History Main / TheCityNarrows

* As with Ankh Morpork above, ''{{Series/Gotham}}'' has its own back alley, and it's even ''called'' The Narrows.
* Several parts of Honolulu in ''Series/MagnumPI''.

It will also manage to be made entirely of back alleys that seem to only back onto more twisting service roads weaving between {{Abandoned Warehouse}}s and [[IndustrialGhetto slum tenements]]. It is basically the back alley of the entire city which is what distinguishes it from the WretchedHive: the WretchedHive is an entire locale of crime and vice but the City Narrows is the subsection of the city that you can accidentally wander into from the nice side, ''if'' you walk too far along the WrongSideOfTheTracks (however, as in the above example of [[{{Literature/Discworld}} Ankh Morpork]], a WretchedHive can still have a Narrows area if the subsection manages to be even ''worse'' than the rest). So you can expect plenty of "What's a nice girl like you doing here?"

In the setting of a large sprawling Metropolis, there is always a certain spot that contains the dark side of city life. It will be the place where the [[CityGuards police]] rarely tread and where those who attend to [[TheSyndicate certain unsavory professions]] rely on their own methods of protection. It will have its own nickname from the locals, it may even be marked out on the official map, and any recognised ThievesGuild is likely to have its headquarters around here. Its level of actual malice may vary; it could be a terrifying, silent place where the protagonist is in constant danger for each moment that they spend in this dark corner, or it could be a rather lively and cheerful area with an active BlackMarket that forms an actual market and where gamblers, whores, and dealers collect for decadent revelry. The latter is more common when The City Narrows are the NotSoSafeHarbor district and are thus filled with [[TheOldestProfession pirates' and sailors' entertainment]] in levels that would make Creator/FrankMiller blush.

It will also manage to be made entirely of back alleys that seem to only back onto more twisting alleys. It is basically the back alley of the entire city which is what distinguishes it from the WretchedHive: the WretchedHive is an entire locale of crime and vice but the City Narrows is the subsection of the city that you can accidentally wander into from the nice side, ''if'' you walk too far along the WrongSideOfTheTracks (however, as in the above example of [[{{Literature/Discworld}} Ankh Morpork]], a WretchedHive can still have a Narrows area if the subsection manages to be even ''worse'' than the rest). So you can expect plenty of "What's a nice girl like you doing here?"

* Played with in the third season of ''Series/TheWire''. Hamsterdam (a legalized drug zone, with all of the unpleasantness you'd think that implies, and a bit more) is made as far away as possible with it still being accessible to street dealers. It's still not far enough so that an old lady doesn't live there, [[spoiler:or for the press not to notice]].

* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'': Even the WretchedHive that is Night City has one in the form of Pacifica: a massive resort-like district for the superwealthy that was abandoned and defunded mid-construction in the wake of the Unification War, Pacifica is now a mess of half-finished and mostly unfunctional infrastructure home only to criminals and the truly desperate. NCPD doesn't dare set foot in the place and crime is so bad there that former Night City Mayor Lucius Rhyne managed to make crime drop 3% overnight by decreeing that [[LoopholeAbuse Pacifica is no longer part of the city]].

* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'': Even the WretchedHive that is Night City has one in the form of Pacifica: a massive resort-like district for the superwealthy construction project that was suddenly abandoned and defunded in the wake of the Unification War, Pacifica is now a mess of half-finished and mostly unfunctional infrastructure home only to criminals and the truly desperate. NCPD doesn't dare set foot in the place and crime is so bad there that former Night City Mayor Lucius Rhyne managed to make crime drop 3% overnight by decreeing that [[LoopholeAbuse Pacifica is no longer part of the city]].

* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'': Even the WretchedHive that is Night City has one in the form of Pacifica: a massive resort-like district for the superwealthy construction project that was suddenly abandoned and defunded in the wake of the Unification War, Pacifica is now a mess of half-finished and mostly unfunctional infrastructure home only to criminals and the truly desperate. NCPD doesn't dare set foot in the place and crime is so bad there that former Night City Mayor Lucius Rhyne managed to make crime drop 3% overnight by decreeing that [[LoopholeAbuse Pacifica to be no longer part of the city]].

A subtrope of WretchedHive and WrongSideOfTheTracks. It was TruthInTelevision back when the Kowloon Walled City existed until 1993 when it was demolished to build a large city park, and it still is to a degree; that degree being how much you can tell the inhabitants of a real-life version of this trope that [[UrbanSegregation they live in their city's arse end]] and not be given a GlasgowGrin.

