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People On This Group Are Sharing Examples Of ‘Urban Hell’ That Look Like A Dystopian Movie But Are Sadly Real (40 Pics)
Not every building is as beautiful as the Palace of Versailles. Or blends into its surroundings as well as the Macallan Distillery. On the contrary, there are many structures across the world looking like outcasts that will fall apart during the next storm. In some places, they aren't isolated examples, either — even an entire neighborhood can be an abomination. And you can find them on r/UrbanHell.
It's a photography subreddit of "all the hideous places human beings built or inhabit." The online community invites everyone who wants to explore the darker side of the cities, towns, and villages in our shared world and welcomes any photos which show either ugliness, or a problem in urban development. Rural and suburban nightmares are also allowed.
Below you will find a collection of pics that perfectly describe what this subreddit is all about.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
The Annual Monsoon Ritual Of Mumbai's Ocean Giving Back What Has Been Dumped In It
SlartyBlartFast 3 years ago
If only nature could actually give back all the trash to us, maybe we will see the damage we are doing :(
#2
Hong Kong Street Life
About half of the global population already lives in cities, and by 2050, two-thirds of the world's people are expected to live in urban areas. But as you can see from some of the photos in r/UrbanHell, in cities, two of the most pressing problems facing the world today also come together: poverty and environmental degradation.
Bad urban development isn't just ugly aesthetics. It's also poor air and water quality, insufficient water availability, waste-disposal problems, and high energy consumption, all of which are exacerbated by the increasing population density and demands of urban environments. Strong city planning is essential in managing these and other difficulties as the world's urban areas grow.
#3
New Delhi - During Lockdown vs. Now
SlartyBlartFast 3 years ago
For a few months earth took a breath, then humans came back with a vengeance :(
#4
Hong Kong
#5
Beirut Port
Some of the biggest problems caused by urbanization are:
- Intensive urban growth can lead to greater poverty, with local governments unable to provide services for all people;
- Concentrated energy use. It leads to greater air pollution with a significant impact on human health;
- Automobile exhaust produces elevated lead levels in urban air;
- Large volumes of uncollected waste create multiple health hazards;
- Urban development can magnify the risk of environmental hazards such as flash flooding;
- Pollution and physical barriers to root growth promote loss of urban tree cover;
- Animal populations are inhibited by toxic substances, vehicles, and the loss of habitat and food sources.
#6
Uae Nad Al Sheba III Neighborhood
#7
It's Baffling How Fast It Changes
#8
Mumbai, India
Leo Domitrix 3 years ago
yep, that's how Trump likes it. He's in his gold-covered chair, you're dying at his feet.
Solutions might include:
- Combat poverty by promoting economic development and job creation;
- Involve local community in local government;
- Reduce air pollution by upgrading energy use and alternative transport systems;
- Create private-public partnerships to provide services such as waste disposal and housing;
- Plant trees and incorporate the care of city green spaces as a key element in urban planning.
Ultimately, cities can bring us obstacles and opportunities as well as freedom and captivity, and it's up to us to get the most out of them.
#9
People Offering Prayers At River Yamuna, India, Which Is Frothing From Industrial Waste
WilvanderHeijden 3 years ago
And none of these fools has the sense to even consider that bathing in industrial waste speeds up your reincarnation process.
#10
Hotel In Łodz, Poland
Samantha Lomb 3 years ago
Its not a nuclear cooling tower. It is for a heating, electric and hotwater generating plant ( TETS in Russian) most are coal or gas powered and that is for releasing steam.
#11
An Interesting Perspective I've Stumbled Upon In Macau A Year Ago
Raven Sheridan 3 years ago (edited)
The difference between the have's and the have not's, in one photo.
#12
Petare, Venezuela
#13
Before And After A Desert Is Turned Into A Soulless Suburb Of A Desert. Jk, Its A Single Photo Of Arizona
Leo Domitrix 3 years ago
The water waste hurts. Why do you want lawns in a desert? If you want green lawns, move to England (no offense, England. You have the rainfall, is all.)
#14
Not A Very Romantic Scene
Samantha PandaNotBored 3 years ago
Blame your government’s. This is their fault . They buy rubbish from countries and do not dispose of it correctly.
#15
Naples, Italy
#16
People Living Next To A Helicoidal Street In Chongqing
#17
Kowloon Peninsula, Hong Kong. Comparison Of 1964 - 2016.
