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المساكن العشوائية

English translation: random/unplanned houses

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Arabic term or phrase:المساكن العشوائية
English translation:random/unplanned houses
Entered by: Abdallah Ali

10:09 Nov 1, 2008
Arabic to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc.
Arabic term or phrase: المساكن العشوائية
أو العشوائيات
Milestone
Local time: 03:20
random/unplanned houses
Explanation:
.
Selected response from:

Abdallah Ali
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:20
Grading comment
thank you.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +4random/unplanned houses
Abdallah Ali
5 +4shanties
Noha Kamal, PhD.
5 +3Randomly-built lodges
Noha Kamal, PhD.
4 +4Slum Housing or Squatting
Khalid Nasir
5 +3informal settlements
Nesrin
4Uncontrolled Settlements
Fahd Chafik
2 +1Ghetto
Nancy Eweiss


  

Answers


2 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +3
Randomly-built lodges


Explanation:


Noha Kamal, PhD.
Local time: 03:20
Works in field
Native speaker of: Arabic
PRO pts in category: 71

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Mustafa Fadhel: احسنت
5 mins
  -> Thank you, Mustafa
agree  Mariam Osmann
38 mins
agree  zkt
1 hr
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4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +4
random/unplanned houses


Explanation:
.

Abdallah Ali
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:20
Native speaker of: Native in ArabicArabic, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 24
Grading comment
thank you.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Mariam Osmann: I have encountered "unplanned houses" several times in UNESCO papers
38 mins
agree  Dr. Hamzeh Thaljeh
49 mins
agree  KHALID ALHASSAN
5 hrs
agree  Sajjad Hamadani: sporadic houses
3 days 4 hrs
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
Slum Housing or Squatting


Explanation:
Slum Housing or Squatting

Example sentence(s):
  • Squatting is the act of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use.
  • A slum, as defined by the United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure but has come to include the vast informal settlements found in cities in the developing world.

    Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squatter
    Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slum_housing
Khalid Nasir
Iraq
Local time: 04:20
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in ArabicArabic
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Nancy Eweiss: The slums
3 mins
  -> Many thanks Nancy
agree  Fayez Roumieh
5 hrs
  -> Many thanks Fayez
agree  Aymene Zermane
1 day 6 hrs
  -> Many thanks Zermane
agree  Fathy Shehatto
3 days 7 hrs
  -> Many thanks Fathy
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Uncontrolled Settlements


Explanation:
The Arabic name of the United Nations' "Interregional Seminar on the Improvement of Slums and Uncontrolled Settlements" is:
"الحلقة الدراسية الأقاليمية المعنية بتحسين أحوال الأحياء الفقيرة والمستوطنات العشوائية "

Fahd Chafik
Spain
Local time: 03:20
Works in field
Native speaker of: Arabic
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +3
informal settlements


Explanation:
This is a common term, and one that is used in UN documents, although other terms suggested above (random, unplanned) are also used.

Please see references below:

From the OECD Glossary of Statistical Terms:

"Definition:
Informal settlements are:

1. areas where groups of housing units have been constructed on land that the occupants have no legal claim to, or occupy illegally;

2. unplanned settlements and areas where housing is not in compliance with current planning and building regulations (unauthorized housing).

Source Publication:
Glossary of Environment Statistics, Studies in Methods, Series F, No. 67, United Nations, New York, 1997" http://stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=1351

From a United Nations Economic Commission for Europe document "Informal settlements are a wide-ranging phenomenon: they encompass a variety of housing practices and experiences that do not comply with established norms and standards and have negative implications for urban and social sustainability. The term can, for example, refer both to dilapidated, rundown or substandard housing estates and to good-quality residential developments that violate certain rights or regulations (e.g. on public land, or causing environmental degradation)."
http://www.unece.org/press/pr2008/08env_p15e.htm

"Informal settlements (often referred to as squatter settlements or shanty towns) are dense settlements comprising communities housed in self constructed shelters under conditions of informal or traditional land tenure. They are common features of developing countries and are typically the product of an urgent need for shelter by the urban poor. As such they are characterised by a dense proliferation of small, make-shift shelters built from diverse materials, degradation of the local ecosystem and by severe social problems. " http://www.sli.unimelb.edu.au/informal/inform_set.html

And 161,000 more Google hits.

Nesrin
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:20
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Arabic
PRO pts in category: 32

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Fayez Roumieh: I, too, agree with you Nesrin
6 hrs
agree  Nadia Ayoub
8 hrs
agree  Fathy Shehatto
3 days 7 hrs
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +4
shanties


Explanation:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/shanty

Noha Kamal, PhD.
Local time: 03:20
Works in field
Native speaker of: Arabic
PRO pts in category: 71

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Fayez Roumieh
4 hrs
agree  Dr.Dina
7 hrs
agree  Zareh Darakjian Ph.D.: short and sweet (not what it means, but the translation).
13 hrs
agree  Fathy Shehatto
3 days 7 hrs
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Ghetto


Explanation:
How about 'ghetto', refering to a highly populated area, even though it is mainly used for ethnic minorities, but may fit depending on your context. I highly agree with 'slums' anyway, as it fits perfectly with this kind of extremely poor neighborhood.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 23 hrs (2008-11-02 09:29:02 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

The "UNTERM" glossary uses slums
for مساكن متخلفة أو فقيرة

http://unterm.un.org/dgaacs/unterm.nsf/0/$searchForm?SearchView&Seq=1

http://unterm.un.org/dgaacs/unterm.nsf/WebView?SearchView&Qu...

it seems that "settlements" is mostly used for مستوطنات، which does not apply to the case of العشوائيات at least here in Egypt

http://unterm.un.org/dgaacs/unterm.nsf/WebView?SearchView&Qu...

"Milestone", I personally believe that it depends on your docuement, whether it is formal or informal, and in what context.
Anyway UNterm is very useful to browse through in such cases

Nancy Eweiss
Egypt
Local time: 03:20
Native speaker of: Native in ArabicArabic

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Mohsin Alabdali
2 hrs
  -> Thank you Mohsin
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