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As you may have already known, and for those of you who don't know, hillbilly hell is a term used to mock the countryside in the USA, with all of its perceived flaws (insular, racist, decaying ...). Is there a term with a similar connotation being used to describe cities, or urban places in general? The term should only be used to deride the general metropolis landscape (think LA or NY), and should not be focusing on any particular city.

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    For your consideration: an Ngram of 'urban hellhole' versus 'hillbilly hell' for the period 1940–2019. Evidently you don't have to live in the countryside to have your environment equated with a place of damnation.
    – Sven Yargs
    Commented Dec 7, 2023 at 3:18
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    What connotations do you want? There are lots of negative terms for cities, ranging from those emphasising business, pollution, and noise to denigrating cities for racist or homophobic reasons. And are we talking New York-size cities or cities of 50,000 people?
    – Stuart F
    Commented Dec 7, 2023 at 9:34
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    A quest for racist terms needs our help?
    – Yosef Baskin
    Commented Dec 7, 2023 at 14:36
  • City without pity?
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Dec 7, 2023 at 18:05
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    @StuartF I'm looking for some thing that denigrates the hustling and bustling of the city lifestyle. And by city, I mean a city at the metropolis level, think NY, Tokyo and the like.
    – Carl Warren
    Commented Dec 8, 2023 at 2:07

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I think the city version of that is 'Concrete Jungle'. Maybe used more during a time before city buildings were given an aesthetic shape and outer layer like they've done the last 20 years. Before the many trees that were planted became tall and full and dampened sound. Fighting the traffic and noise and always hustling was considered by most outside the city as quite burdensome. It's changed some because there are more natural, sport, and community based settings to be a part of in most cities - to create a draw for people and calm I believe. However, the fast paced, never ending construction, decay, racket, density, and lack of sky/horizon in big cities can wear on humans incredibly. A 'created' concrete human version of a jungle, that is counter to our ancestor's time in nature and quiet, can be the city version of hell for some.

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    If you wanted to emphasise the lack of greenery or the overabundance of vehicles you could use the related term asphalt jungle
    – import random
    Commented Apr 4 at 4:59
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I'm not sure it precisely fits your needs, but "urban decay" and "urban blight" are common terms that refer to the problems that often afflict large cities. From Wikipedia:

Urban decay (also known as urban rot, urban death or urban blight) is the sociological process by which a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude. There is no single process that leads to urban decay

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    Urban decay/ Urban blight is a city phenomenon, but not used to denigrate city themselves. I want a term that denigrates cities that put an emphasis on the bustling & hustling thereof, not just a denomination to describe a city phenomenon.
    – Carl Warren
    Commented Dec 8, 2023 at 2:12

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