From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A trailer park is a neighborhood consisting of an area of land where travel trailers rest. The term may also be used in a derogatory manner to refer to mobile home parks or manufactured home communities.

In the United States, tornadoes and hurricanes often inflict their worst damage on trailer parks, usually because the structures are not secured to the ground and their construction is significantly less able to withstand high wind forces than regular houses. However, most modern manufactured homes are built to withstand high winds, using hurricane straps and proper foundations.

In the United States, the derogatory manner in which trailer parks are discussed is stereotypically assigned because of the belief that people who live in trailer parks are closer to the poverty line and sometimes viewed as lower on the social class ladder. With the advent of bigger and better manufactured homes, trailer parks are no longer only a home to not-so-desirable folk. Despite the advances in manufactured home technology, the trailer park stereotype still survives.

This perception of trailer parks was not improved by the establishment by FEMA of emergency trailer parks for the displaced victims of Hurricane Katrina, the quality and temporary nature of which was disputed.^[1] In some countries living in a trailer is the cheapest independent living accommodation, only a step above homelessness. As a result many stereotypes have developed regarding people who live in trailer parks, which are similar to stereotypes of the poor or people espousing certain political beliefs in general.

On the other hand, it has become more socially acceptable in recent years to live in a trailer park^{[citation needed]}. Substantial improvements in the size and amenities of trailers and other recreational vehicles, together with the development of the internet, have made a semi-nomadic lifestyle more popular among retirees, writers, consultants and others whose income is not dependent on a fixed location. The increased popularity of these vehicles for recreational use has also led to the improvement of many of the parks themselves.

In Europe, particularly in Germany and Spain, there are several disputed trailer parks mostly forcefully or unlawfully placed on squatted land in the midst of urban centers (Berlin, Hamburg, Barcelona). Names for such phenomena include Wagenburg, Wagendorf or Bauwagenplatz (all German, meaning: "trailer castle", "trailer village" and "trailer place" respectively) and people living there are often associated with the punk movement and do it yourself (short DIY) punk ethic. On the whole, however, trailer parks are much less common in these countries than they are elsewhere and in North America and are much less emblematic of a distinct lifestyle and membership to a certain social class.

A somewhat similar type of community existing in Britain, in the form of communities established informally by New age travelers and gypsies.

• Shanty town
• Trailer trash
• RV park