Read this if you're having problems with squlaor

[Bob the Insane]

Is it possible for a settlement to not have enough food?? The large cities I have import a lot of food, which keeps the pop increase rate up. Where does this food come from? Can an enemy block it??

I don't think people are thinking in an abstract enough manner...

They look at the city they have built and think, "look I have built great plumbing for fresh water, great baths for washing, we have a great governor with clever advisors, huge farms producing more food than we ever will need... How dare there be an squalor, I have built a fecking utopian paradise you ungrateful vitual gits!!!!"

Squalor in this game is a measurement of all the nasty things in a crowded city, crime, poverty, diesease (not the plague), crowded conditions, etc... It states in an abstract manner that these things exist as a percentage of population and you can not do anything about it, you can only try to counter it...