Comfort, better education, and jobs, among other things, draw people to cities. The pull is so strong that more than half of the world’s population already lives in urban environments. But the comforts and conveniences of the cities don’t come without a price. Pollution, biodiversity loss, rising crime rates, and living costs are just a few things that are changing our planet for the worse.
Urbanization has become a man-made hell that we now have to live in, and to prove it even further, we compiled a list of pictures from the Urban Hell subreddit that expose the price of modern life. To find them, all you have to do is scroll down.
#1 Spotted In Barcelona
Image source: west_manchester
#2 Urban Hell Reversal
Beijing’s Liangma River went from a dry, cracked canal in the late ’90s to a green, thriving part of the city by 2025. Clean water, tree-lined walkways, and modern buildings from city planning.
Image source: Bull1753361
#3 Cleaning Up A Canal In Dhaka, Bangladesh
Ramchandra canal in Mohammadpur, Dhaka, which has been cleaned up and restored in 72 hours as part of ongoing efforts to clean up revitalise Bangladeshi canals. Led by NGOs with sponsorship from a bank and support from the government and the city corporation. Hopefully we can keep it this way!
Image source: T4H4_2004
#4 Cages In Chongqing, China
Image source: biwook
#5 Amsterdam, Nl 🇳🇱
Image source: BoyOf_War
#6 Western World’s E-Waste In Ghana
Image source: Few_Simple9049
#7 Reflection Of Inequalities
Image source: Soma_Or
#8 Haiti – 10 Years After Earthquake. Photo By Paolo Woods
Image source: Soma_Or
#9 Malé, Capital Of The Maldives
Image source: ddsukituoft
#10 Rich vs. Poor In Buenos Aires, Argentina
Image source: tousie
#11 Dubai Partition Room For Rent $1,000 Month
Image source: Royp212
#12 North Korean Government-Built Countryside Homes
Rows upon endless rows of identical bland and monotonous, perfectly symmetrical houses in a newly opened countryside residential complex in North Korea.
Image source: KodoSky
#13 A Stunning Example Of Cable Management Spotted In Bangladesh
Image source: Soma_Or
#14 My View From My Hotel In Manila, Philippines
Image source: Accomplished-Toe713
#15 Al Ba’sa Building, Beirut: A 60cm Wide Building Built By A Man To Obstruct His Brother’s Sea View After A Real Estate Dispute
In 1954, a thin wedge-shaped building was erected by architects Salah and Fawzi Itani on a 120 sq m plot in Beirut, Lebanon at the request of a man wanting to spoil the sea view of his brother after they failed to agree to jointly develop their neighboring plots. The street facade appears to be an ordinary apartment building, but is 60 cm at the narrowest and four meters at the widest. It is known as Al Ba’sa (The Middle Finger) and formerly as The Queen Mary due to its resemblance to the cruise ship.
Image source: biwook
#16 Nad Al Sheba Neighborhood In Dubai, UAE
Image source: RealGoatzy
#17 South Korea’s Capital Looks Like It Has No Seoul
Image source: Antique_Let_2992
#18 Mole People In The Philippines
Makati is the financial district of the Philippines. Recently someone saw a person coming out of a very narrow ditch. Another person chimed in with their own sightings.
We don’t know yet why people are there, how many people are there, and where this narrow canal leads to. According to the post, it’s possible that the narrow canal leads to wider canals.
Now, authorities are patching the openings and closing the ditch entrances.
I knew of documentaries of people living in waterways but this ditch is very narrow.
Image source: Safe_Professional832
#19 China’s 50 Lane Traffic, G4 Expressway
Image source: Upstairs_Drive_5602
#20 Really .. What Were They Thinking?
Image source: azimx
#21 Apartment Buildings In Chongqing, China
Image source: biwook
#22 New Delhi Cows
Image source: ActivityBackground68
#23 Egypt’s New Administrative Capital – A $58 Billion Ghost City
Planned as a solution to Cairo’s congestion, the NAC aims to house government buildings, embassies, and millions of residents. The trip itself was an experience—an hour-long Uber ride from Cairo, passing through three security checkpoints before entering. Security presence was unmistakable: police, military patrols, and constant surveillance. Yet, aside from them and a few gardeners, the city felt almost deserted.
