A yurt quarter or ger quarter (Mongolian: гэр хороолол, ger khoroolol) is a form of residential quarter in Mongolian settlements. They usually consist of parcels with one or more detached houses or yurts (hence the name), surrounded by two-metre high wooden fences.
Most yurt quarters are not connected to water supplies, so people get their drinking water from public wells. For a warm shower or a bath, there are bathhouses. Since there is no sewer system, yurt quarter parcels usually have a pit toilet.
Small settlements, like sum centers, may consist almost exclusively of yurt quarters. Even in Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar, around 62% of the population live in such quarters. However, only about 43% of the yurt quarter residents in Ulaanbaatar actually live in yurts.[1] Some of the quarters in Ulan Bator have existed for more than 100 years, for example the one around Gandan, but many of those farther away from the city centre are the result of recent migration and the high price of other accommodation in Ulaanbaatar.
An oft-cited problem of yurt quarters in Ulaanbaatar and a number of other larger Mongolian cities is the air pollution (especially in winter) caused by the use of simple iron stoves for cooking and heating.