40 “Urban Hell” Memes That Are Funny, Sad, And Unfortunately Very Real

If you’ve ever wondered what happens when urban decay meets ironic internet humor, the subreddit r/urbanhellcirclejerk is where that collision unfolds. It’s a parody playground where fans of r/UrbanHell (a subreddit dedicated to ugly or problematic urban development) twist doomscapes into comedy, and the result is both depressing and deplorably hilarious.

Through memes, meta-commentary, and a healthy dose of cynicism, the sub invites us to laugh at the absurdity of our concrete choices, even while acknowledging the darkness lurking beneath our urban designs.

#1 God I Hate American Urban Planning

Image source: lukezicaro_spy

moreVCAs: What is this, a city for transistors?

cornmonger_: Note the SDRAMs Stadium to the left.

Anon: I think you’re confusing it with the old Qualcomm stadium.

#2 Cancer On An Otherwise Compact, Walkable City

Image source: _Yumm_

TheSamuil: What’s the deal with that green space? It makes me want to puke.

TheQuestionMaster8: One of the few redeeming qualities of Cairo as a place to live in. The city has an overpopulation crisis, poor public transport and as a consequence, traffic is beyond insane, dust pollution as well as air pollution from the traffic is a major problem.

#3 For Your Consideration

Image source: Cool-Acanthaceae8968

#4 Horrible, Look At All This Concrete. This City Must Be Horrible To Live In

Image source: Brendan765

ArthRol: Soviet architecture and urban planning is so bland and senseless. Like what is the purpose of that dumb circular thing???

420_E-SportsMasta: A buy-here pay-here used car lot would look amazing instead of that colosseum.

wizard680: Ok so it actually was pretty bad to live in. So bad that when the Romans made new cities, they used Rome as an example of how NOT to build a city
Edit: bad in the sense that they had no planning. Traffic was Huston level bad.

#5 Literally Unlivable

Image source: morl0v

SubnauticaFan3: Literally the UK. Most places just seem unlivable because of the bad weather, the rare sunny day can really raise the mood.

#6 South Korea 👎🤮 North Korea 🤰 🤰

Image source: OkAndEx

average-alt: See, some people talk about light pollution and some people do something about light pollution. Kim Jong-un, bless his heart 🥰

Benjamin_Stark: The ship traffic off the coast of South Korea gives off more light than North Korea.

#7 Japan, Random Railway 🤮 Japan, Anime 😍

Image source: Shiningc00

SilentSpr: It’s not random at all. Very well known spot for photos of trams with the sea as background. I believe there are animes with this location as a reference.

#8 Saw This Really Ugly And Run Down Building In Italy 🤢

Image source: DeliciousWarning5019

kilqax: So old smh why don’t they put an office building or something in there
It lacks underground parking as well + no cyclist paths

#9 In Spirit Of Recent Trend:

Image source: AnteChrist76

Background_Cut_6325: This is unironically a great example of how trees and vegetation can change how we feel about places.

#10 Not A Single Tree In Sight. No Bike Infrastructure Whatsoever. Is This The European City They Keep Praising?

Image source: -hey_hey-heyhey-hey_

shumpitostick: Venice is beautiful as a tourist destination but it’s not a pleasant place to live in at all. Lacking in infrastructure, hard to get around, overpriced, no green spaces, hordes of tourists everywhere. Also, the city stinks.

#11 I Can’t Believe That These Ugly Stone Buildings Are Still Standing, So Depressing

Image source: reddit.com

Other_Movie_5384: There are no bike racks, ew. Literally unliavable.

DarthRevan456: Literally a concrete nightmare 😱

AndreaTwerk: So disproportionate.

#12 Are Japan Glazers Stupid?

Image source: kind_stranger11

Rechupe: You can tell OP never walks.

#13 Concrete Jungle:😡🤬 “Wait Guys No It’s Japan”: 😍😊

Image source: kjbeats57

reidft: The people who idolize Tokyo have never been there. It’s literally just city, Japan. Except multiply the population and size. There’s people everywhere, it takes forever to get anywhere (even with trains), it’s all concrete unless you go to a park, everything is priced higher than elsewhere. Oh cool Weebtown and the red light district exist, it’s still Not Great™.
Please don’t send me back.

#14 Barcelona Mixes Soviet Blocks With American Car Dependant Infrastructure

Image source: reddit.com

420_E-SportsMasta: Imagine how cool that would look if it were several 18 lane superhighways with cloverleaf ramps and combination Taco Bell/KFCs and “buy here pay here” used car dealerships inside the on/off ramps instead.

The-Archangel-Michea: Real ones know that the current state of Barcelona is a far cry from the much better designed original plan. It was SO much nicer.

#15 Ughh Suburbs. Car Dependency Boat Dependency Most Streets Are Dead Ends

Image source: Superleggera49

Brayden_1274628: Mosquito season must be deadly.

ShaggyFOEE: Well I’m walking to the store I’ll see you guys in 6 hours…

#16 Night In Chinese City 😡🤬🌚‎‍🏭 vs. Night In Japanese City 🥰😍🌕🌸

Image source: Creative-Dawg

Polak_Janusz: Parts of the internet really glaze Japan, its so annoying to talk about anything Japan does in good faith online because there are people who cant accept that their super kawaii >_< Country actually has a lot of problems and then there are people who overcorrect and paint it as a dystopia.

#17 Probably The Most Heartbreaking Trailcam Image Ever Seen

Image source: byrobot

The-Legend-26: No, he is clearly aware that the sea of light is constructed by human design over the last hundreds of years and that the rate at which this human society is growing will inevitably consume all available resources at the cost of the mountain lion’s natural habitat.

#18 Istanbul, Turkey 🤢🤮 Istambolana, Spain ☀️🍉🌊😍😍

Image source: mahirbr

artin2007majidi: I love how by looking at the interactions of r/urbanhell and r/urbanhellcirclejerk the entire philosophical history of mankind from mythos to enlightenment to modernism to postmodernism can be observed in a microcosm.

#19 Pedestrianisation’s 9/11

Image source: KarimBenzema15

ALPHA_sh: Bro cannot comprehend food delivery via bike/moped/anything other than a car.

#20 Arizona – Suburban Decay Overtaking Nature

Image source: ILoveYouAllThanks

#21 USA 🤢; La 😍😍

Image source: Moist-Management-346

Edsel_B: 😂😂😂 To be fair, LA does have better public transportation than Altoona, PA. Plus the streets are thinner and there is actually a bit more density. It is also less flat in terms of the landscape. And the gas is actually not as bad as that sign either. LA is just ridiculously expensive in terms of housing and is way overhyped. It is also much more suburban than many other, denser cities on the East Coast. The public transit is also very mediocre in LA, but only for such a large city.

#22 Repeating Buildings Scare Me

Image source: Stuntmeg

harryofbath: Me: looks out window I hate my country’s “architecture.”

#23 Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Image source: KnuckleSandwich-

#24 Pure Hell In Germany

Image source: reddit.com

#25 Because Of Heavy Worm Traffic Arrakeen Is No Longer A Safe City For Pedestrians

Image source: ten0re

#26 Caste System For Cities

Image source: DrIndian_47

QMechanicsVisionary: Japan is actually so ugly. It’s literally concrete hell, made even worse by the fact that the buildings are old and bland. I have no idea why it’s so revered – at least from an aesthetic point of view.