No Man's Zone

No Man's Zones are areas on Earth, particularly in but not limited to major cities, that have been ignored by the United Earth Government.

Origins
During the late 21st Century, during the unification of Earth, the Cochrane Movement encountered various problems regarding world unification: two of the greatest were poverty and world hunger. With unlimited needs and limited resources, the Movement created "growing neighborhoods" based on the concept of the Sanctuary Districts from earlier that century. The idea was that poor would be kept here in order to facilitate their integration into the new society.

Decline
As the United Earth Government began to expand across the galaxy, the social and economic infrastructure of Earth atrophied. With more and more resources being shifted to exploration and space projects, the "growing neighborhoods" began to become neglected. Eventually, technology advanced and the higher classes were given welfare programs that allowed them to have replicators in every house, making food supplies almost limitless. But the imbalance that it would cause to give all citizens of Earth First Class status was deemed by the United Earth Government to be too great and the "growing neighborhoods" were allowed to remain.

Change of Name
Toward the Expansionist Era of the 23rd Century, where more colony worlds sprang up across the Federation, people living in the "growing neighborhoods" were encouraged to relocate. Some did, and colonies sprang up that were worse than what they had already (such as Turkana IV and Titan's Lunar Colony 7 among others). Because of this, some were willing to try a little harder with the places they were given. This caused them to be permanently ignored by the Federation, thus beginning the usage of the term "No Man's Zone."

Final Solution
But not all the people of the "No Man's Zones" were the poor and unemployed. In lieu (or in supplement) of concentration camps and torture chambers, the Cochrane Movement (and the United Earth Government and the Federation after them) would punish "undesirables" by banishing them to No Man's Zones in order to discourage them from their beliefs by exposure to these inhumane environments.