Urbanisation in the present-day world – stage 1 – some vocabulary

By Rosamund Place | April 5, 2017

The sheer scale and speed of urban expansion in the present-day world make it unlike any of the big changes that have punctuated urban history. It consists in the main of poor people migrating in unprecedented numbers, and then producing babies on a similarly unprecedented scale. It is thus largely a phenomenon of poor and middle-income countries; the rich world has put most of its urbanisation behind it. In poor countries, though, the trend is set to continue. The United Nations forecasts that today’s urban population of 3.2 billion will rise to nearly 5 billion by 2030, when three out of five people will live in cities. The increase will be most dramatic in the poorest and least-urbanised continents, Asia and Africa, which are also the ones least able to cope. Already over 90% of the urban population of Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda, three of the world’s most rural countries, live in slums.

In May 2007 the 3rd May issue of The Economist produced various articles about cities and urbanisation. Before you listen to the recording below, check you know the vocabulary!

1. [Match]

Match the words with their definitions!

Answers for Quiz [1].

1. occur at intervals throughout (correct)
2. be on the point of, seem likely / ready / prepared to (correct)
3. period of time spent in a particular way; a spell of time (correct)
4. never having happened or existed in the past (correct)
5. in a dangerous state through being unsafe or not firmly fixed (correct)
6. to lack sth, to be lacking sth (correct)
7. be legally entitled to remain on land, or in a property or job (correct)
8. to be thrown out / to be chucked out (informal) of one’s abode / lodgings or accommodation (correct)
9. – adj – extremely dirty and unpleasant (correct)
10. deal with / manage / organise (mainly in a successful way) (correct)
11. identify with precision, direct attention to (correct)
12. a change to an opposite direction, position or course of action (correct)
13. person who lives in an overcrowded and squalid urban area inhabited by very poor people (correct)
14. thing that motivates or encourages someone to do sth; or a payment to stimulate greater commitment or output (correct)
15. by and large / in general (correct)