#18
Electrical Wiring And Water Pipes In A Brazilian Favela
#19
Johannesburg, South Africa
#20
Literally, Just Thanksgiving Traffic In La
#21
Private Houses On The Roof Of An Eight-Story Mall In Zhūzhōu, China
#22
Cairo, Egypt
Lekha 3 years ago (edited)
Not a single tree in sight (Ok, realised that's very normal there. My bad)
lara 3 years ago
It's the middle of the freaking desert. Of course there are no trees.
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Bender Bending Rodríguez 3 years ago
So many geographically challenged people in comments here. Could you guys at least go look up where Cairo is before demanding trees.
Dave P 3 years ago
Remember the slums of Cairo get running water only 2 hours a day and they must load up in buckets and bottles. Most days they get electricity for only 12 hours. The rich areas dont have those restrictions.
Christina Gude 3 years ago
As a 15 yr old living in Pakistan (1969) we had a water tank (cistern) about the size of a hot tub/spa that we could fill every Thursday night and would miraculously last a week. It also served as a swamp cooler, too.
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Altezzoso Burton 2 years ago
It would be cool if not camouflaged. Is the color supposed to be protective or something?
Regan Copple 2 years ago
Looks like the surface of the Death Star, when Luke starts his run down the trench & is approaching it.
Karim Sultan 2 years ago
Looks like the surface of the Death Star... Half expecting to spot an X-Wing fighter somewhere...
Linda Mermaid 3 years ago
Sooner or later Mother Earth will realize she has an infestation, and she’ll start to scratch it.
Janna Gelfand 3 years ago
I wonder how people get between the buildings. It doesn't look like there are any walkways or even side streets.
Mickipickie 2 years ago
What, no house paint available? I thought Egyptians historically were rock painters. This makes me anxious and sad feeling.
Jake Wheeler 2 years ago
Yeah we're losing water through a water main leak. See if you can find it.
Mary Paul Davis 2 years ago
Zoom in to lower right corner... Are those trees and attempts at gardens on t he roof of each. ???
Lise Bouchard 2 years ago
I wouldn't want to try and dust my home there..I would never be done..
Shabbir Yamani 2 years ago
Yes I live in Cairo since 2010. A strong wind means it's stands torn time. Nothing's plastered or painted and full of dust. You can find satellites and other equipment from the 60s on the roof, hoarded junk yard of the living ..
Londo Cotto 2 years ago
Cairo, Egypt WHEN? Honestly, you just kind of imagine a desert city in any period would look like this.
Shireen Maher 2 years ago
mmk well as someone whose been here bc of relatives that live here, its not all like this there are some truly gorgeous places in cairo (im egyptian)
Ruth Scheidler 2 years ago
THAT is the most depressing of all, but I don't know why; the horrors of two many people is hard to look at.]
Denice Bankston 2 years ago
It's Egypt. What kind of trees would you like? Papyrus grows there and it's a natural resource and fantastic paper alternative.
Karen Filice 2 years ago
I will forever stay far away from that suffocating place! A true urban nightmare!
Chris Shaw 2 years ago
Shouldn't there be a rebel x-wing fighter heading into that trench at top left? 🤔
Leslie Hill 2 years ago
Where is the oxygen producing, carbon dioxide eating plants? Nature’s filter?
Khairul Annuar 3 years ago
Isn't this part of Cairo's "City of the Dead"? A UNESCO Heritage site, where the living reside amongst cemeteries and mausoleums since centuries ago? Look it up. I think it's fascinating in many aspects.
Gregor Barclay 3 years ago
I can almost see the exhaust port that leads directly to the station's core.
Charles Bosse 3 years ago
Cairo is a beautiful place really, but if they wanted to show the distopic side, they should have gotten a section with a bunch of occupied unfinished buildings (unfinished to avoid taxes).
MDB 2 years ago
Then be an example and drink a tall glass of drain cleaner.
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Cara Birch 3 years ago
I thought that that was sand. I didn't realise that there could be that many houses anywhere.
Jeri Woodrow 3 years ago
For such an advanced civilization, their urban planning leaves a lot to be desired. It’s just so….blah…boring…depressing…..sad.
sandra tison 3 years ago
At first I thought this was all desert rock. Even knowing this is a cityscape it looks like ari arid expanse.
Isabela Ivan 3 years ago
It s good that they are building a second Cairo. In a way...I visited Cairo 2 yrs ago and the downtown area, near the Museum of Archeology, is green.
Margaret Weaver 3 years ago
This looks like those basalt column formations with the six sided pillars, except horrifying and lifeless rather than oddly satisfying. Even just the colour... mile after mile of concrete dust. x_(
Hugh Cookson 3 years ago
Cairo has been like this for centuries - go further down towards the Nile and its actually very lush. Paradoxically, the City of the Dead is astonishingly green ....
