10 Hidden City Worlds

In 1842, Great Britain ceded Hong Kong from China. The British government let the Chinese stay in Kowloon, provided they did not meddle in politics.

China took full control of Kowloon in 1947. Neither the Chinese nor the British government policed the area. Squatters moved in; by 1950, the walled city population reached 17,000.

Kowloon occupied just two hectares (4.9 acres). Damp, dark underground tunnels connected it to tiny apartments stacked on top of each other. Some streets and alleys were so narrow people had to walk sideways. Passageways on upper levels let people move around Kowloon without touching the ground. Cramped living and working created a village culture in Kowloon.

Illegal businesses like opium dens and brothels shared space with legal ones, such as restaurants, doctor's and dentist's offices, and factories making fish balls, alongside residents' apartments. Greg Girard, a photographer who worked on a book about Kowloon called "City of Darkness," explained this to.City of Darknessexplained toBusiness Insider:

No one gave top-down plans for how the place should look. It grew based on what people needed.

Since neither the Chinese nor the British watched what happened inside the walls, Kowloon became known for gangs, drugs, and other crime. The Chinese Mafia (called "the Triads") tried to bring order to Kowloon's mix of energy and chaos. The Triads acted like a city council, organizing trash removal and settling fights between businesses, among other things.

At its peak, this walled city held about 33,000 people, making it the mostdensely populatedIn the 1980s, Chinese and British governments felt the crowded, unregulated area was too embarrassing. They decided to tear down Kowloon.

Residents, who received money, were forced out between 1987 and 1992. Demolition of the walled city started in 1993. The site became a public park.

Vatican City sits on about 100 acres of land on the west bank of the Tiber River in Rome, Italy. Vatican City is the world's smallest country. The Lateran Pacts made it a sovereign nation.1929.

The Vatican was the Catholic Church's seat long before it became a country. This history goes back to the fourth century when a basilica was built over St. Peter's grave. The site was left empty in 1309 after the Papal Court moved to France, but the Church brought it back in 1377.

Vatican City features the Sistine Chapel and a newer St. Peter’s Basilica. The pope's permanent residence is the Apostolic Palace; construction of this palace, about 162,000 square meters, happened mainly...Between 1471 and 1605.1471 and 1605.

Until the 1870s, popes governed regions called the Papal States. When the Italian government took most of these lands, a clash erupted between the Church and the government. The Lateran Pacts, signed in February 1929, ended this standoff. These pacts established Vatican City as an independent country and gave the Church $92 million to cover the loss of the Papal States.

Vatican City has about 600 citizens. This count includes the Swiss Guard, a security detail that has protected the pope since 1506.

Treasure Hill sits in the Gongguan District of Taipei, Taiwan's capital, overlooking the Xindian River. Only about two dozen families live there now; the rest of the area became various artist spaces.artist spaces.

The area started in the late 1940s as a fortress. It was built to guard the southwestern side of the capital city from communist air attacks.Communist air attacks. Initially, only six households existed. When construction limits lifted in the 1970s, many military families moved in, often building homes with stones from the river. Immigrants from China and rural Taiwan, seeking cheap housing, also moved in. At its peak, there were about 200 households in Treasure Hill.200 householdsin Treasure Hill.

Many buildings were declared illegal. In 1980, the Taipei city government planned to tear down the Treasure Hill community and turn the land into a park. A major public protest followed. Years of talks passed before the area got protected status in 2004.protected statusin 2004.

After redevelopment, Treasure Hill became an artist community in 2010.

Dharavi is a crowded slum in Mumbai, India's financial and entertainment capital. It started as a humble fishing village.Between 600,000 and 1 million people live in the neighborhood.One million people and 1 million people reside in the neighborhood. This area is less than 5 square kilometers and inspired the award-winning film.Slumdog Millionaire.

The neighborhood has narrow lanes, old buildings, and open sewers. About 80% of residents use the community toilets. Dharavi also holds about 15,000 single-room factories.factoriesThese factories produce high-end goods found in U.S. and European malls and showrooms.

Dharavi was not always an overcrowded city slum. Its original form, in 1884, was a fishing village.fishing villageThat area was swampy. Then, as the swamp filled in, migrant workers from south Mumbai and rural India moved into the neighborhood.

