Some people believe that it is better to live and work in a vertical city with multiple tall buildings, as compared to a horizontal city with fewer tall buildings. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
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| Ielts Essay - Vertical or Horizontal Cities? |
As urban town planners struggle to discover
ways to resolve issues facing modern cities - in terms of accommodating population
and sustenance of environment, the society stands divided in two partisan
groups: ones supporting life in cities with horizontal development, and others
vouching for urban areas that have grown vertically.
Most urbanites prefer residence and
employment in metros that have a plenty of high-rise buildings. Such locations are
quite compact and self-sufficient in almost all aspects: they offer much shorter
commuting times between homes, offices and places of leisure, that are often
located within a close vicinity of each other. This leaves people with ample
time to allocate to each part of their lives, professional and personal. Moreover,
such settings also offer a sense of security, as due to being compact, locals
are familiar with areas and each other.
Similarly, vertical cities are known to be
environmentally friendly. More and more populace - bitten by environment
protection bug, is choosing such areas over others; locations having lesser multi-storey
buildings predispose deforestation. Furthermore, most of high-rises are also
designed with an aim of conserving and, in fact, generating own energy, by use
of non-conventional methods and fuels, like solar power, etc.
However, conservative lobby still favors
horizontal urban settings: they feel, horizontal arrangement offers a good
quality of life: the pressure of population is far lesser which aids in better
utility services; having green front and back yards offers superior comfort due
to availability of abundant sunlight and fresh air; surroundings and skyline
are a very pleasing sight, unlike the street canyons in the concrete jungles of
high-rises.
In a nutshell, both the vertically and
horizontally developed urban metropolis have their own benefits and
shortcomings; hence judging which is a better place to live is impossible.
