Not many of us would think of industrial towers as impressive pieces of modern architecture, but a closer look reveals that they are, in fact, amazing structures. They have to be able to not only do the job they were built for – guiding smoke or steam, storing agricultural products, or cooling fluids – but to withstand all of the surrounding environmental stresses placed upon them. These fantastic industrial towers are often overlooked, but stand as proof of our impressive industrial achievements.

Incomparable Architecture

(images via: Deputy Dog)

Truly, some of the most impressive industrial towers to ever exist are those that help control the water flow in the Hoover Dam. The towers aren’t usually visible since they are always submerged in a huge amount of water, but they stand an imposing 395 feet tall and help to keep the entire operation running smoothly.

Relics of the Industrial Revolution

(images via: waves and waterfalls, Dave Wyman, Dean Melbourne, The WE)

When the world began to develop better methods for manufacturing just about everything, the landscape of many places changed. Factories, smokestacks, and agricultural storage towers popped up in the countryside and at work sites to assist with a variety of functions. Today, many of those structures are abandoned and derelict, but some, like the Coops Shot Tower in Melbourne (above, lower right corner) have been preserved as historic treasures.

(image via: Wikimedia)

The Liban Quarry in Krakow, Poland has a long and fascinating history. First opened as a quarry in 1873, it was later used as a concentration camp during World War 2. After its closure, it was the setting for the 1993 film Schindler’s List. Today, it is little more than a few abandoned and overgrown structures that seem largely forgotten.

(image via: Panoramio)

These amazing bio-towers once filtered wastewater from a coking plant in Lauchhammer, Germany, but they were taken out of service in 2003. Once doomed to destruction, they have since been saved and are now used to teach visitors about the industrial history of the area.

Power Stations

(images via: Dark Roasted Blend)

The ever-increasing need for electricity has been the impetus for a great deal of interesting architecture. The above mysterious and alien-looking structures can be seen in the Russian countryside, and they are reportedly for high-voltage electricity generation. The towers are continuing the work of Nicola Tesla; much like the bizarre scene from the movie “The Prestige,” these amazing towers light up the night sky with volts of electricity. They were built in the 1970s and are reportedly still in operation.

(images via: Wikipedia and Daily Peloton)

The now-derelict Battersea Power Station in London has ironically become a well-recognized and admired landmark of the city. When its construction was first proposed in 1927, residents felt that a large power station on the bank of the Thames would be an unwelcome eyesore that would negatively affect everyone in the area. The company behind the station remedied the problem by hiring Sir Giles Gilbert Scott to design the building. The architect and industrial designer had previously won a design competition to come up with a pleasing new phone box configuration; his winning red phone box design became a London icon. Likewise, the Battersea Power Station went on to become a treasured London building. Its four towers are immediately recognizable, and the building remains the largest brick structure in Europe.

(image via: Wikipedia)

The Bankside Power Station is another London power station designed by Sir Giles, though it is arguably more well-known today as the Tate Modern Art Museum. It features only one tower, but is nonetheless still a highly recognizable London landmark. It was decommissioned as a power station in 1981 and converted to the Tate Modern in 2000.

(images via: Smeggys, Geograph, and Rob Patrick)

Regardless of how you feel about nuclear power, the architecture of the familiar hypberboloid cooling tower associated with nuclear power plants is instantly recognizable and undeniably fascinating. These towers stand like silent sentinels, guarding their power stations or simply creating a small spot of interest on the landscape. Many nuclear power stations which have been demolished have left behind their cooling towers, often because it is expensive and complicated to destroy them in a safe manner.

(image via: Wikipedia)

At least one nuclear power plant is taking strides to warm the public to its presence. The Cruas Nuclear Power Station in France commissioned artist Jean-Marie Pierret to create a giant mural on a cooling tower; the mural was finished in 2005 and focuses on the interplay of water and air.

