ghettos

Ghettos are urban neighborhoods characterized by concentrated poverty, social exclusion, and segregation along ethnic, racial, or religious lines. The term originated in 16th-century Venice, where Jews were compelled to live in the Ghetto, a walled district; over time it broadened to refer to any urban area where a disadvantaged group is spatially segregated from the rest of the city and experiences limited access to housing, employment, education, and services.

Ghettos have existed in various forms across different periods. They can develop as a result of formal legal segregation, housing market discrimination, or social and economic processes that trap residents in high-poverty neighborhoods. They are often marked by substandard housing, crowding, and inadequate infrastructure, with residents facing barriers to mobility.

In Europe and North America, ghettos have been linked to policies or market forces that isolate minority populations and limit where people can live. In the United States, for example, redlining and discriminatory lending, urban renewal, and highway construction around cities helped create and maintain segregated, impoverished neighborhoods; similar dynamics have affected Roma communities in parts of Eastern Europe, and other minority groups elsewhere.

The use of the term "ghetto" is debated because it can stigmatize and obscure structural causes of deprivation. Scholars and policymakers often prefer more precise terms such as segregated or disadvantaged neighborhoods and focus on responses including anti-discrimination enforcement, affordable housing, investment in schools and services, and inclusive urban planning.