Warren Brown 3 years ago
NO WAY do I drive a taxi, in that town!! You would need at least 3 G.P.S. machines with you at all times!!
Julie Lynch 3 years ago
That’s the first thing I noticed, no green, no parks or trees, very depressing.
Nathan Pogorzala 3 years ago
It is all the same color, big deal. reason-the sun is hot, white reflects.
Luna Lovebug 3 years ago
This reminds me of my niece trying to cover her zits under a thick layer of foundation.
Dipanjan Mukherjee 3 years ago
Look a bit further and you'll probably see the pyramids standing on a vast stretch of the desert. What a fabulous contrast! Or, have they constructed these 'prisons for the souls' around the pyramids too!?!?!?
Willem Oostdyck 3 years ago
Megacity 1, these are the outskirts..... ( Judge dredd theme song)
Reynard 3 years ago (edited)
It's in a desert, light colored buildings reflect light rather than absorb it so that they are more energy efficient.
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Michael Gaskell 3 years ago
The worst bit it 10ft off the picture is the start of the Pyramids
J. Sebastian 2 years ago
Its interesting that people from craphole nations like this have the nerve to criticize the West (and especially the US) when we don't have anything this disgusting in our nations.
#23
Downtown Seattle, In The Heart Of The Retail District
Yugan Talovich 3 years ago
I don't understand how the US can have money to make bombers but not to help citizens who need help.
#24
Progressive Insurance's Call Center
#25
Hyderabad, India
#26
Ghost City In China, Made To Be A Replica Of Paris - Tianducheng
#27
All Residents Of Whittier, Alaska Live Inside One Building
#28
Manila, Philippines
#29
One More Lane Will Fix It
SlartyBlartFast 3 years ago
In my country the biggest highway is 3 lanes. No city has more than 3 lanes. And we consider it an achievement. I am amazed at this picture honestly!
#30
Somewhere In Brazil In The 90's
M O'Connell 3 years ago
@WilvanderHeidjen They absolutely are homeless. They are squatting in a utilities access cabinet.
#31
Baghdad Between Then And Now!
#32
Billionnaire Vijay Mallya's Mansion Atop A Skyscraper In Bangalore, India
#33
The Capital Of California
#34
Dubai, The Hollow City Of Artificiality
#35
Chongqing, China
Joseph Dowling 3 years ago
Jake: How often does the train go by? Elwood: So often you don't even notice it.
#36
Mirny In Siberia, Russia
Samantha PandaNotBored 3 years ago
All of those houses and infrastructure was built die to that mine . It’s still a working mine right now . Giving ppl jobs homes lives
#37
Ah, Good Old Car Culture...
Red rockin lobster 3 years ago
This is not an urban nightmare (whichever you're reffering to). Also, it's like comparing a clouds and grapes
#38
Block 23, New Belgrade, Serbia
Samantha PandaNotBored 3 years ago
At least they have friendly neighbours. My neighbor wouldn’t take my washing in . 😆
#39
16-Lane Highway Built Through The Downtown Where A Market Square Used To Be In Moscow, Russia
Samantha Lomb 3 years ago
Again context is great. This was done to facilitate troop movements quickly in and out of the capital which proved vital in WWII as the soldiers from Siberia crossed Red Square in the May Day parades and went straight to the front lines to repel the Nazis. The French similarly built huge boulevards in Paris to facilitate troop movements and to keep people from being able to build barricades, which is a French national tradition.
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Melanie Weatherwax 3 years ago
We urgently need to take better care of our planet.... Birth control and a ban on plastic sound like a good start
De Gueb 3 years ago
May the gods in all their wisdom give you no children but many attempts at making them :,-)
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Persp Gold 3 years ago
Some posts are tragic and a lot are just "I've lived this great life so I can decide anything not idyllyc is hell." Which is just like kicking the terrible photos in the teeth. Urban living has metropolis solutions, which is hardly a hell in most of these photos.
shado 3 years ago
wow ... if you find these few photos "downright terrifying" you need to avoid ANY walkabouts in the USA for the next 50yrs, because that is bound to give you an out-right stroke instantaniously
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B 3 years ago
So many of these images indicate just how jam-packed our world is becoming, especially cities. The overwhelming problem (and all of the world's problems, including global warming) stem from overpopulation. While the deniers will down-vote me, there's an incredibly eye-opening and brilliantly well written thriller novel called 10:59 by N R Baker that contains so many terrifying facts about this issue. It's not my book, so not a self-promo, but I highly recommend that every human on Earth reads it if our species has any chance of survival.
ProfessionalTimeWaster 3 years ago
Better for cities to be jampacked than jungles be ransacked for space.