However, despite its scale, the NAC raises concerns about affordability, social impact, and whether it will truly alleviate Cairo’s urban pressures or remain a prestige project benefiting a select few.
Urbanist and architect Yasser Elsheshtawy captures this sentiment well.
Image source: Blafa_
#24 World’s Biggest Tire Graveyard In Kuwait
Image source: Few_Simple9049
#25 A New Costco Opened This Week. Everything Is Car Parking
Image source: snivelinglittieturd
#26 Night In The Favela
Image source: Soma_Or
#27 Hong Kong In 1964 And Now
Image source: biswajit388
#28 Modernizing City Blocks In Austria (2019 And 2023)
Image source: Puzzleheaded_Film521
#29 Chechnya
Image source: MrTorrecelli
#30 Manaus, Brazil
Image source: Soma_Or
#31 Anti-Homeless Architecture, USA/UK
Fixing a problem with a problem.
Image source: Successful_Jury_2519
#32 Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
Image source: TribalSoul899
#33 Bridge Built Over A 17th Century Castle Ruins
📍Kajaani, Finland
Image source: waaf_aaf
#34 Delhi
Image source: ChardLatter4809
#35 Alexandria, Egypt
Image source: Enviro5547
#36 They Replaced A Masterpiece With A Spreadsheet
Image source: Emergency-Green-2602
#37 Soviet Experiments In Yerevan, Armenia
Image source: Fun-Raisin2575
#38 Aerial View Of São Paulo, The Most Populous City In The Americas With 22 Million Inhabitants
Image source: Soma_Or
#39 Inequality In Manila
Image source: Aggravating_Team_137
#40 Tyumen, Russia. It Looks Like A Montage, But It Isn’t
Image source: Soma_Or
#41 Shenzhen, 1980-2025
Image source: SexyN8
#42 Kolkata, India
Image source: TribalSoul899
#43 Widest Highway In The World Is In Ontario, Canada / Highway 401 /
Image source: Few_Simple9049
#44 Jakarta Traffic 🇮🇩
Image source: AdministrativePool93
#45 Boston Before And After The Highway Was Moved Underground In 2003
Image source: biswajit388
#46 Al Dana Villas – A Scar On The Beautiful Eastern Coast Of The UAE
Image source: Nintentoad123
#47 What’s The Point Of This Balcony? (Rimini, Italy)
Image source: Prophet_Axlax
#48 London, UK
Image source: DyeCorduroy
#49 Norilsk (Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia) Is A City With Multiple Faces, Some Of Them Definitely Fit Here
Image source: Sea-Bat
#50 A Graffiti Piece Across 50 Buildings In Cairo, By El Seed
Image source: Upstairs_Drive_5602
#51 Egypt Is Demolishing Parts Of Cairo’s 1,200-Year-Old Al-Qarafa Cemetery—one Of The World’s Oldest Continuously Used Necropolises—to Make Way For Roads And Modern Infrastructure
Image source: QuartzXOX
#52 Cañada Real (Spain), The Biggest Favela In Europe
Image source: osalcabb
#53 Vancouver, Canada
Image source: Original-Alfalfa4406
#54 The American Dream
Image source: c5e3
#55 Kyzyl, Respublic Of Tuva. The Poorest Region Of Russia
Image source: Fun-Raisin2575
#56 Novi Beograd
Image source: Fun-Raisin2575
#57 Ivanovo, Russia. Before And After
Image source: raccoon_on_moon
#58 Potholes On Railway. Guess The Country (Not Japan)
Image source: DeividasW
#59 A Girl Rides The Subway In NYC In 1986
Image source: -SOFA-KING-VOTE-
#60 Urban Sculpture Disasters Of Turkey
Image source: -zeki-
#61 Genoa, Italy
Image source: TribalSoul899
#62 Kowloon Walled City, True Urban Hell
Image source: LT_Dude
#63 Tuzla Bank Building, Tuzla, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Image source: Next_Payment_1774
#64 Hanoi, Vietnam During Foggy Night
Image source: khmerkampucheaek
#65 North Korea
Image source: TrainerOk5447
#66 Kathmandu Is The Most Polluted City In The World Right Now According To AQI
Image source: satabhatar
#67 German Cities Were Demolished For Open-Cast Mining
Image source: MirageCaligraph
#68 Leicester England, 1950s
Image source: Responsible_Top_5279
#69 70 Sqm Flat Is Worth 400k USD Here, Asian Side Of Istanbul
Image source: pasobordo
#70 Slums In Southern Italy
Image source: beanpoppinfein
#71 A Brand New Cemented Road In Bangalore, India
Image source: TribalSoul899
#72 This University Building In Bangladesh Looks Like A Scene From A Dystopian Sci-Fi Film
The building in question is BRAC university campus located in Dhaka | Photo by arekta_photogram on Instagram.
