Growing cities face catastrophe

Level 3 Advanced
1

Brainstorming

In your class, brainstorm as many positive and negative aspects as you can about living in a city.
Which of your suggestions would you expect to come up in an article about a UN report into urbanization and
growing cities?

Keywords synonyms

Skimreadthearticleandndsynonymsforthefollowingwordsorexpressions.Theparagraphnumbers
havebeengiventohelpyou.
1. A disaster (title) ____________
2. An inhabitant (subtitle) ____________
3. A change, a passage, or a transformation (para 1) ____________
4. Inescapable, unavoidable (para 2) ____________
5. Never having happened or existed before (para 2) ____________
6. Move (para 3) ____________
7. Multiple periods of 1,000 years (para 3) ____________
8. Growing untidily, expanding in all directions (para 4) ____________
9. Shanty town, poor housing area (para 4) ____________
10. Hygiene, cleanliness (para 4) ____________
11. Hands-on, take the initiative (para 7) ____________
12. Produce, production, harvest (para 8) ____________

3 Pronunciation
Writethewordsbelowintothechartaccordingtotheirpronunciationpattern.

oOoo

ooOo

inevitable
millennia

oOooo

Caribbean(BE) Caribbean(AE)
sanitation
comparison

ooOoo

O
H
P

CA

NEWS LESSONS / Growing cities face catastrophe / Advanced

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007

O
FR BE C
O DO O
M W P
W N IA
EB LO B
SI A L
TE DE E
D

unprecedented catastrophe
executive
agricultural

population
generation

Growing cities face catastrophe

Level 3 Advanced
Growing cities face catastrophe,
says UN
Urban dwellers to outgrow rural population
next year
Bigriseinpoverty,slumsandpollutionisfeared

1 Humanity will make the historic transition from

a rural to an urban species sometime in the
next year, according to the latest UN population
gures.ThemovewillbeledbyAfricaandAsia,
which are expected to add 1.6 billion people to
their cities over the next 25 years.

But urbanization can be positive. No country in

theindustrialagehaseverachievedsignicant
economic growth without urbanization, said Ms
Obaid. Cities concentrate poverty, but they also
present poor peoples best hope of escaping
it.Thepotentialbenetsofurbanization,which
include easier access to health centres and
education, far outweigh the disadvantages.

However, the report warns that if we do nothing,

the growth of urbanization will mean more slums
and poverty, as well as a rise in attempted
migrationawayfrompoorregions.Todayone
billion people live in slums, 90% of whom are in
developingcountries.Theghtagainstpoverty
willtakeplaceintheslums.Towinit,politicians
need to be proactive and start working with the
urbanpoor.Theonlywaytodefeaturbanpoverty
is head on, said Ms Obaid.

Theclimateisexpectedtoincreasinglyshape
and be shaped by cities. In a vicious circle,
climate change will increase energy demand
for air conditioning in cities, which will add to
greenhouse gas emissions. It could also raise
temperatures in urban areas by 2-6oC. Heat,
pollution, smog and ground-level ozone [from
cities] affect surrounding areas, reducing
agricultural yields, increasing health risks and
producingtornadoesandthunderstorms.The
impacts of climate change on urban water
supplies are expected to be dramatic, the report
says. Cities like New Delhi, in the drier areas, will
be hit particularly hard.

Developing countries are at a great disadvantage

whentheystarttourbanize.Theywillrequire
houses, power, water, sanitation and roads, and
will have to build faster than any rich country has
ever done.