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Casey McAlister 3 years ago
A lot of these are not "urban hell", they are poverty and decay hell. And those things don't look prettier in the countryside.
ThePracticalSarcastic 3 years ago
Too many comments from narrow-minded people who pass judgement on a place based on a single photograph and have never seen it in person. You all need to travel more and see for yourself rather than through the lens of someone else's opinion/perspective.
Tracy Costa 3 years ago
There are pictures here of pollution, homelessness, and poverty. These are important problems we need to fix. But this article seems to suggest that living in apartment buildings and suburban developments are equally bad. People have to live somewhere and holiday traffic is a first world problem. And keep in mind, country dwellers, if we all moved to you, you would end up living in a crowded city.
Heather G 3 years ago
As someone who's been to multiple 3rd world countries, believe me traffic is not a first world problem. Just looks different.
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Don't Look 3 years ago
Hmmm…. Interesting. Not one of the actual largest slums (all in Asia) but a lot of people judging places they have never been…. Just interesting.
sofacushionfort 3 years ago
To her fair works did nature link The human soul that through me ran; And much it grieved my heart to think What man has made of man. -William Wordsworth
Dhukath 3 years ago
A lot of these images are of one street or location in one city, so it's unfair to judge. Some of the issues raised are not the fault of urbanisation, people have to live somewhere, if not in the cities then where, but down more forward for land? Over population, it's easy to say don't have children when you're in a first world country with health care, social support and child life expectancy is high! What I'm saying is we shouldn't be too quick to judge!
Ted Expert 3 years ago
I can think of one very effective way to avoid having children. But the irony is that the places where kids suffer most, are the places where people have the most kids.
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Lucky2BAlive 3 years ago
And let’s be frank. We can sit here and discuss how appalled we are, or, we can stand up and do something to make this planet a little better. Just imagine 7 billion random acts of kindness at the same time.
Seabeast 3 years ago
How are a bunch of random acts of kindness going to solve overcrowding and pollution?
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Easily Excitable Panda 3 years ago
I'm stunned they left off two of the most horrific: the Johannesburg Tower slum (which was supposed to be a modern miracle, but, well), and the Divis Flats in near Belfast in Northern Ireland. Most of the Divis Flats have been torn down (I think the tower is still standing).
Dorothy Cloud 2 years ago
I quit after 4 or 5 pictures. It just made me ill to think & see how so many poor people have to survive. AND how so many rich people do live.
lunar eclipse 3 years ago
Just makes me think more that we don’t enjoy life anymore. Just work and more work.
Master Love 3 years ago
We just going to continue being gaslighted and go with the lost flow? Elites won't get the fury of justice all we can say it "birth control" "we must take better care of the earth" etc. Really that's all? Force the injection? Never the government that are governed by companies. Never the shells, coca-colas, P&Gs, Nestless? No? We take the blame and the iron first of tyranny but we do nothing. Come on people. This is not conspiracy that ship has sailed this is real scary life realise it becaue your ignorant minds are costing us all on this ONE earth we have.
Ticci toasty 2 years ago
it’s depressing how many people really think we’re the culprits. brainwashing goes deep. definitely see who’s putting this idea in our heads.
Load More Replies... Master Love 3 years ago
So all corporate and elite Gov will never be judged as humans we will bare the blame? People, us, are the ones callin on birth control and adding to the maddness to control human life. What about absolute power control? Why cant the monsantos, BP's, Shells, coca-colas, governments, monopolies get the rage of justice???? Why are we so accepting of all this GASLIGHTING? Because conspiracy is too easy of an escape than to admit that it's real life and our HOME Earth is being RUN into the ground by elitists families and close friends. Divided and concurred. Votes continue, consumption continue, we just continue until a brave magician comes and wipes it all away while we just get to sit, relax and watch? STAND UP FOR YOUR SELVES this complacency is killing us all all they do is stack up the bodies. Are we so scared to loose convenience?
SumGai1986 3 years ago
I love all the typical BP finger-wagging on this post. I'd like to know how many of you have given up your nice suburban homes and sterilized yourselves to solve the population problem. Or do you just come here to virtue signal and think that suffices?
Stitches 3 years ago
I feel like this wouldn’t be happening if an entire generation wasn’t so keen on making everyone have kids, even if they didn’t want them
Don't Look 3 years ago
Accurate. Biggest problems are in east Asia and very much India.
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John Murray 2 years ago
The biggest offenders of urban hell in North America is the endless parking lots in the commercial areas of the suburbs. There is zero sense of community in these car dependent areas. Where do people go to gather and have fun? It's depressing.
