
Shantytowns typically arise on the margins of cities where impoverished residents lack access to formal housing: The hillsides were covered with shantytowns overlooking the city center.
The term emphasizes poverty and improvisation rather than permanence.
Wretched small dwelling
- shackCrudely built hut
- squatterUnauthorized building inhabitant
- slumImpoverished urban district
- tenementMulti-unit urban dwelling
dwelling · shelter · hut · lean-to · ghetto · encampment · settlement · slumlord
Brazilian informal settlement
Badly deteriorated from neglect
- improvisedCreated without prior planning
- jury-riggedTemporarily fixed with scraps
- corrugatedFormed into parallel folds
- tarpaulinWaterproof protective sheeting
scavenged · pallets · rickety · cobbled-together · patchwork · ad-hoc · precarious · temporary
Extreme poverty, lacking necessities
- squalorDirty, degraded living conditions
- malnutritionDisease from dietary inadequacy
- unemploymentBeing without paid work
- homelessnessLacking permanent residence
subsistence · overcrowding · disease · starvation · deprivation · desperation · survival · inequality
hovel
Wretched small dwelling
tenement · dwelling · shelter · hut · lean-to · ghetto · encampment · settlement · slumlord · eviction
favela
Brazilian informal settlement
ramshackle
Badly deteriorated from neglect
- improvisedCreated without prior planning
- jury-riggedTemporarily fixed with scraps
- corrugatedFormed into parallel folds
tarpaulin · scavenged · pallets · rickety · cobbled-together · patchwork · ad-hoc · precarious · temporary · plywood
destitution
Extreme poverty, lacking necessities
- squalorDirty, degraded living conditions
- malnutritionDisease from dietary inadequacy
- unemploymentBeing without paid work
homelessness · subsistence · overcrowding · disease · starvation · deprivation · desperation · survival · inequality · underprivileged
- neighborhoodsneighborhood, suburb, subdivision, Greenwich Village, East Village
- settlementsvillage, cities, hamlet, city, towns
- urban neighborhoodneighborhood, block party, corner store, sidewalk, stoop
- eyesoreseyesore, blight, garbage, trash, junk
- Depression EraGreat Depression, Hooverville, breadline, dust storms, soup kitchen
- overpopulationpopulation growth, population boom, overcrowding, crowding, carrying capacity
shantytownaffluent neighborhood
Prosperous residential area
gated community · upscale neighborhood · Beverly Hills · wealthy enclave · exclusive community
shantytownplanned development
Predesigned residential or commercial area
planned community · master-planned community · subdivision · housing development · new town