What is a urb

The Urb is the name for the various latches that exist outside of Eden, and presumably is shortened for "urban." It is mostly gray and brown with very little color or life. Most of the buildings are leftover from our current world, but have been damaged during the Big Shake which destroyed the world, as well as having become dilapidated and run-down over time. People are poor and desperate, most having to resort to terrible, criminal things just to stay alive. Most use a technology called "probes," which create dream-like hallucinations, to escape the drudgery of day-to-day life.