* ''LightNovel/TheAsteriskWar'': Asterisk has two. The redevelopment zone is full of abandoned buildings following a NoodleIncident in the backstory (it has ''something'' to do with the death of the previous Festa governing committee president), while the Rotlicht is full of casinos, black market shops, and organized crime.

* Creator/AndreNorton:
** Several of Norton's science fiction novels (such as ''Judgement on Janus'', ''Literature/{{Catseye|1961}}'' and ''Literature/ForerunnerForay'') have The Dipple, a refugee camp in the planet Korwar's capital city of Tikil. The characters who were born there ''always'' escape because one has no HappyEnding there.
** Shan Lantee of ''Literature/StormOverWarlock'' escaped from heavily criminal slums, the Dumps of Tyr.

->''Every town in the multiverse has a part that is something like [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Ankh-Morpork]]'s Shades. It's usually the oldest part, its lanes faithfully following the original tracks of medieval cows going down to the river, and they have names like the Shambles, the Rookery, Sniggs Alley... Most of Ankh-Morpork is like that in any case. But the Shades is even more so, a sort of black hole of bred-in-the-brickwork lawlessness. Put it like this -- even the '''criminals''' were afraid to walk the streets. The Watch didn't set foot in it.''

In the setting of a large sprawling Metropolis, there is always a certain spot that contains the dark side of city life. It will be the place where the police rarely tread and where those who attend to certain unsavory professions rely on their own methods of protection. It will have its own nickname from the locals, it may even be marked out on the official map, and any recognised ThievesGuild is likely to have its headquarters around here. Its level of actual malice may vary; it could be a terrifying, silent place where the protagonist is in constant danger for each moment that they spend in this dark corner, or it could be a rather lively and cheerful area with an active BlackMarket that forms an actual market and where gamblers, whores, and dealers collect for decadent revelry. The latter is more common when The City Narrows are the NotSoSafeHarbor district and are thus filled with pirates' and sailors' entertainment in levels that would make Creator/FrankMiller blush.

It will also manage to be made entirely of back alleys that seem to only back onto more back alleys. It is basically the back alley of the entire city which is what distinguishes it from the WretchedHive: the WretchedHive is an entire locale of crime and vice but the City Narrows is the subsection of the city that you can accidentally wander into from the nice side, ''if'' you walk too far along the WrongSideOfTheTracks (however, as in the above example of [[{{Literature/Discworld}} Ankh Morpork]], a WretchedHive can still have a Narrows area if the subsection manages to be even ''worse'' than the rest). So you can expect plenty of "What's a nice girl like you doing here?"

** Flea Bottom also gets some focus in ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'', which is set about 200 years earlier. Particularly, we see and hear of Daemon Targaryen's time spent in [[Redlightdistrict pleasure houses]] and he eventually brings his niece Rhaenyra there to... "initiate" her to pleasure.

* In ''VideoGame/LamplightCity'', there is the Cholmondeley district, which is the most impoverished and worst neighborhood in the city of New Bretique. Fist-fights, muggings, vandalism, and homelessness are a common daily sight in the Chum. It is so crime ridden that the police don't go out of their way to respond to much of it. In addition, since Bill, the partner of the PlayerCharacter, Miles Fordham, grew up in Cholmondeley, he'll repeatedly relay stories about how scary it was being a kid growing up there and how happy he is that he and his sister left it behind.

** It bears mentioning that most of Ankh-Morpork would qualify as an example of this, at least prior to the events of ''Literature/MenAtArms'' and the rebuilding of the City Watch, and the bits that didn't were still very much the WrongSideOfTheTracks (with the river Ankh serving as the metaphorical tracks). But the Shades take it UpToEleven, to the point where even some of the more civilised crooks are scared to go in there.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'' series depicts exaggerated versions of various seedy entertainment districts across Japan, chief amongst them Kamurocho, a takeoff of Kabukicho as noted in the "Real Life" section. Unlike other examples, Kamurocho isn't any more decrepit than the rest of Tokyo -- it even has an ultra-modern skyscraper -- but it is home to basically all dirty business for those who know where to look. Combined with the fact that it's the stomping ground for various Yakuza gangs and other thugs, and Kamurocho winds up getting embroiled in a lurid conspiracy every game.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats2011,'' young Prince Lion-O is introduced [[KingIncognito sneaking]] cloaked and [[InTheHood hooded]] into the worst part of Thundera's slums, only to catch the eye of a gang of "Alley Cat" muggers who've just finished beating a hapless {{Dog|faces}}. He's there to shop for LostTechnology, or rather, "certain hard-to-find [[DoubleSpeak collectibles]]" in the BlackMarket, having cultivated a [[FriendInTheBlackMarket relationship]] with its proprietor Jorma.

