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IELTS Up Words!

Lesson 29: Urbanization

Hello, and welcome to lesson twenty-nine! I am Yasi from Lingemy.com. How are you
today? Feeling great? Perfect! Now let’s get straight to today’s lesson, which is about
urbanization. But wait? What is it exactly? Well, you know the meaning of urban, which
means related to the city, and then we add the suffix -ization, meaning “formation.” So,
this word has something to do with the process of making a place more urban. See?
You can guess the meaning of many words by simply analyzing their suffixes, prefixes,
and roots.
Cambridge dictionary defines urbanization as “the process by which more and more
people leave the countryside to live in the cities.” This is similar to what I mentioned in
the previous lesson. I said that a lot of people migrate from rural areas to the city in the
hope of a better life.
This migration alongside other factors have contributed to an increase in the
growth of population in urban areas. Such a staggering rate of urbaniza-
tion brings its own problems. I mean, cities are becoming larger with more
people living there which means that there will be more problems to deal with.
For instance, poverty will increase and living spaces become more cramped.
These problems should be addressed soon, or the results will be catastrophic.
Now for the final part of this lesson, I am going to pose a question related to urbanization
and the growth in cities. But this time, I am not going to answer it myself. You will hear a
part of a TED-Ed as the answer to this question. A TED-Ed is an educational video, cre-
ated by TED. You can find lots of TED-Ed videos on Youtube, or on the Internet. Ready?
So how do cities need to change to accommodate this growth?
First, the world will need to seek ways to provide adequate food, sanitation, and education
for all people. Second, growth will need to happen in a way that does not damage the
land that provides us with the goods and services that support the human population.
Food production might move to vertical farms in skyscrapers, rooftop gardens, or
vacant lots in city centers, while power will increasingly come from multiple sources of
renewable energy. Instead of single-family homes, more residences will be built vertically.
We may see buildings that contain everything that people need for their daily life as well
as smaller, self-sufficient cities focused on local and sustainable production. The future
of cities is diverse, malleable, and creative—no longer built around a single industry, but
reflecting an increasingly connected and global world.
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IELTS Up Words!

Speaking Tip

Speaking Part Two Note-Taking Technique

For speaking part two, you will be given one minute to take notes, before answering the
question.
Note-taking helps organize your thoughts and, therefore, your talk.
By making notes about a question, you are more likely to come up with more ideas.
Do not write down full sentences. Only write keywords.

Use a
lot of abbreviations, acronyms, and symbols.

Draw
a big circle for the first part of the notes, a square for the second part, and a tri-

angle
for the third part. Take notes inside these shapes so that you won’t mix up your
notes
and would know where to look while speaking.

Do not
use more than one or two abbreviations, or you will confuse them.

Remember,

practice makes perfect.

Describe a beautiful city. You should say:

• what it is

• where it is

• how you know this place

• and explain why it is beautiful

using this symbol for south

using an abbreviation for Iran and Turkey.

using this symbol for "mountainous"

 LESSON 29 4

topic-related
words and meaning translation other structures
structures
becoming more like
a city; the population ‫ شهرنشینی‬urbanism; urban
urbanization shift from the rural development
areas to urban areas

an astonishing and )‫ نرخ حیرت‌انگیز (و عجیب‬synonym

a staggering rate of shocking rate of (staggering): mind-
urbanization urbanization
‫شهرسازی‬
blowing; surprising

to tackle a problem
to deal with a to take action to solve ‫ به یک مشکل‬to address a
problem
problem a problem ‫رسیدگی‌کردن‬
to present a problem
to identify a problem
outcomes involving
or causing sudden ‫ نتایج فاجعه‌بار‬disastrous; tragic;
catastrophic results great damage or dire
suffering
eradicate/combat/
eliminate poverty;
the state of being ‫ فقر؛ تنگدستی‬living in poverty;
poverty extremely poor
below the poverty
line
to accommodate to adapt to this ‫ وفق‌دادن با این رشد‬synonym: adjust;
this growth growth accustom
the systems for
taking dirty water
and other waste Sanitize
sanitation products away from ‫ سیستم آب و فاضالب‬sanitization
buildings in order sanitary
to protect people’s
health
crops grown in
vertical farms in vertical layers in tall
‫مزارع عمودی در‬
skyscrapers buildings
‫آسمان‌خراش‌ها‬
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topic-related
words and meaning translation other structures
structures
a garden on the
roof of a building,
rooftop gardens providing food ‫باغ پشت‌بامی؛ بام‌باغ‬
and recreational
opportunities

a small area of land

in a city or town that /‫ قطعه‌زمین‌های آزاد‬synonym: wasteland;
vacant lots is not occupied or not ‫ اشغال‌نشده‬undeveloped land
being used

energy made from

resources that nature
renewable energy will replace, like ‫ انرژی تجدیدپذیر‬solar energy
wind, water, and
sunshine
a home; a place,
especially a house, in ‫ محل اقامت؛ سکونتگاه‬resident (noun)
residence which a person lives
or resides
cities that need
no outside help in /‫ شهرهای خودکفا‬synonym: self-
self-sufficient cities satisfying their basic supporting; self-
‫خوداستوار‬
reliant; independent
needs
showing a great
diverse deal of variety; very ‫ متنوع‬Diversity
diversified
different
adaptable; easily ‫ سازش‌پذیر؛ انعطاف‌پذیر‬susceptible
malleable influenced
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other words/
meaning translation other structures
structures
a letter or group of
letters added at the ‫ پسوند‬affix
suffix end of a word to
make a new word

a letter or group of
letters added to the ‫ �پیشوند‬affix
prefix beginning of a word
to make a new word

alongside together with ‫ در �کنار‬next to

‫با تمرین‌کردن بهتر‬

used to say that ‫می‌شوی؛ معادل‬
practice makes people become ‫ضرب‌المثل «کار‬
perfect better at something if
‫نیکوکردن از پرکردن‬
they do it often
»‫است‬
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