Image source: Due-Stuff9151
#73 Moscow
Image source: Ill_Engineering1522
#74 Traditional Back-To-Back Homes In Beeston. Photo Taken March 19, 2021, In Leeds, UK
Image source: Upstairs_Drive_5602
#75 Baghdad’s Arab Shore Promenade: From A Green Oasis In 1993 To A Concrete Desert By 2025
Image source: alfredokurdi
#76 Norilsk, Russia
Image source: StephenMcGannon
#77 New York City In The 1970s
During this decade, the city gained notoriety for high rates of crime and social disorders; the city’s subway system was regarded as unsafe and dangerous, and people were warned not to walk the streets after 6 PM. Prostitutes and pimps frequented Times Square, while Central Park became feared as the site of muggings and harassment.
Image source: Upstairs_Drive_5602
#78 Jinan University Dormitories, China
Image source: IndividualSociety567
#79 Guangzhou, China 🇨🇳
Image source: BoyOf_War
#80 Taj Mahal, India
Image source: Jaded_Cobbler_3134
#81 Lake Victoria, Uganda
Image source: west_manchester
#82 Karachi,pakistan
Image source: Alternative_Cut_9280
#83 Alexandria, Egypt
Image source: opallalla
#84 New Delhi Train Station
Image source: DryBookkeeper8359
#85 Panelkas With Bridges, Tbilisi, Georgia
Image source: Fun-Raisin2575
#86 Japan (It’s Very Hard To Find Trash Cans There)
Image source: rierrium
#87 New York Metro
Image source: Aleksandr_Ulyev
#88 Cat Ba Town, Vietnam
Image source: JohanTravel
#89 A Crumbling Shopping Alley In Gifu, Japan
Image source: biwook
#90 Bnei Brak, Israel. 8th Most Densely Populated City
Image source: Ok_Doughnut5007
#91 More Poverty In Southern Italy
I tried to show poverty without showing Roma/refugee camps, Ik it’s just screenshots, but i lost my phone and lost the old photos i had. I still wanna visit sometime soon, most of its beautiful but let’s not ignore that there is still very real poverty in southern Italy.
Image source: beanpoppinfein
#92 Las Vegas, Nevada
Image source: CzechOutSlovakia1993
#93 An Alley In Kabukicho, Tokyo’s Largest Red Light District
Image source: biwook
#94 Belgrade, View From My Hotel Room
Image source: Common_Researcher_66
#95 Turkey Is The Largest Destination For Waste Exported From The EU
Image source: OverallBaker3572
#96 Kyiv, Ukraine. Good Or Bad?
Image source: Wojewodaruskyj
#97 Wanhua, Taipei. 1965 V.s. 2025
Image source: Particular-Bed-7846
#98 Taipei, Taiwan
Image source: SupermanGamin
#99 In A Love Hate Relationship With This Building
“White Magnolia”, Batumi, Georgia
Image source: othercoralinejones
#100 Modern Korean Cities Are Pretty Ugly
Image source: biwook
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