(image via: Gregor Rohrig)

Maybe the most well-known decorated cooling towers in the world are those at the decommissioned Orlando Power Station in Soweto, South Africa. After supplying coal-powered electricity to the area for more than half a century, the plant was shut down in 1998. The cooling towers remain, though – one now sports a huge advertisement, and the other is home to the largest mural painting in South Africa. In addition to being one of the most recognizable landmarks in the area, the site is home to bungee and BASE jumping, a power swing, and various other thrill-seeking attractions.

Into the Future

(images via: Solar Paces and Wikipedia)

The PS10 and PS20 solar power towers near Seville, Spain aren’t the only solar power towers in the world, but combined they make the most powerful solar thermal energy plant. Their futuristic design and purpose only add to the wonder that accompanies most people’s first glimpse of the incredible structures. They were designed to be as visually unobtrusive as possible, but the concrete towers are so simple and beautiful that they still draw their share of amazed stares.

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All of us are like excited children when turned loose for a fun-filled day at an amusement park. The commotion of the enthusiastic crowd combines with mouthwatering scents of delicious snacks waiting to be gobbled up, and then mingles with flashing lights and pounding music from rides and attractions. Yet when an amusement park becomes abandoned and an eerie silence descends to blanket the decay, the atmosphere seems to twist and takes on a nightmarish vibe. Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, leaving Six Flags as another of its victims. Here are 69 uber-creepy urban exploration photographs as we tour the abandoned amusement park Six Flags New Orleans.

Flooded From Hurricane Katrina

(image credits: themeparkreview,nola,forumgarden)

Everyone knows that Hurricane Katrina left New Orleans in utter devastation. That happened on August 29, 2005, and by August 31, New Orleans, Louisiana, was 80% flooded. Parts of it were under 15 feet of water, but the storm surged to over 20-feet high in some areas. This drowning of the city included Six Flags. At the time, an amusement park was the least of people’s worries. However, 4 1/2 years have passed, and the good people of New Orleans have suffered more than their share. Does that mean they will also never regain this former place to play? In theory, the fate of Six Flags is undecided.

You Are Here: Abandoned Six Flags in New Orleans

(image credits: Sophie Germer, malamutechaos, Brynne Photography, Google Maps)

You are here, Six Flags New Orleans, a defunct amusement park. It closed in 2005 for the oncoming storm and never reopened. Four and a half years after Hurricane Katrina, Six Flags New Orleans is still abandoned. Six Flags officials claim the park was 70-80% damaged or destroyed. The defunct park is too expensive to rebuild and too expensive to abandon, so it sits and waits for decay to claim it. The park opened as Jazzland in 2000, but Six Flags bought this amusement park in 2002. Before Jazzland, the area was swamps. If no one steps up and does something, will the swamps reclaim the abandoned amusement park?

Mardi Gras Character

(image credits: Brynne Photography)

The worn and weathered Mardi Gras character hanging over the roof of the haunted car ride seems menacing now. But New Orleans is the home and heart of the Mardi Gras. Before Six Flags was abandoned, it would have surely been a happy reminder to see this jester holding beads. Beads are a highly valued prize when one is lucky enough to catch those that are tossed into the parade crowd.

Tickets Please

(image credits: Annie Wentzell, EvenShift, Liquorhead, malamutechaos)

Tickets please…? Oh that’s right, the mannequin in the booth is as lifeless as the abandoned amusement park. On the city’s eastern edge, serving as a constant reminder to the people of New Orleans, the stark silhouette of Six Flags is like an unhealed wound. The big stuffed dog has dealt his last hand. The creepy clown has been beheaded and broken.

Hungry?

(image credits: riomcthorne,terrastories,Brynne Photography, A. Baker, A. Baker)

Hungry? There’s no scrumptious food to found in concession stands here. Instead, the walls, shelves, stoves, and glass food displays still show a scummy waterline where 4–7 feet of rainwater and sea water submerged the park for over a month when Katrina tried to swallow New Orleans whole. Six Flags tried to get out of the park, since it was going under even before the storm. Trying to get out of its contract and 75-year lease in 2006, they offered the city of New Orleans $10 million in cash and another 86 acres of land it owned in the area. The city refused on the basis of the amount being too small to repay a HUD loan or to clear the property.