In 2010, Israel built a concrete wall around the West Bank, claiming it stopped Palestinian suicide bombers. This cut the neighborhood of Ras Khamis off from the rest of Jerusalem.

Bus driver Yehia Tamimi told NPR:

A gate separates people from the Jerusalem community. Sometimes they open this gate; sometimes they do not.

The Israeli government started building the barrier in 2002. The wall cutting off Ras Khamis did not finish until 2010. Abu Issa, the neighborhood's local council head,...NPR told how Ras Khamis was walled off from the rest of Jerusalem in the 2000s.NPR:

We woke up. This checkpoint, with all its structures, surrounded us. We protested, but they did nothing. They suffocate us completely.

He pointed out no suicide bombings in the area in the last two years. He claimed the barrier confined the Arab population in Jerusalem to strengthen Jewish claims to the city. He also claimed Palestinian families moved to Ras Khamis from other East Jerusalem neighborhoods to better control the Arab population there.

Around 40,000 residents lived in Ras Khamis in 2010. This neighborhood lacked schools, hospitals, or clinics. Houses often seemed built on top of each other.

Conditions in the neighborhood worsened over the next few years. After the concrete wall went up, Jerusalem stopped giving most services to Ras Khamis residents. For instance, the neighborhood had few roads, and the city gave only partial water and garbage collection.

So in 2016, residents took action. They raised 2 million shekels to build a new road with drainage and sewage.Two million shekels.Approximately $530,000, paid for the new road with drainage and sewage infrastructure.

Construction began on the Venezuelan office high-rise, Centro Financiero Confinanzas, in 1990. However, the building's main investor passed away, and a banking crisis in Caracas stopped construction in 1994.

The 45-story building stayed empty until 2007. Squatters moved into the complex then. People nicknamed it the "Tower of David" after the complex's late main investor, David Brillembourg. By 2014, approximately...Following a banking crisis in Caracas, the abandoned 'Tower of David' became home to 3,000 squatters.called the partially finished skyscraper home.

Reports say the complex was called a "vertical slum" sometimes. Actually, it was a well-organized community.It had corridors cleaned daily, well-kept apartments, work schedules, and its own rules. Some reports claimed people fell from unprotected areas, there were no working elevators, and power and water service was unstable.These squatters had corridors cleaned daily, well-kept apartments, work schedules, and their own rules. However, some reports state people died from unprotected areas, there were no working elevators, and power and water service was unstable.

Starting in summer 2014, squatters left the complex peacefully. Many moved to Cua, a town south of the city.

In 2018, the abandoned complex sustained major earthquake damage.The complex suffered earthquake damage.Following the Caracas banking crisis, the abandoned 'Tower Of David' housed 3,000 squatters in the '10 Hidden City Worlds' list.

In 2020, the Naples, Italy, government planned to tear down two of three buildings at Le Vele di Scampia ("The Sails of Scampia"), situated in Scampia's northern outskirts. The final building will be rebuilt to help revive the area.

Built between 1962 and 1975.1962 and 1975.Seven buildings originally made up the complex; all had triangular sail shapes. Residents in the tower blocks had small units because the plan was to build community by having people use shared outdoor spaces.

Le Vele did not develop as planned. They never built the proposed school centers or churches. They also skipped the common areas planned every six floors. The blocks stood too close. Apartments got assigned even without electricity, gas, or sometimes even toilets. An earthquake in the region in 1980 caused squatters to move into the complex.

These conditions allowed the Camorra Mafia to take control of the neighborhood. Soon, Scampia and Le Vele became known as the hottest drug-dealing area.A drug-dealing area.A drug-dealing area in all of Europe.

In 2004, the Di Lauro family, who controlled the Scampia drug trade, tried to set new rules for the business. Raffaele Amato, a leader in the Di Lauro group, disagreed with these rules. He reportedly fled to Spain, where he started recruiting allies for the Di Lauro family. Later that year, a violent "civil war" erupted between these rival groups."civil war""between these rival factions broke out; dozens of people, including those not connected to the Mafia or the drug trade, ended up being killed."

Eventually, the Camorra moved its drug trade out of the Scampia neighborhood. By then, the initial idea for what Le Vele should be was a distant memory.

Since the 1960s, the Kamagasaki district in Osaka, Japan, has been where people look for work as a day laborer.A day laborer.The exact spot is the Airin Labor and Welfare Center. Workers of all ages arrive early each morning hoping to earn money that day. Most work is at construction sites.

