These makeshift communities are mesmerizing and astounding feats of architecture

Elsewhere, makeshift communities spring up due to a lack of resources, political movement, or simply the will to survive after a natural disaster.

Not all of them are pretty, but design aesthetic isn't always a consideration when you need a roof over your head.

Scroll down to see some of the most harrowing feats of construction around the world.

Kowloon Walled City, Hong Kong. Erected between 1950 and 1994 mostly by immigrants, the walled city was 119 times denser than New York City.

The packed region was essentially lawless. Dentists operated without licenses, as did food and textile manufacturers.

Living conditions were bleak. Devoid of sunlight, the inner workings were dank, dark, and impossibly confined.

Still, many experienced their formative years in the city. When it was torn down in 1994 to make room for a park, more than 33,000 peopled called Kowloon home.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Scattered along the sides of the city's mountains are hundreds of densely packed favelas — or shanty towns.

The first favelas were built by soldiers during the late 19th century. Since then, they've gained notoriety for their iconic look and strong ties to drug crime. More than a quarter of Brazilians live in these communities.

For both the Olympics and World Cup, police have "pacified" many favelas, often curbing violence in order to accommodate the thousands of tourists staying in the city. Many favela residents see pacification as an invasion of their communities, however.

Mumbai, India. The second-most populous country in the world houses millions in rickety slums.

Dharavi, a locality in the direct middle of Mumbai, is one of the largest slums in Asia. More than a million people live there.

The rent for a 100-square-foot home ranges from $0.04 per square foot to $0.06 per square foot.

Lagos, Nigeria. The floating slum of Makoko highlights the residents' extreme poverty, despite the country's billions of dollars in yearly oil revenue.

Homes are constructed on stilts above the Lagos Lagoon. An estimated 85,000 people live in the region, known by some as "The Venice of Africa."

Much of the area is self-governed, though the Nigerian government has had plans to demolish Makoko for years.

A common local saying is that you can find anything in Makoko, except a grave.

Manila, Phillippines. Shanty towns once blanketed the surrounding metropolitan area, home to some 1.6 million people.

In 2010, however, officials destroyed many of the makeshift houses in an effort to modernize the capital city's surrounding suburbs.

Homes were still close enough together to feel the sweeping effects of a 2014 fire, which began with faulty wiring and ended in the destruction of 60 homes.

Ulan Bator, Mongolia. Thousands of tents make up the ger district community in central Mongolia.

Roughly 807,000 people live in these tents across a region three times the size of France.

The numbers keep expanding. Mongolia is the least densely populated country in the world.

It's rare for residents to have full access to running water and sanitation, though wealthier folks do enjoy some luxuries.

Each year, up to 40,000 people migrate from the countryside into the Mongolian capital.

Kathmandu, Nepal. While much of the capital city's one million residents lives in homes with solid foundations, April's massive earthquake reduced the city to rubble.

Hundreds of thousands of residents relied on tent cities.

Parks, army bases, and parade fields transformed into improvised campgrounds.

Living conditions were minimal. Often, single bamboo poles held up the thin tarps.

Many are still rebuilding, even months later. For them, temporary housing may end up becoming an unfortunate place of permanence.

Some makeshift communities are built in the pursuit of a greater goal, like Occupy Wall Street in New York City.

The 2011 occupation of New York's Zuccotti Park offered a non-hierarchical alternative to top-down capitalism.

Occupiers built a general store, meditation circle, kitchen ...

... library, drum circle, newsstands, and many other outposts inside the dense web of tents.

After 60 days, however, New York City officials cleared the park — taking much of the wind from Occupy's sails ...

...even if the message itself continues to live on.

These makeshift communities are mesmerizing and astounding feats of architecture

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