Stormy Stark Silhouette

(image credits: static)

The amusement park suffered fatal damage. Six Flags collected only a portion before suing the insurance company for the remaining $175 million in coverage. At one point, Six Flags removed Batman: The Ride roller-coaster and other salvageable pieces. The city of New Orleans owned the land, yet Six Flags was pursuing legal action to keep the park closed. Six Flags filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June. The city fined Six Flags $3 million dollars and ordered them to vacate the lease. Nickelodeon was supposed to redevelop the park into a water and thrill ride theme park, but that fell through late last year. In December 2009, California-based Big League Dreams expressed interest in possibly turning the amusement park into a 50-acre sports complex. For this to occur, New Orleans would need to cough up about $25 million for the cost of construction, and then Big League Dreams would staff and maintain the complex for 30 years.

Wooden Roller Coaster Mega Zeph

(image credits: skyscraperpage, nola, EvenShift///3, Liquorhead)

Mega Zeph, a wooden hybrid roller coaster, first opened as Jazzland’s signature ride. It has been decaying, the wood rotting and the steel rusting. Riders would climb a 110-foot lift hill before plunging into the first drop. The delightful magic of riders’ excited screams has not echoed through the abandoned park for over 4 years now. According to wikipedia, this park once operated these roller coasters: Zydeco Scream, The Jester, Mega Zeph, Muskrat Scrambler and The Road Runner Express which has since been moved to Six Flags Magic Mountain in California.

Zydeco Scream

(image credits: *brynne,Brynne Photography)

Most amusement parks feature a “boomerang” steel coaster, taking riders forward and flinging them backwards for the thrill of upside-down loops and drops. The Zydeco Scream at Six Flags sits silent, but had a history before coming to New Orleans. It began its life in 1990 at Parc de Montjuic in Barcelona, Spain, and was called Boomerang. In 2000, this roller coaster was moved to New Orleans and renamed Zydeco Scream. This is probably its final resting place, where it will most likely die for good and be remembered only as a ghost of good times.

The Jester

(image credits: *brynne,thesouthernsniper,Brynne Photography,*brynne)

Flooding from Hurricane Katrina peeled away the green paint from The Jester as if revealing Jester’s former life as the Joker’s Revenge. From 1996 through 2001, Joker’s Revenge operated at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. This roller coaster which took riders through a corkscrew backwards left many people complaining about the rough ride. Mechanical problems added to the dilemma, so the roller coaster was unused in 2002. In 2003, the coaster was painted a bright green, renamed The Jester, and moved to Six Flags New Orleans where it’s now a ruined wreck.

Look Around at the Urban Decay

(image credits: Brynne Photography, Eric Paul)

From gifts shops to Gotham City, crumbled and decayed Six Flags New Orleans suffers from catastrophic damage. Dark, desolate, and dejected, this post-apocalyptic setting might be the perfect place to make a movie about zombies or some such horror/disaster film. Revamped or refurbished, is there a chance for Six Flags to end up as more than another defunct amusement park?

Creepy Sad

(image credits: smwarnke4, Liquorhead)

Way beyond the state of falling into disrepair, what was once cheerful is now cheerless and downright creepy. Although there has been some cleanup after Katrina ripped the amusement out of this park, it’s still left to be ravaged by the elements and unmaintained. The creepy clown, menacing jester, and other statues with once happy open mouths now seem to utter a silent yet never-ending scream. These dismayed busts have “seen” their home destroyed. The stuffed animals which should bring children of all ages great joy, now seem hopeless and an ever-present and depressing reminder of 4 1/2 years passing after abandonment.

