Urban areas done in field observations in cities such as Bangalore, India, Thailand or Peru, the definition of a squatter settlement varies, it can be the definition of a makeshift housing or slums. Much of what you will see is a very poor living environment, where a mass of dwellers have inhabited an area by squatting on vacant land. Urban migrants looking for better jobs and incomes has led to the growth in cities. The characteristics of these types of squatter settlements has been divided into distinct groups such as the physical, social and legal.

Why do some call squatter settlements a slum?

The various names that are derived from a slum settlement which refers to a physically and social deterioration of family life, with the major condition of the housing of inadequate light, air, toilet and bathing facilities, which is in contrast to the squatter settlement which is more about the legal position or lack of ownership of land parcel on which houses have been built such as in vacant government or public land, so even if the land owner rents out his land for a fee to a family or families with a informal agreement it is still considered illegal.

Is squatter settlements a solution to housing problems?

Due to the long time existence of squatter settlements where individuals other than the land owner has built houses without the consent of the land owner was not considered illegal until after 1976.

A Quote from historical development states: "A vast number of case studies at the Habitat Conference at Vancouver in 1976 highlighted the conditions in squatter settlements, calling for a concerted and committed approach towards solving the problems, to fully understand what squatting is, it is particularly referred to as act of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use."

• Abrams (1964) illustrates the process of squatting as a "conquest" of city areas for the purpose of shelter, defined both by the law of force and the force of law.
• Turner (1969) takes a positive outlook and portrays squatter settlements as highly successful solutions to housing problems in urban areas of developing countries.
• Payne (1977) similarly puts the development of squatter settlements in the overall perspective of urban growth in the third world and its inevitability.

I would suggest that a modern day squatting settlement would be the vacant foreclosure homes left on the market and open to those who need a place to stay, they have nor recourse and I can see it leading to the occupation of residential property without permission or noticeablility.

According to wikipedia In many of the world's poorer countries there are extensive slums or shanty towns, typically built on the edges of major cities and consisting almost entirely of self-constructed housing built without the landowner's permission. While these settlements may in time grow to become both legalised and indistinguishable from normal residential neighbourhoods, they start off as squats with minimal basic infrastructure. Where there is no sewage system, and the drinking water must be bought from vendors or carried from a nearby tap and if there is electricity, it is stolen from a passing cable.

What is a Shanty town and what does it mean to our present economic crisis?

Shanty towns are settlements of impoverished people, Shanty towns, which are usually built on the periphery of cities, often do not have proper sanitation, electricity, or telephone services. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, shanty towns, often called "Hobo jungles," "favelas," or "Georgie Slums" appeared in cities across North America because of massive unemployment. It makes you wonder if the same thing is going to happen here in the united states, where history seems to be repeating itself in the mid of the recession no longer a scene from other countries but a reality of our nation. Urbanization is also defined by the United Nations as movement of people from rural to urban areas with population growth equating to urban migration, As more and more people leave villages and farms to live in cities, urban growth results, of many cities such as Mexico City have grown because of the phenomenon of squatter settlements.