HooowlAtTheMoon 3 years ago
Ik this is gonna get downvotes.... but the order and artificiality of some of them bring happiness to my mind. I'm not sure why. I do agree its horrible, i just like looking at it since it's already here.
Ticci toasty 2 years ago
no that’s fine, outside of the reality of how gross and terrible it is, there’s a pattern that many find calming. kinda reminds me of computer boards.
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Damon Tripodi 3 years ago
All these people need to be able to see things through different people's eyes
Amy Jo Buchanan 3 years ago
I agree with this-cleaning up and taking better care of our home is more urgent than ever now. Because we're very close to the point of no return if not already. I read an article about records in the Arctic circle being shattered. 118 degrees. Sad!!! Our glaciers are nearly wiped out now.
Lucky2BAlive 3 years ago
These are all terrifying reality. During the heigh of COVID-19, we saw people at their worst and Mother Nature at her best. The skies were blue again, and crime was down. They lift the quarantine and the skies are brown and crime is like an out take from Purge movies.
CbusResident 3 years ago (edited)
Much of what's pictured are buildings that were built decades ago, so how do those somehow foretell our 'dystopian future'? That's actually just our awkward past. Also, how is this all bad? Cubicles? Each person in one is paying their bills that way. Housing? Well we all need that don't we? People hanging clothes to dry on lines between urban buildings? That's classic old NYC type stuff, but actually that's more eco-friendly than using a dryer. Awkward urban design? Well okay, but there's some of that in every city. Pretty stupid listicle.
Margaret Weaver 3 years ago
I thought I had seen all the scars humanity caused. I started crying somewhere in all this misery, and now I can't stop anymore. We did ALL of this, and I'm just so, so ashamed. The fable of Noah and the flood never made sense to me, but now....
Carman Davis 3 years ago
These are some amazing photos!! Here I am in the middle of the country in my state. Closest neighbor is 1/4 mile away. I've never lived in a city so it hard for me to relate. But the photos are still amazing!
Susanna Vesna 1 year ago
Time to move back to the countryside and become self-sufficient. Oh, wait! The government overlords don't want you to become independent.
Random Anon 2 years ago
This isn't a recent phenomenon though. Seeing scenes like these over the decades in three continents has made the now graying me grateful I don't live forever. What we're doing, isn't sustainable. Our economic model isn't sustainable. I don't have anything better and can only hope someone out there does. Or I kick the bucket before the brown stuff hit the spinny blades.
Summer Martin 2 years ago
Lol all of you please stay in your city squalor! Us living in the mid west be winning with our gardens and land! You voted for this and keep voting for this!
Bernice Xkembri 2 years ago
the worst pollution is humans, the world has become trash, both figuratively and literally.
michael johnson 2 years ago
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Adam Sherrill 3 years ago
Mr. Smith from The Matrix had a point in the first movie. Humans are just like a disease. Infecting one area, leaving it dead after it can't serve a purpose anymore, and going off to kill more areas.
veronica bingham 3 years ago
Disgusting what humans have done to the planet! And we just sit back and allow our elected twits to just carry on and make the most ridiculous decisions.
Ginger Lancaster 3 years ago
I feel extremely privileged to have lived most of my life in central California, Oregon, and now Virginia. I am by no means wealthy, probably close to poverty level. After seeing these pics tho, I feel wealthy beyond my wildest dreams.
RAY LAPLANTE 3 years ago
Found all the photos interesting and sad. It lets me know that I have it pretty good.
Addy Hodges 3 years ago
That's. Scary. I think the biggest city I've ever seen is Jackson Mississippi
sharron lynn parsons 3 years ago
This post, has been a learning experience, things I was not aware of !!!
Marjorie Fabian 3 years ago
My mouth hung open in shock as I looked at these photos. I live on a little farm in Central Wisconsin, USA. I can't see any neighbors. The land is lush, green, peaceful and has a variety of wild animals. I love it here, and after seeing this article, I am so VERY thankful for all my blessings. My farm is called "Bountiful"!
Eulalie Grace 3 years ago (edited)
In the late 1960s ZPG became a prominent political movement in the U.S. and parts of Europe, with strong links to environmentalism and feminism. Yale University was a stronghold of the ZPG activists who believed "that a constantly increasing population is responsible for many of our problems: pollution, violence, loss of values and of individual privacy (from Wikipedia) Sound familiar? And we didn't listen...
