Cities and urban life: IELTS Speaking Part 3 questions & answers

Opening question

Warm-up: close to home

1. Pros and cons

   What are the main advantages and disadvantages of living in a big city?

   2
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   Sample answerBand 8UpsideDownsideOn balance

   1. Upside→
   2. Downside→
   3. On balance

   The plus side is fairly obvious, in that you've got everything on your doorstep, from career prospects and good hospitals to restaurants, concerts and a far more diverse mix of people. The price you pay for that is a higher cost of living, cramped housing, noise and pollution, and a pace of life that can leave people exhausted and strangely isolated despite being surrounded by others. Which outweighs the other probably depends on your stage of life, since a city suits an ambitious twenty-something far better than a family looking for space and quiet.

   on your doorstep

   very close to where you live

   The price you pay

   the disadvantage that comes with a benefit

   your stage of life

   the period of life you are in now

   94 words · about 41 seconds spoken

Development: society

1. Compare

   How have cities in your country changed over the last few decades?

   3
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   Sample answerBand 8ThenNowWhy it changed

   1. Then→
   2. Now→
   3. Why it changed

   When my parents were young, the cities were much smaller and lower, with narrow streets, local markets and neighbourhoods where everyone more or less knew each other. Since then they've grown almost beyond recognition, sprawling out into what used to be farmland, with high-rise apartment blocks, shopping malls and motorways replacing a lot of the older districts. The driving force has been rapid economic growth combined with migration from rural areas, and because the population grew faster than planners could cope with, much of the development happened in a rather haphazard way.

   grown almost beyond recognition

   changed so much it is hard to recognise

   The driving force

   the main cause behind something

   in a rather haphazard way

   without careful planning or organisation

   92 words · about 40 seconds spoken

2. Opinion

   Do you think city life is becoming more stressful?

   4
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   Sample answerBand 8My viewWhyExampleBut

   1. My view→
   2. Why→
   3. Example→
   4. But

   For many people it probably is, especially in the larger, faster-growing cities. Rents are rising faster than wages, commutes are getting longer as people are pushed further out, and there's a sense that you have to work harder and harder just to stand still. Friends of mine in the capital spend nearly three hours a day getting to and from work, which leaves them with almost no time or energy for anything else. Then again, cities are also improving in some respects, with more parks, cleaner air in places and better public transport, so it isn't a uniformly bleak picture.

   just to stand still

   merely to avoid falling behind

   getting to and from work

   travelling between home and work

   a uniformly bleak picture

   a situation that is bad in every way

   100 words · about 43 seconds spoken

3. Cause and effect

   Why do some people prefer the countryside to the city?

   5
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   Sample answerBand 8Main causeAnother causeEffect

   1. Main cause→
   2. Another cause→
   3. Effect

   The main attraction, I imagine, is the slower pace of life, since you're away from the traffic, the crowds and the constant pressure to be somewhere. There's a financial side too, because your money goes much further outside the city, so a family might be able to afford a house with a garden instead of a cramped flat. Because of this, we're seeing a steady trickle of people, particularly young families and those who can work remotely, swapping urban life for small towns and villages, which in some places is breathing new life into rural communities.

   the slower pace of life

   a calmer, less busy way of living

   your money goes much further

   you can buy more with the same money

   breathing new life into

   bringing new energy to something in decline

   96 words · about 42 seconds spoken

4. Opinion

   What could make cities better places to live?

   6
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   Sample answerBand 8My viewWhyExampleBut

   1. My view→
   2. Why→
   3. Example→
   4. But

   As far as I'm concerned, the single biggest improvement would be to design cities around people rather than cars. So much urban space is devoted to roads and parking that there's little room left for the things that make a place pleasant, like trees, benches and squares where people can actually linger. Some European cities have turned busy roads into pedestrian streets, and what tends to happen is that cafés and small shops move in and the whole area comes back to life. Of course, none of that helps much if ordinary people can't afford to live there, so affordable housing has to be part of the picture as well.

   As far as I'm concerned

   in my personal opinion

   comes back to life

   becomes lively and active again

   part of the picture

   one element of the whole situation

   110 words · about 48 seconds spoken

Depth: the abstract and the future

1. The future

   How do you think cities will change as their populations grow?

   7
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   Sample answerBand 8PredictionBecauseBut

   1. Prediction→
   2. Because→
   3. But

   I'd expect them to grow upwards rather than outwards, with taller buildings and smaller homes, simply because there won't be enough land to keep spreading. Urban sprawl is already eating into farmland and forcing people into exhausting commutes, so higher density is the only realistic way to house everyone near where they work. The risk is that, unless it's managed carefully, density could mean overcrowding, so the cities that cope best will probably be the ones that invest heavily in public transport and shared green spaces at the same time.

   upwards rather than outwards

   taller instead of spreading over more land

   eating into farmland

   gradually using up agricultural land

   invest heavily in

   spend a lot of money on

   90 words · about 39 seconds spoken

2. What if

   If most people moved out of cities, what would happen to them?

   8
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   Sample answerBand 8If soResultWider effect

   1. If so→
   2. Result→
   3. Wider effect

   Were most people to leave, cities would probably hollow out fairly quickly, with empty office blocks, closed shops and whole districts falling into disrepair. Businesses that rely on footfall, like restaurants, theatres and public transport, would struggle to survive, and the city's tax income would collapse, making it harder to maintain basic services for those who stayed. Over time, though, some cities might reinvent themselves, turning empty buildings into cheap housing, studios or urban farms, and nature would almost certainly start reclaiming the spaces people abandoned.

   falling into disrepair

   becoming damaged because nobody maintains it

   rely on footfall

   depend on many people passing by

   reinvent themselves

   change completely to find a new role

   86 words · about 37 seconds spoken

3. Pros and cons

   Is it possible to design a city that keeps everyone happy?

   9
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   Sample answerBand 8UpsideDownsideOn balance

   1. Upside→
   2. Downside→
   3. On balance

   Good design can certainly make life better for a wide range of people, for instance by mixing housing, work and green space so that daily needs are within walking distance. The snag is that different groups want contradictory things, so young people may want nightlife and noise, while families and older residents want peace and quiet, and you can't fully satisfy both on the same street. So keeping everyone happy is probably an impossible goal, but that's no reason to stop trying, because a city that keeps most people reasonably content is still a remarkable achievement.

   within walking distance

   close enough to reach on foot

   The snag is that

   the problem or difficulty is that

   peace and quiet

   a calm environment without noise

   96 words · about 42 seconds spoken