Monster’s Mouth & Krewe of Kreeps Ride

(image credits: Brynne Photography, Brynne Photography)

The Krewe of Kreeps ride was never supposed to be this creepy. The trains sit parked as if awaiting phantom riders, but the tracks are a rusted wreck. According to wikipedia, flat rides at Six Flags New Orleans that are still standing but not operating include: Catwoman’s Whip, Dizzy Lizzy, Krazy Krewe, Gator Bait, Lex Luthor’s Invertatron, Mad Rex, Zydeco Zinger, Joker’s Jukebox, Lafitte’s Pirate Ship, The Big Easy, Jocco’s Mardi Gras Madness, and Mardi Gras Menagerie.

Death At Every Turn

(image credits: malamutechaos, Brynne Photography)

Now it appears as if death is awaiting urban explorers at every turn. The Mardi Gras skeleton seems an ominous omen for those who venture out of curiosity into this abandoned amusement park. A piano hangs outside a building as the supports weather and rot as if waiting to claim another victim and add another ghost to roam New Orleans.

Forlorn, Forgotten, Battered

(image credits: smwarnke4,Brynne Photography, malamutechaos,smwarnke4)

The statues and busts appear beyond sad into miserable. With mud and mildew on his face, the man seems morose and forlorn. With chipped faces and bodies overturned, the southern belles are a gloomy reminder that Six Flags will probably never regain the glory and good times it once claimed. Even the lonely mermaid and merman seem melancholy.

Rides Are Rotting

(image credits: EvenShift, malamutechaos, Doobybrain, Brynne Photography, malamutechaos, Brynne Photography)

The bumper cars went from bumpless to rusted-out bummer. Here are more dead rides on our tour of Six Flags New Orleans, clearly showing that the abandoned amusement park is going to hell in a giant 140-acre hand-basket. Even the former water rides Ozarka Splash and Spillway Splashout did not pass unscathed by Katrina’s wrath.

Main Street

(image credits: Liquorhead)

The eerie silence at Six Flags is beyond unnatural for an amusement park. Left abandoned, Main Street is as deserted as a ghost town. Destroyed by a horrific hurricane and flood waters years ago, the rides rust, the attractions rot, and the buildings crumble.

In Shambles

(image credits: ilxor, Liquorhead, malamutechaos, *brynne , Liquorhead, Liquorhead)

Urban explorers first have to find a way into this forsaken park and then they risk their necks out of curiosity. In one case, after sneaking in and then back out, some of the explorers were handcuffed by the waiting cops and the film was destroyed. In other cases, the explorers are simply told to vacate the premises. Is it the park or city officials, or both, who don’t want the water-damage and despondent decay documented as photographed proof and becoming public knowledge? Or is it simply too dangerous, too painful, after all the hardships and tragedies the people of New Orleans have had to endure?

Fade to Black…Darkness

(image credits: Brynne Photography, Brynne Photography, Brynne Photography, Brynne Photography)

The Big Easy Ferris Wheel paints a pretty picture against the sunset. Darkness falls, but the curtains closed years ago on the final show at the abandoned amusement park. It’s sad yet intriguing, pulling at the curious who want to see inside the park, pulling at our hearts for the people of New Orleans who still need our help. Thank you, urban explorers, for finding the courage to go inside. Thank you for bringing us these photographs so we could share your adventures at abandoned Six Flags New Orleans.

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Abandoned Mental Asylum Hellingly, RIP, 33 Creepy Photo Tribute

Think death and derelict nightmare or think urban explorers’ dream. Here's an ode to abandoned Hellingly Mental Asylum with 33 photos. R.I.P. It's being demolished. 3 Comments - Click Here to Read More »»

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When you look at these photos, do you think death and derelict nightmare or do you think urban explorers’ dream? Explorers dared security guards and guard dogs to investigate and to photograph the decaying, otherwise forgotten, and rotten bedlam of massive Hellingly Asylum. Maybe these adventurers are just insane, or maybe they wanted to sift through the eerie and unspeakable beauty of the Victorian hospital complex. Hellingly Asylum even had an electrified railway, so let’s go off the rails on a crazy train to explore the decomposing mental hospital since it is at this moment being torn down. Here’s an ode to abandoned Hellingly Mental Asylum with 33 creepy photos. R.I.P.