Kamagasaki is Japan's largest slum. In 2008, about 25,000 people lived in the area, mostly elderly day laborers. Over 1,000 residents were thought to be homeless, while others stayed in state shelters or cheap hostels. Most residents were men.

Masaharu Takezawa, a former homeless resident of Kamagasaki,Osaka's Kamagasaki District holds thousands of elderly homeless people and day laborers.Osaka's Kamagasaki District is populated mainly by thousands of elderly homeless and day laborers.The Guardian2008:

Kamagasaki is a man's world. People look forward to an evening meal of cheap grilled meat and plenty to drink. They also get the freedom to sleep where they drop.

The local government ignored the district's existence. Officials refused to admit the residents' poverty. Kamagasaki did not appear on any official city maps. Officials renamed the area Airin-chiku in 1966 to remove its crime reputation.

Some residents claimed a real sense of community existed in Kamagasaki, despite the poverty and despair.Some residents claimed a real sense of community existed in Kamagasaki.Koji Yamaguchi told The Guardian about the community in Kamagasaki.Koji Yamaguchi told The Guardian.Osaka's Kamagasaki District holds thousands of elderly homeless and day laborers.

We have a freedom other Japanese lack. We get three meals daily, and making friends is easy. I made many friends here over the years—and I saw many of them die.

In 2016, Venice, Italy, celebrated the 500th anniversary of its Jewish Quarter, the Venetian Ghetto. This was not the first Jewish ghetto globally; Frankfurt, Germany, held that distinction. Venice's ghetto became the model for future Jewish quarters elsewhere.Venice became the model for future Jewish quarters in other cities.The word "ghetto" came from Venice. It did not refer to the Jewish community. It came from a copper foundry in the area called the ghèto.

The word "ghetto" originated in Venice, though it did not relate to the Jewish community. It derived from a copper foundry in the area known as the ghèto.

The Jewish community pushed for the district's development. Before 1516, Jewish merchants could do business in Venice but could not live there permanently. In late March 1516, the Senate chose the location for the Jewish Quarter. This choice served to both include and exclude Jews from city life.

Jewish residents wore a special insignia to stand out from Christians in Venice. This insignia was usually a yellow hat or badge, although Jewish doctors, who held high respect, wore black hats. Gates at the Venetian Ghetto locked at night, creating a prison that separated residents from the rest of the city.

Venice became a cosmopolitan cultural hub by the 17th century. Jews from everywhere settled in the city's Jewish Quarter. This small neighborhood, barely an acre, grew upward, becoming one of the first vertical cities. Many nationalities had separate synagogues; five still stood in 2016.

Napoleon tore down the Venetian Ghetto's gates in 1797 when he took control of Venice. The neighborhood's population dropped fast as wealthy residents left the quarter. About 150 years later, 250 Venetian Jews were seized from their homes across the city, including the Jewish ghetto, and sent to Auschwitz and a Trieste concentration camp. Only eight of those 250 ever returned to Venice.

At the 500th anniversary of this ghetto, about 450 Jewish people lived in Venice. Only a few lived in the actual Jewish ghetto; this was far from the approximate number.Five thousand.5,000 residents called this place home at its peak in the 17th century.

From the mid-16th to early 17th century, Christianity spread across Japan. An estimated 750,000 people converted to the religion. Japan banned Christianity in 1612, and many Christians faced exile, torture, or death.

The man-made island Dejima was built in 1636 to stop more Christianity from spreading and to segregate it.Dejima was a man-made island that segregated Nagasaki's Portuguese residents from the Japanese.Dejima segregated the Portuguese residents—many of whom were missionaries—from the Japanese population in Nagasaki. This let the ruling Tokugawa shogunate control the missionaries' actions.

Japan expelled the Portuguese in 1639. Two years later, the island became the site of a.Dejima served as a Dutch trading post.This post used to be in Hirado. For over 200 years, the Dutch were the only Westerners allowed in Japan. They stayed mainly on the man-made island. The Dejima Dutch Factory closed after the Ansei Five-Power Treaties in 1858, which let both Japanese and foreign residents freely enter and leave the island.

After topographical changes, Dejima vanished completely in 1904. Some historical structures survived. Plans exist to possibly turn the area back into a.islandThey plan to dig canals around Dejima's original location to make it an island.