2 Thespeedandscaleofinevitableglobal
urbanization is so great most countries will not
bepreparedfortheaffectitwillhave,Thoraya
Obaid, executive director of the UN Population
Fund, says. In human history we have never
seen urban growth like this. It is unprecedented.
3 Ms Obaid added: In 2008, half of the worlds
populationwillliveinurbanareas.Theshiftfrom
rural to urban areas changes a balance that has
lastedformillennia.Withinonegeneration,ve
billion people, or 60% of humanity, will live in
cities.TheurbanpopulationofAfricaandAsia
is set to double in this time. She said that each
week the numbers living in cities grows by nearly
a million.
4 Most cities [in developing countries] already
have pressing concerns, including crime, lack
of clean water and sanitation, and sprawling
slums. But these problems are not as serious as
those that could be raised by future growth. If we
donotplanaheaditwillbeacatastrophe.The
changes are too fast to allow planners to react. If
governments wait, it will be too late.
5 According to the State of the World Population
Report, which Ms Obaid launched in London,
large-scale population growth will take place
in the cities of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
It suggests the largest transition to cities will
occur in Asia, where the number of urbanites
will almost double to 2.6 billion in 2030. Africa

10 Thereportalsotalksabouttheendforgrowthof
existing mega-cities. Only Dhaka in Bangladesh,

H
P

NEWS LESSONS / Growing cities face catastrophe / Advanced

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007

N T
O
FR BE C
O DO O
M W P
W N IA
EB LO B
SI A L
TE DE E
D

John Vidal, environment editor

ThursdayJune28,2007

CA

is expected to add 440 million to its cities in

the same period, and Latin America and the
Caribbean nearly 200 million. Rural populations
are expected to decrease worldwide by 28 million
people.

Growing cities face catastrophe

Level 3 Advanced
and Lagos in Nigeria, of the worlds 20 megacities, are expected to grow more than 3% a
year in the next decade ... most growth will be
insmallercities,ofunder500,000people.The
goodnewsisthesecitiesaremoreexible[in
expansion]; the bad news is they dont have
enough housing, water, and waste disposal.

11 Ms Obaid said: It concerns everyone, not just

developing countries. If we plan ahead we will
create conditions for a stable world. If we do
not,anddonotndeducation,jobs,andhouses
for people in cities, then these populations will
become destructive, to themselves and others.
Guardian News & Media 2007
First published in The Guardian, 28/06/07

4 Comprehension
ArethesentencesTrue (T) or False (F)?Iftheyarefalse,saywhy.
1. Governments around the world are prepared for the problems that come with growing cities.
2. ThebiggestgrowthregionsareAsia,AfricaandSouthAmerica.
3. According to the report, some of the biggest problems faced are in sanitation, transport, health issues,
schooling and animal welfare.
4. TheUNsuggestsinstallingairconditioningunitstocombattherisingtemperatures.
5. Most of the growth will take place in the worlds existing mega-cities.

5 Collocations
1.Matchthewordstomakecollocationsfromthearticle.
climate

countries

developing

emissions

pressing

change

greenhouse gas

concerns

2.Writewordsonthelinestomakecollocationsfromthearticle.

O
H
P

CA

NEWS LESSONS / Growing cities face catastrophe / Advanced

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007

O
FR BE C
O DO O
M W P
W N IA
EB LO B
SI A L
TE DE E
D

Urban

Growth

Growing cities face catastrophe

Level 3 Advanced
3.Writeatleast4sentencesusingsomeofthecollocationsin1and2.
......
......
......
......

6 Aviciouscircle
Drawadiagramoftheviciouscircledescribedinparagraph8relatingtoclimatechangesandcities.
Includeatleast4steps.
change
Step 1 Climate
........................
Step 4 .

Step 2

Step 3

7DiscussionAreyouatownoracountryperson?

Get into groups with other townies or country-folk, and discuss what you like best about living in the countryside
or in urban areas. Note down the strongest arguments for your side and then, in a whole class discussion, try to
convince the other group to move to your side.

8WebquestMegacities

NEWS LESSONS / Growing cities face catastrophe / Advanced

P
H

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007

CA O
N T
O
FR BE C
O DO O
M W P
W N IA
EB LO B
SI A L
TE DE E
D

ChecktheInternettondoutwhicharethelargestcitiesintheworld,bypopulationandbyarea(citylimits
and metropolitan).
Do different websites give different answers? What factors affect the answers?