Ode to Hellingly Asylum

(image credits: Luke Woodford,liamch)

Hellingly Hospital was designed by asylum architect George Thomas Hine and was one of the most advanced asylum designs ever constructed. Hellingly Asylum opened its doors in 1903 and then closed them permanently in 1994. Most of the psychiatric hospital is to be replaced by new housing. Good luck with that to those of you who think you will live peacefully on a land soaked with trauma.

Hellingly Asylum, Sussex

(image credits: Howzey’s Hellingly Photostream)

Patients and staff all lived in red brick buildings, villas of this gigantic asylum. Men and women lived in separate wings. There were big windows to let in as much light as possible. Even as “advanced” as it was thought to be, Hellingly was also a place where women who had children out of wedlock were incarcerated. (Unless otherwise credited, all images are from Howzey, urban explorer and photographer extraordinaire.)

The decadent ballroom is only a tiny fraction of an asylum tagged, explored, smashed, trashed and a target of numerous arson attacks. In the theater, facing the stage, near the front right door, there was a hatch where some urban explorers were brave enough to crawl around the creepy underground passageways.

For over 20 years, abandoned Hellingly has been dying, fading, and peeling, but there is a lovely quality that makes you shudder about the ruination. Some explorers have reported hearing unexplained noises up and down the many corridors. Of course, old buildings make noises. The hallway above is one that was in “better” condition than many others.

Besides having a farm, train, water tower, clothing store, boiler room, chapel, dentist office and so many others, there was also a Hellingly Hair Salon. This room has been heavily vandalized and photographed about as much too.

Arson left its smoky and charred touch to the kitchen and central stores, the administration block, medical officer’s residences and much more. There is substantial fire damage to the above Hellingly Hospital corridor.

There is something utterly creepy about seeing a child’s wheelchair in the decaying mental hospital. According to county asylum records, Hellingly Asylum had a special building just for “mentally defective” children. Of course, this was back in a time when people were locked away in isolation, people with mental illness or an illness in which the family did not want to deal.

Outside one of the roasted toasty corridors is one of the many padded cells rooms. Other “advanced” facility care therapeutics included shock treatments.

Hellingly Asylum even had its own morgue and the above body fridge. On the grounds, there could be found “body trolleys” for transporting human remains into this chamber of the dead.

Some folks call it vandalism and others call it art, but many graffiti artists have left their mark up and down the hallways, rooms, stairways, and spooky corners of abandoned Hellingly Asylum. The top two photographs showcase works by Snub.

(image credit: BBC)

Graffiti artists can have a great sense humor, placing the semi-undressed woman carefully above the bathtub. The rest of the black and white portions in this picture are a product of merging Hellingly Asylum in its glory with its decrepit and tagged state now.

Given its sad state of decay for 26 years, nature was trying to reclaim Hellingly. The paint had peeled, the ceiling had crumbled in places, and the glass had been smashed out of windows, exposing the once grand Victorian architecture to be a victim of the elements. If this urban explorer’s paradise was not being destroyed, eventually nature would have swallowed the abandoned asylum whole. Perhaps the asylum ghosts were acting at night as gardeners?

The top photo shows what was once a service area. Walkers, foam, mattresses, and clothing are scattered over the moss. The “Yellow Chair” in the bottom picture is in about the same state as abandoned Hellingly Asylum. Yet there is something infinitely sad about this decrepit hospital being demolished by wrecking crews for new construction.

If the walls could talk within Hellingly, could you imagine the tales you might hear? Would the building scream in terror at what has happened within those walls? If you want to stay updated with the progress of destruction and demolition, Hellingly Asylum has a Facebook page. Some former patients, some children during their stay at Hellingly, report recalling a distinctive smell and plenty of scary memories from this place.

