Squatting consists of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land and/or a building - usually residential - that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use.
Author Robert Neuwirth suggests that there are one billion squatters globally, that is, about one in every seven people on the planet. Yet, according to Kesia Reeve, "squatting is largely absent from policy and academic debate and is rarely conceptualized, as a problem, as a symptom, or as a social or housing movement."
Some squatting movements are political, such as anarchist, autonomist, or socialist.
Read more about Squatting: Overview, Africa, Europe, South America, Social Centers, Notable and Well Known Examples, Well-known Squatters, Urban Homesteading
Famous quotes containing the word squatting:
“If there hadn’t been women we’d still be squatting in a cave eating raw meat, because we made civilization in order to impress our girl friends. And they tolerated it and let us go ahead and play with our toys.”
—Orson Welles (1915–1984)
“Now they are together
like strangers in a two-seater outhouse,
eating and squatting together.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)