Overcrowded areas of a city with poor living conditions, inadequate housing, and often high levels of poverty and crime.
Origin unclear, possibly from Yiddish 'shlum' or from 'slumber' suggesting dark, sleeping areas. First documented in London in the 1800s during industrial growth.
The Victorian term 'slum' was actually created by reformers trying to draw attention to hidden urban poverty—it was activism through language!
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