Since the asylum has been abandoned and left to slowly rot, exposure to the weather was not the only thing hammering on Hellingly. Signs of vandalism were almost everywhere. In theory, that is why security guards were hired. But there was something scarier than guard dogs and ghosts within Hellingly . . . asbestos.

In its prime, Hellingly Asylum was a beautiful example of Victorian architecture. Just the same, that might not be overly comforting when having to bath in one of the many bathtubs along with many others in the “public” restrooms.

(image credits: Howzey’s Hellingly Photostream)

Goodbye Hellingly Hospital, where both good and bad happened. The huge complex will soon be nothing more than written stories and urban explorers’ documented photographs. Some people do not enjoy visiting the dentist. Add that with all that transpired at this asylum and it might send a shiver up your spine. Would you have gone down those spooky stairs, ready to bark at the moon and take on anything? Despite unexplained noises in the deserted and decaying asylum, would you have kept going if you ran into the ghosts in the lower right photo? Actually it is a trick of the trees outside and the moonlight . . . or is it? We salute urban adventurers in general and howzey specifically this time for sharing his pictures with us.

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When a city’s economy begins to fail, those in charge have some choices to make. Should they pump money into local businesses? Should they let the public see just how bad it’s getting? One town in England is taking a novel approach to the scores of closed-up shops on its main street: they’re putting up fake business fronts to make the shopping areas seem less deserted.

(image via: Daily Mail)

In North Tyneside, more than 140 businesses have closed up shop, leaving the High Streets looking somewhat desolate and empty. Knowing that a deserted shopping area can discourage other businesses from moving in while it encourages even more to pull out, the North Tyneside council decided to try a radically unusual approach: they’re faking it.

(image via: Daily Mail)

The council is funding a project to install fake storefronts onto vacant retail spaces. The first stage of the project was transforming a deserted clothing store into a delicatessen. A removable covering reading “Delicatessen?” was installed over the shop’s existing signage, and a brightly-colored picture depicting the interior of a busy deli was installed behind the shop’s large windows.

(image via: Daily Mail)

The picture helps passers-by to imagine what the shop might look like if it actually were a delicatessen. The council hopes this bit of imagination-boost will help potential tenants to envision the possibilities of the space. It’s a powerful image that would certainly inspire business owners more than an empty, desolate retail space ever could. The council plans to put up more fake shopfronts to support commercial areas in several towns. At around £1500 per shop, it’s a quick, inexpensive and completely reversible way to spruce up a deserted-looking shopping center.

(image via: Torontoist)

If the project seems familiar, maybe it’s because it’s eerily similar to an art project that took place in Toronto in 2008. Artists Dan Bergeron and Gabriel Reese put together A City Renewal Project to call attention to the changing landscape of their city. They took over a warehouse and filled it with fake storefronts; the entryways were full-size prints of real deserted businesses from around Toronto.

A City Renewal Project from Dan Bergeron on Vimeo.

The pair – and their crew of assistants – carted in just about everything you could expect to see on an actual city street: rubbish, graffiti, leaves, bicycles, billboards, and even an old streetcar shelter and bus stop. Even the entrance to the warehouse was invented by creating a false storefront called “Mr. Loogie” for visitors to enter through.

(image via: Torontoist)

The temporary city street was constructed in a block that was slated to be demolished to make way for a new condominium complex. But unlike the false shopfronts in North Tyneside, these imaginary shops were there to bring all eyes to the troublesome practice of demolishing history, rather than concealing the changing business landscape from residents.

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The term “off the grid” has been proudly used for many years by those who choose to produce their own electricity or live without electricity. But there’s a whole other perspective to living off the grid: those who do it out of necessity. The majority of these can be defined as squatters: people living in an otherwise unoccupied place without a legal right to be there. An estimated one billion people are defined as squatters – that’s about one out of every seven people on the planet. Squatting has been depicted in movies and television shows as a practice of the poor, the drug-addled and the otherwise disaffected, but there are layers upon layers in this segment of the population, and some of them are full of surprises.