Daniel Marsh 3 years ago
Manilla, for example, has a population density of far over 100,000 people per square mile. At that population density, the entire Earth could live in a small portion of a single municipality in northern Quebec. People live together because other people offer people opportunity. What you see in the monsoon washback on the Indian coast exists because their socioeconomic development is about where the U.S. was around 1980. And frankly, our trash in the 1980s was pretty damned gross, but we did have more land. And India was where were were in around 1880 not very long ago at all.
openmind123 3 years ago
So, when are we going to stop pointing fingers and blaming and fighting and correcting and just talking about what needs to change or be done differently and actually start taking action to stop these things? When are we going to stop fighting with each other and being against each other's nations? When are we going to unite as human beings and stop relying on our governments to take care of problems for us? When are we actively going to change this whole world TOGETHER as human kind?
Ticci toasty 2 years ago
cute notion but our governments made these messes. we need to hold them responsible. boycotting and activism aren’t viable options for a lot of people. alternatives can be expensive, hard to find, or end up being just as problematic because mass production got a hold of it. it’s a complex issue and no amount of peace and love is going to be enough. we need to get our governments in check.
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Ross Hamilton 3 years ago
What this planet really needs is an extinction level event to get rid of all these ugly pink parasites, until the planet's population is back down below 1 billion.
Briggs Johnson 3 years ago
That is disgusting. How could you even say that? You want 6 billion human lives to be taken? Sure, we need to do something about these problems but killing 6 billion people is not the answer.
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Megumi Saikou 3 years ago
The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. Humanity's worst enemy is itself.
Benjamin Tang 3 years ago
Not true. Every statistic ever has pointed to the fact that the poor ARE getting richer.
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thefaithfulspouse 3 years ago
The planet doesn't have enough resources for everybody in the world to live like we do in the western world.
John Baker 3 years ago
At least you have that choice. Billions of people don't.
Load More Replies... Melanie Weatherwax 3 years ago
We urgently need to take better care of our planet.... Birth control and a ban on plastic sound like a good start
De Gueb 3 years ago
May the gods in all their wisdom give you no children but many attempts at making them :,-)
Load More Replies... Persp Gold 3 years ago
Some posts are tragic and a lot are just "I've lived this great life so I can decide anything not idyllyc is hell." Which is just like kicking the terrible photos in the teeth. Urban living has metropolis solutions, which is hardly a hell in most of these photos.
shado 3 years ago
wow ... if you find these few photos "downright terrifying" you need to avoid ANY walkabouts in the USA for the next 50yrs, because that is bound to give you an out-right stroke instantaniously
Load More Replies... B 3 years ago
So many of these images indicate just how jam-packed our world is becoming, especially cities. The overwhelming problem (and all of the world's problems, including global warming) stem from overpopulation. While the deniers will down-vote me, there's an incredibly eye-opening and brilliantly well written thriller novel called 10:59 by N R Baker that contains so many terrifying facts about this issue. It's not my book, so not a self-promo, but I highly recommend that every human on Earth reads it if our species has any chance of survival.
ProfessionalTimeWaster 3 years ago
Better for cities to be jampacked than jungles be ransacked for space.
Load More Replies... Casey McAlister 3 years ago
A lot of these are not "urban hell", they are poverty and decay hell. And those things don't look prettier in the countryside.
ThePracticalSarcastic 3 years ago
Too many comments from narrow-minded people who pass judgement on a place based on a single photograph and have never seen it in person. You all need to travel more and see for yourself rather than through the lens of someone else's opinion/perspective.
Tracy Costa 3 years ago
There are pictures here of pollution, homelessness, and poverty. These are important problems we need to fix. But this article seems to suggest that living in apartment buildings and suburban developments are equally bad. People have to live somewhere and holiday traffic is a first world problem. And keep in mind, country dwellers, if we all moved to you, you would end up living in a crowded city.
Heather G 3 years ago
As someone who's been to multiple 3rd world countries, believe me traffic is not a first world problem. Just looks different.
Load More Replies... Don't Look 3 years ago
Hmmm…. Interesting. Not one of the actual largest slums (all in Asia) but a lot of people judging places they have never been…. Just interesting.
sofacushionfort 3 years ago
To her fair works did nature link The human soul that through me ran; And much it grieved my heart to think What man has made of man. -William Wordsworth
Dhukath 3 years ago
A lot of these images are of one street or location in one city, so it's unfair to judge. Some of the issues raised are not the fault of urbanisation, people have to live somewhere, if not in the cities then where, but down more forward for land? Over population, it's easy to say don't have children when you're in a first world country with health care, social support and child life expectancy is high! What I'm saying is we shouldn't be too quick to judge!
Ted Expert 3 years ago
I can think of one very effective way to avoid having children. But the irony is that the places where kids suffer most, are the places where people have the most kids.
