Cardboard City was the name for an informal settlement consisting of temporary cardboard shelters that occupied a site near Waterloo station in London, England. Cardboard City, was lived in by homeless people from around 1978 until 1998, and was eventually closed after a High Court order led to its redevelopment.

History

Cardboard City was first occupied in 1978. In the mid-1980s the site, in the pedestrian underpasses under the Bullring roundabout near Waterloo station, was home to up to 200 people sleeping in cardboard boxes. By early 1998, fewer than 30 people remained there. These were officially evicted by the London Borough of Lambeth in February 1998, and forced to leave before the end of March 1998. All were offered free housing by the Borough, although there was concern as to whether the residents would be able to cope with housed life. The area is now the site of the BFI IMAX cinema.

In popular culture