Reclaiming our city streets - Worksheet 2

C1 Advanced · Multiple Choice Reading · Cambridge Exam Booster for Advanced, Cambridge University Press

You are going to read an article about solving traffic problems in cities. For questions 1–6, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.

How two experiments could help urban dwellers reclaim their streets from traffic. Many city-dwellers around the world face a dilemma: despite living a relatively short distance from local shops and services, a wide dual-carriageway has to be negotiated in order to get there. Whilst this poses few problems for the vast majority of people, there are those who can only make it as far as half way with each push of the pedestrian crossing button. Running out of milk has significant consequences. In the Dutch city of Tilburg, ten people have been taking part in a trial of Crosswalk, a smartphone app that gives pedestrians with limited mobility extra crossing time. This ground-breaking experiment enables participants to cross the road in one go, without needing to dodge cars. A sensor in the traffic lights is constantly on the lookout for anyone with Crosswalk on their phone. It scans both sides of the road and adjusts the crossing time automatically, once a pedestrian carrying the app has been detected. Each user triggers a specific time which is pre-installed onto their phone and varies according to their level of mobility. In this way, delays to traffic are also minimised. The app works in combination with GPS and the software that operates the traffic lights, thus getting around the need to install further devices to control the system. The pilot project is part of a 25-year plan to make Tilburg's road network more pedestrian and cycle-friendly. Another system under development there senses when bikes are approaching a junction and changes the lights sooner than it otherwise would, thereby giving cyclists priority over motorists. A logical extension of this technology could trigger lights to green to let ambulance or fire crews pass through. Smart traffic lights can also have environmental benefits, for example, by giving lorries a clear run through urban areas and reducing the frequency with which they have to stop and start, they thereby reduce emissions, noise pollution and damage to road surfaces. All of this seems a far cry from the majority of urban centres. The applications of the technology are virtually limitless and could form a major weapon in the battle to recapture city streets worldwide from motor vehicles and reduce pollution. To put this into context, in Barcelona, which is anything but large relative to many modern urban sprawls, air pollution is estimated to cause around 3,500 premature deaths per year out of a population of 1.6 million. Additionally, it is responsible for severe effects on ecosystems and agriculture. Traffic, which is the major contributor to this problem, also causes noise pollution beyond levels considered healthy. Scaling this bleak picture up for larger metropolitan areas could be bad for your health! The World Health Organisation recommends that every city should have a minimum of 9 m² of green space per resident. While some places come out well relative to this figure (London scores an impressive 27, and Amsterdam an incredible 87.5), many do not. Tokyo currently has around 3 m² per person, and is far from alone in providing insufficient 'lungs' for its population. Picture the effect on these figures of banning traffic from the majority of a city's streets and allowing these roads to be converted into community areas, such as parks and pedestrian zones. Such a system, known as 'superblocks', is rapidly gaining support in many of the world's urban centres. The idea has at its heart the notion that streets belong to people and not cars. Roads are repurposed within an area known as a superblock, leaving only the streets around the perimeter accessible to vehicles. Taking up less space than a neighbourhood, but larger than the blocks in many cities, their design ensures that no one would ever be more than 300 m from a road. This may mean sacrificing the parking spaces assigned to properties within them, but that's a small price to pay. By increasing the frequency of bus stops on the surrounding streets and applying smart traffic management technology as used in Tilburg, it would be possible to make public transport more effective despite having significantly fewer vehicle-accessible roads. This could be paired with a new system of cycling lanes in the areas off-limits to traffic. Given that the majority of the world's population now lives in an urban environment, imagine the number of people who would benefit from this combination of ideas.

offering an opinion about city life.

exemplifying one aspect of city life.

giving a reason why city life can be expensive.

suggesting city life is hard for most people.

In paragraph 1, the writer is

detects the presence of vehicles.

can be programmed by its users.

has been relatively easy to set up.

is being trialled on one major road.

In the second paragraph, we learn that Crosswalk

the contrast between aims and the current reality.

how upsetting living in some cities can be.

how advanced technology is in certain regions.

the technological changes happening worldwide.

What is the writer emphasising in the sentence 'All of this seems a far cry from the majority of urban centres'?

Smaller cities have relatively high levels of pollution.

Having farms near cities decreases harmful pollution.

Problems caused by pollution multiply with city size.

Embracing technology eases harmful pollution levels.

What point does the writer make in the fourth paragraph?

Most cities exceed international green space guidelines.

Modern cities have fewer green spaces than old ones.

Much urban green space worldwide has disappeared.

Many city authorities should change their green space policy.

What does the writer suggest about green spaces in the fifth paragraph?

bus users.

residents.

cyclists.

pedestrians.

According to the writer, all of the following people would benefit from the introduction of superblocks except

Reclaiming our city streets

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