Load More Replies... Lucky2BAlive 3 years ago
And let’s be frank. We can sit here and discuss how appalled we are, or, we can stand up and do something to make this planet a little better. Just imagine 7 billion random acts of kindness at the same time.
Seabeast 3 years ago
How are a bunch of random acts of kindness going to solve overcrowding and pollution?
Load More Replies... Easily Excitable Panda 3 years ago
I'm stunned they left off two of the most horrific: the Johannesburg Tower slum (which was supposed to be a modern miracle, but, well), and the Divis Flats in near Belfast in Northern Ireland. Most of the Divis Flats have been torn down (I think the tower is still standing).
Dorothy Cloud 2 years ago
I quit after 4 or 5 pictures. It just made me ill to think & see how so many poor people have to survive. AND how so many rich people do live.
lunar eclipse 3 years ago
Just makes me think more that we don’t enjoy life anymore. Just work and more work.
Master Love 3 years ago
We just going to continue being gaslighted and go with the lost flow? Elites won't get the fury of justice all we can say it "birth control" "we must take better care of the earth" etc. Really that's all? Force the injection? Never the government that are governed by companies. Never the shells, coca-colas, P&Gs, Nestless? No? We take the blame and the iron first of tyranny but we do nothing. Come on people. This is not conspiracy that ship has sailed this is real scary life realise it becaue your ignorant minds are costing us all on this ONE earth we have.
Ticci toasty 2 years ago
it’s depressing how many people really think we’re the culprits. brainwashing goes deep. definitely see who’s putting this idea in our heads.
Load More Replies... Master Love 3 years ago
So all corporate and elite Gov will never be judged as humans we will bare the blame? People, us, are the ones callin on birth control and adding to the maddness to control human life. What about absolute power control? Why cant the monsantos, BP's, Shells, coca-colas, governments, monopolies get the rage of justice???? Why are we so accepting of all this GASLIGHTING? Because conspiracy is too easy of an escape than to admit that it's real life and our HOME Earth is being RUN into the ground by elitists families and close friends. Divided and concurred. Votes continue, consumption continue, we just continue until a brave magician comes and wipes it all away while we just get to sit, relax and watch? STAND UP FOR YOUR SELVES this complacency is killing us all all they do is stack up the bodies. Are we so scared to loose convenience?
SumGai1986 3 years ago
I love all the typical BP finger-wagging on this post. I'd like to know how many of you have given up your nice suburban homes and sterilized yourselves to solve the population problem. Or do you just come here to virtue signal and think that suffices?
Stitches 3 years ago
I feel like this wouldn’t be happening if an entire generation wasn’t so keen on making everyone have kids, even if they didn’t want them
Don't Look 3 years ago
Accurate. Biggest problems are in east Asia and very much India.
Load More Replies... John Murray 2 years ago
The biggest offenders of urban hell in North America is the endless parking lots in the commercial areas of the suburbs. There is zero sense of community in these car dependent areas. Where do people go to gather and have fun? It's depressing.
HooowlAtTheMoon 3 years ago
Ik this is gonna get downvotes.... but the order and artificiality of some of them bring happiness to my mind. I'm not sure why. I do agree its horrible, i just like looking at it since it's already here.
Ticci toasty 2 years ago
no that’s fine, outside of the reality of how gross and terrible it is, there’s a pattern that many find calming. kinda reminds me of computer boards.
Load More Replies... Damon Tripodi 3 years ago
All these people need to be able to see things through different people's eyes
Amy Jo Buchanan 3 years ago
I agree with this-cleaning up and taking better care of our home is more urgent than ever now. Because we're very close to the point of no return if not already. I read an article about records in the Arctic circle being shattered. 118 degrees. Sad!!! Our glaciers are nearly wiped out now.
Lucky2BAlive 3 years ago
These are all terrifying reality. During the heigh of COVID-19, we saw people at their worst and Mother Nature at her best. The skies were blue again, and crime was down. They lift the quarantine and the skies are brown and crime is like an out take from Purge movies.
CbusResident 3 years ago (edited)
Much of what's pictured are buildings that were built decades ago, so how do those somehow foretell our 'dystopian future'? That's actually just our awkward past. Also, how is this all bad? Cubicles? Each person in one is paying their bills that way. Housing? Well we all need that don't we? People hanging clothes to dry on lines between urban buildings? That's classic old NYC type stuff, but actually that's more eco-friendly than using a dryer. Awkward urban design? Well okay, but there's some of that in every city. Pretty stupid listicle.
Margaret Weaver 3 years ago
I thought I had seen all the scars humanity caused. I started crying somewhere in all this misery, and now I can't stop anymore. We did ALL of this, and I'm just so, so ashamed. The fable of Noah and the flood never made sense to me, but now....