->''Every town in the multiverse has a part that is something like [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Ankh-Morpork's]] Shades. It's usually the oldest part, its lanes faithfully following the original tracks of medieval cows going down to the river, and they have names like the Shambles, the Rookery, Sniggs Alley... Most of Ankh-Morpork is like that in any case. But the Shades is even more so, a sort of black hole of bred-in-the-brickwork lawlessness. Put it like this--even the '''criminals''' were afraid to walk the streets. The Watch didn't set foot in it.''
-->-- ''Literature/GuardsGuards'', '''Terry Pratchett'''

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Thundercats 2011}},'' young {{Catfolk}} Prince Lion-O is introduced [[KingIncognito sneaking]] cloaked and [[InTheHood hooded]] into the worst part of Thundera's slums, only to catch the eye of a gang of "Alley Cat" muggers who've just finished beating a hapless [[{{Dogfaces}} Dog]]. He's there to shop for LostTechnology, or rather, "certain hard-to-find [[DoubleSpeak collectibles]]." in the BlackMarket, having cultivated a [[FriendInTheBlackMarket relationship]] with its proprietor Jorma.

** Kowloon Walled City still exists in ''Shadowrun'''s version of Hong Kong and is even worse than its real-life version. Rebuilt as a refugee resettlement project, the Walled City is a cesspool of despair and misery, and powerful toxic spirits called Yama Kings feed on the inhabitants and actively keep things as bad as humanly possible in order to maintain their food supply.

* Inverted in a lot of real-world cities, where the fact that you can buy old houses extremely cheap makes them prime locations for gentrification. For example, The Lanes in [[UsefulNotes/HomeCounties Brighton]], a warren of winding roads and crooked houses that is the remnants of the original fishing village, is nowadays full of ridiculously expensive boutiques and restaurants.

** [[FanNickname The Spook Duo]] [[TheInfiltration set their shop]] in such an area of the [[RightUnderTheirNoses Mesan capital of Mendel]]. Ironically, this works even if their base is a [[GreasySpoon crowded working-class diner]][[note]]Anton even calls it thus, triggering an angry rant by Steph Turner, the owner of the restaurant in question, on subject of how [[EvenEvilHasStandards the sanitary violations are one of the few things authorities ever care about there.]][[/note]] and with Anton Zilwicki being pretty much the OvertOperative by that point to boot.

* Kowloon Walled City in UsefulNotes/HongKong used to be a living poster-child example of this trope, complete with being made of nothing but cramped back alleys in between buildings with tiny little shacks selling all sorts of socially unsavory stuff. It has since been demolished and replaced with a handsome park. Kowloon’s situation was much more complex than this suggests, though. While it’s hard to deny that TriadsAndTongs had definitely set shop there, they tended to watch their step, and most of the district's population were simply poor people trying to scrape by. Most of the Walled City's problems stemmed from its weird legal status (theoretically it was a Mainland China enclave within the Hong Kong territory, which prevented the city's utilities and police from operating there), and the fact that it was situated under the approaches to the city's Kai Tak airport, so no highrises could be built there, and people tried to use the available space as efficiently as they could. At the end of its life, when agreement with the mainland authorities permitted Hong Kong's services to operate inside the Walled City, the situation there markedly improved, but its reputation was already set in stone and in 1993 it was finally demolished.

* In ''VideoGame/LamplightCity'', there is the Cholmondeley district, which is the most impoverished and worst neighborhood in the city of New Bretique. Fist-fights, muggings, vandalism, and homelessness are a common daily sight in the Chum. It is so crime ridden that the police don't go out of their way to respond to much of it. In addition, since Bill, the partner of the PlayerCharacter, Miles Fordham, grew up in Cholmondeley, he'll repeatedly relay stories about how scary it was being a kid growing up there and how happy he is that he and his sister left it.