Cities

Questions

1. Tell us about your city, please.
2. Where is the place that you most like in your city ?
3. What is your favorite city?
4. What are the biggest problems with living in cities?
5. Is the capital city of a country always that country’s best city?
6. What’s the best way to deal with traffic problems in a city?
7. Is it better to grow up in the city?
8. If you were city mayor, what changes would you make to your city?
9. How will cities in the future be different from those today?
10. Do you prefer city or country life?

Videos

Vox
There’s a method to the madness of classifying roads.
A street is a road but a road isn’t always a street. A road can also be an avenue or a boulevard—it’s the

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general term for anything that connects two points. From there, the names of roads can be shaped by their environment and/or the form of the road. A drive is a long winding road that can be shaped by mountains or a lake. Place is a narrow road with no throughway. And just as there is no rule book to building a city, these roads and other don’t always correspond with their described classifications.

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Category:  Geography & Travel
Keywords: Cities | Driving
Vox

Modern cities are designed for cars. But the city of Barcelona is testing out an urban design trick that can give cities back to pedestrians.

Category:  Geography & Travel | Science
Keywords: Cars | Cities
At 58 letters, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyllllantysiliogogogoch is the longest town name in all of Europe. It wasn’t always the town’s name, though—in the 1860s, the name was developed as a way to entice

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tourists to make the town a stop on their travels. It’s an amalgamation of the Welsh words and names for local landmarks, and it’s probably the best PR stunt of the 1860s—or today. So yeah, welcome to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyllllantysiliogogogoch! You don’t need to be able to say it to enjoy your stay.

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Category:  Geography & Travel
Keywords: Cities | Names
Paris—without people? No, this isn’t an apocalypse. This is Paris … in China. The city of Tianducheng was created as a replica of the French capital during China’s economic boom in the early 2000s. Originally built for 10,000

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inhabitants, only 2,000 now live there full-time. But you know what they say: “imitation is the highest form of flattery.”

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Category:  Geography & Travel
Keywords: China | Cities
Explore what makes trees a vital part of cities, and how urban spaces throughout history have embraced the importance of trees. —

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By 2050, it’s estimated that over 65% of the world will be living in cities. We may think of nature as being unconnected to our urban spaces, but trees have always been an essential part of successful cities. Humanity has been uncovering these arboreal benefits since the creation of our first cities thousands of years ago. So what makes trees so important to a city’s survival? Stefan Al explains.

Lesson by Stefan Al, directed by Mette Ilene Holmriis.

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Keywords: Cities | Trees
New York City residents produce 11,000 tons of garbage every day. Every day! This astonishing statistic is just one of the reasons Robin Nagle started a research project with the city’s Department of Sanitation. She walked the

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routes, operated mechanical brooms, even drove a garbage truck herself–all so she could answer a simple-sounding but complicated question: who cleans up after us?

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Category:  Nature & Environment
Keywords: Cities | New York | Recycling

Vocabulary:
cove
secluded
float
shore
anchor
lighthouse
greenhouse
handsaw
hammer
power tool
nail
board (noun)
ton
land sick
biomass
canoe
paddle
real estate
prosper
fulfilled

Expressions:
subsistence living
hon

Vocabulary:
word
word
word
word
word
word
word
word
word

Expressions:
expression
expression
expression
expression

Vocabulary:
prestigious
involuntary
swindler
fraudulence
unwarranted
concern
unfounded
impostor
syndrome
faculty
pervasive
prevalent
disproportionately
underrepresented
downplay
abnormality
self-esteem
spiral
accolade
threshold
susceptible
voice (verb)
peer
dismiss
excel
ease
mentor
competence
banish
frank

Expressions:
nagging doubt
shake a feeling
put something to rest
surefire way

Vocabulary:
filmmaker
principle
handcuff
clown
distill
underdog
aspect
familiar
unfamiliar
chopsticks
keyboard
organic
grounded
clarity
stuntman
steady
gag
perfectionist
rhythm
distinct
continuity
elbow
bunch
flail around
unlike
invincible
impressive
humanize
asset
payoff
relentlessness
finale

Expressions:
kick ass
going above and beyond
get smacked in the face
sell a joke

Vocabulary:
explosion
smoke (noun)
engine
unique
pilot
route
unemotional
terror
instant
reach out (to someone)
postpone
urgency
purpose
regret
humanity
ego
reflect
eliminate
frame (verb)
artistic
talent
bawl
miracle

Expressions:
bucket list
brace for impact
mend fences
make sense
connecting dots