Carman Davis 3 years ago
These are some amazing photos!! Here I am in the middle of the country in my state. Closest neighbor is 1/4 mile away. I've never lived in a city so it hard for me to relate. But the photos are still amazing!
Susanna Vesna 1 year ago
Time to move back to the countryside and become self-sufficient. Oh, wait! The government overlords don't want you to become independent.
Random Anon 2 years ago
This isn't a recent phenomenon though. Seeing scenes like these over the decades in three continents has made the now graying me grateful I don't live forever. What we're doing, isn't sustainable. Our economic model isn't sustainable. I don't have anything better and can only hope someone out there does. Or I kick the bucket before the brown stuff hit the spinny blades.
Summer Martin 2 years ago
Lol all of you please stay in your city squalor! Us living in the mid west be winning with our gardens and land! You voted for this and keep voting for this!
Bernice Xkembri 2 years ago
the worst pollution is humans, the world has become trash, both figuratively and literally.
michael johnson 2 years ago
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Adam Sherrill 3 years ago
Mr. Smith from The Matrix had a point in the first movie. Humans are just like a disease. Infecting one area, leaving it dead after it can't serve a purpose anymore, and going off to kill more areas.
veronica bingham 3 years ago
Disgusting what humans have done to the planet! And we just sit back and allow our elected twits to just carry on and make the most ridiculous decisions.
Ginger Lancaster 3 years ago
I feel extremely privileged to have lived most of my life in central California, Oregon, and now Virginia. I am by no means wealthy, probably close to poverty level. After seeing these pics tho, I feel wealthy beyond my wildest dreams.
RAY LAPLANTE 3 years ago
Found all the photos interesting and sad. It lets me know that I have it pretty good.
Addy Hodges 3 years ago
That's. Scary. I think the biggest city I've ever seen is Jackson Mississippi
sharron lynn parsons 3 years ago
This post, has been a learning experience, things I was not aware of !!!
Marjorie Fabian 3 years ago
My mouth hung open in shock as I looked at these photos. I live on a little farm in Central Wisconsin, USA. I can't see any neighbors. The land is lush, green, peaceful and has a variety of wild animals. I love it here, and after seeing this article, I am so VERY thankful for all my blessings. My farm is called "Bountiful"!
Eulalie Grace 3 years ago (edited)
In the late 1960s ZPG became a prominent political movement in the U.S. and parts of Europe, with strong links to environmentalism and feminism. Yale University was a stronghold of the ZPG activists who believed "that a constantly increasing population is responsible for many of our problems: pollution, violence, loss of values and of individual privacy (from Wikipedia) Sound familiar? And we didn't listen...
Daniel Marsh 3 years ago
Manilla, for example, has a population density of far over 100,000 people per square mile. At that population density, the entire Earth could live in a small portion of a single municipality in northern Quebec. People live together because other people offer people opportunity. What you see in the monsoon washback on the Indian coast exists because their socioeconomic development is about where the U.S. was around 1980. And frankly, our trash in the 1980s was pretty damned gross, but we did have more land. And India was where were were in around 1880 not very long ago at all.
openmind123 3 years ago
So, when are we going to stop pointing fingers and blaming and fighting and correcting and just talking about what needs to change or be done differently and actually start taking action to stop these things? When are we going to stop fighting with each other and being against each other's nations? When are we going to unite as human beings and stop relying on our governments to take care of problems for us? When are we actively going to change this whole world TOGETHER as human kind?
Ticci toasty 2 years ago
cute notion but our governments made these messes. we need to hold them responsible. boycotting and activism aren’t viable options for a lot of people. alternatives can be expensive, hard to find, or end up being just as problematic because mass production got a hold of it. it’s a complex issue and no amount of peace and love is going to be enough. we need to get our governments in check.
Load More Replies... Ross Hamilton 3 years ago
What this planet really needs is an extinction level event to get rid of all these ugly pink parasites, until the planet's population is back down below 1 billion.
Briggs Johnson 3 years ago
That is disgusting. How could you even say that? You want 6 billion human lives to be taken? Sure, we need to do something about these problems but killing 6 billion people is not the answer.
Load More Replies... Megumi Saikou 3 years ago
The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. Humanity's worst enemy is itself.
Benjamin Tang 3 years ago
Not true. Every statistic ever has pointed to the fact that the poor ARE getting richer.
Load More Replies... thefaithfulspouse 3 years ago
The planet doesn't have enough resources for everybody in the world to live like we do in the western world.
John Baker 3 years ago
At least you have that choice. Billions of people don't.
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