the.com/informal settlement
a city built overnight by people the housing market forgot to invite.
means a residential area that grew without formal land rights, planning permission, or basic services, usually because its residents had no legal way in.
from the term replaced older, harsher labels like slum or shantytown as planners realized these places were often functional, self-organized communities, not just problems to bulldoze.
global scaleabout one billion people live in one
legal statusland often occupied without title or deed
economic rolefrequently powers a city's informal labor economy
misconceptionmany have electricity, shops, and internal governance