“Truly The UK’s Most Horrible Place To Live”: 13 Pics Of Urban Hell From All Over The World

Some cities and the architecture there can make your jaw drop because of how impressive they look. But some others… Well, let's just say your jaw might drop because of a reaction far less positive than that. In the latter, you might be met with dirty streets, overcrowded neighborhoods, and buildings that resemble the set of an apocalypse-based movie more than it does someone’s home.

Today, we’re not focusing on beautiful cities, so if you’re a fan of incredible architecture, you might want to browse this list of architectural marvels instead. But if you’re curious to see what urban hell looks like, you’re in the right place, as we have quite a few pictures of it on today’s list. Scroll down to find them below.

13 PHOTOS

#1 60% Of The Things Posted Here Are Far From Being Ugly Or Urban Hell. It Seems That The Notion Of Urban Hell Varies Greatly Between People. This Is Urban Hell

#2 Beautiful Bangladesh

#3 From West Berlin, Looking East Over The Berlin Wall's "Death Strip" In 1986

‘Urban hell’ can come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes, it’s buildings that are simply unpleasant to look at, whether old or new. It can also be something that’s surprisingly inconvenient or serves no purpose at all. Oftentimes, it’s also something that requires destroying bits and pieces of nature, which is, in most cases, simply not worth it.

While ‘Urban hell’ means different things to different people, it usually evokes the same sentiment—a feeling that might make you want to turn your gaze away.

#4 Postman On His Kowloon Route, 1989

#5 Outskirts Of Mexico City

Since whether or not something is an eye sore or eye candy is a highly subjective matter, people’s opinions tend to clash. And they often do when it comes to all sorts of iconic—well-known, for better or worse—buildings in cities all over the world.

Take the Montparnasse Tower in Paris, France, for instance. While it is hated by many Parisians, in a piece for T: The New York Times Style Magazine, Daniel Libeskind, a well-known architect, artist, professor, and set designer, stood in defense of said tower, not particularly because of its beauty, but because of the idea it represents.

“Parisians panicked when they saw it, and when they abandoned the tower they also abandoned the idea of a high-density sustainable city. Because they exiled all future high rises to some far neighborhood like La Défense, they were segregating growth,” Libeskind commented to T.

#6 People Living Next To A Helicoidal Street In Chongqing

#7 Jalousie In Port-Au-Prince, Haiti

#8 Apartment Blocks In Hong Kong

Talking about the Montparnasse Tower, Libeskind continued to point out that, due to its shrinking capacity, people have no choice but to build good, high-rise buildings that are affordable. “Maybe Tour Montparnasse is not a work of genius, but it signified a notion of what the city of the future will have to be,” he noted.

As of January 2023, the French capital had just over 2.1 million residents. However, over the same year, it welcomed nearly 29 million visitors, which could make it feel pretty packed.

#9 South Bronx, New York City (1980s). Genuine Smiles Despite All That’s Around Them

#10 Akihabara Is Like Is Like Website Without Adblock X2

#11 Immensity Of Los Angeles

If you’re interested in packed cities, Prof. Alasdair Rae of the University of Sheffield has carried out interesting research, delving deeper into the density of populations in countries all over Europe. He located the densest kilometer in each one of them and found that the most densely populated city in Europe is not Paris. It’s… you guessed it, Barcelona.

#12 Monster Building, Hong Kong

#13 Norilsk, Russia