Squatting as a Political Protest

(images via: Daily Mail)

With millions of families waiting for public housing in Britain, it seems a shame to see so many residences sitting empty. At least that’s what a group of artists calling themselves the Da! Collective said when they moved into this 30-room, £6.25 million Mayfair mansion in October 2008. The home, originally built in the 1730s and now owned by the billionaire Duke of Westminster, has been abandoned for quite some time, and the interior is in a state of disrepair. The group of squatters, mostly young middle-class people, decided to move into the home to give it new life. They gained access through an open front window and set up residence inside, decorating the 30-some rooms with art projects and sacking out in sleeping bags. They also changed the locks and had the electric service reconnected. In Britain, squatting is not a criminal matter and the building’s owner has to file an eviction notice to remove any unauthorized occupants. The collective was ordered to leave the Mayfair mansion just two months after taking up residence, but that hasn’t stopped them from staking out new abandoned homes to squat in.

Squatting as Art

(images via: Dornob)

As with the London squatters, these brothers are occupying an otherwise unused space not out of necessity, but to make a statement. Tiago and Gabrial Primo climbed 33 feet up the side of a Rio de Janeiro building (with safety harnesses firmly in place) and spent 12 hours a day for several months hanging out in their hammock, lounging in their loveseat or snoozing in their bed. And to answer the first question just about everyone asks: their bathroom was located indoors, in the adjoining art gallery.

Subterranean Lives: Mole People

(images via: Dornob)

It’s long been thought that whole societies of people dwell beneath large cities, living out their lives in a world completely hidden from the one most of us occupy. In her 1993 book The Mole People, Jennifer Toth exposed and explored the vast society of people living under the surface of New York City. Making their homes in abandoned subway tunnels and using discarded materials to build makeshift shelters, these “mole people” remain largely invisible to surface dwellers. They are so invisible, in fact, that many people doubt Toth’s accounts of their underground lives. But a 2009 article in London’s The Sun exposed a similar conclave living in the storm drains beneath Las Vegas. Complete with interviews and photographs, this story seemed to confirm what many had previously called an urban legend.

A City of Garbage Collectors

(images via: Dornob)

On the outskirts of Cairo sits a city that defies logic. It looks like a scene straight out of the movie Wall-E: every available surface is covered in garbage. There are piles of it in every building, on the streets, even on the rooftops. In between the mountains of rubbish, herds of pigs nosh happily on whatever organic matter there is to be found in the refuse . Yet this isn’t an abandoned place left to be taken over by wildlife: it’s a city of 30,000 inhabitants. Manshiyat naser, usually known as Garbage City, is filled with people who make their living collecting and sorting trash. They put aside anything that can be recycled for money or sold and feed the organic refuse to the pigs (or at least they did until the swine flu of 2009 forced Egyptian officials to remove the pigs). The area functions much like any other city, having shops, schools and churches, but lacks a stable infrastructure to provide amenities like electricity, running water and sewer service. The people who live there aren’t paid to haul the garbage away from apartment buildings, but they are sometimes tipped for their services and manage to support themselves by sorting Cairo’s trash.

Life in a Cage: The Crowded City

(images via: Pop-Up City and Schoeni)

An unfortunate side effect of urbanization is the skyrocketing costs of city life. In Hong Kong, property prices have reached world record highs. In response to the unaffordable prices of even small apartment, people have been living in wire cages like these for years. The enclosures are tiny, and it can get unbearably hot with all those bodies in a small space. In a CNN story from October 2009, residents revealed that there were 19 people living in a 625 square foot apartment. A bottom-level cage will run you around $150 a month, whereas an upper-level enclosure would cost closer to $100 because they are slightly smaller. While these residents aren’t exactly squatters – they pay exorbitant rents for the amount of space they live in – they certainly are off-grid. There are two toilets for all 19 residents, one faucet, no shower, and their electricity is “donated.” Many residents end up living in cages because of the failing Hong Kong economy and the poor job market.

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