Cities That Work · seed 1 · A4, ink-friendly. The answer key prints on its own page for grown-ups.

What makes a city easy to cross

Geography · People & Environments · ages 16-18
Name ______________________   Date ____________

  1. Where do you start when judging whether a city works?

    • Its football results
    • Its layout: distances, jobs, stations, roads
    • Its flag and anthem

  2. How do density and transport relate?

    • They reinforce each other both ways
    • They never affect each other
    • Transit always destroys density

  3. Roads, rail lines, and zoning are easy to undo at any time.

    Circle one:   True   False

  4. A city approves a rail line through new suburbs. Why is this decision weighty?

    • Paint colour is permanent
    • It shapes travel patterns for decades
    • Trains never carry anyone

  5. City A sprawls with weak buses; city B is compact with strong trains. How do workers travel?

    • Both travel identically everywhere
    • A bans cars while B bans trains
    • A forces car use while B keeps car trips low

  6. A fast-growing district gets homes but no new buses or water lines. What follows?

    • Shorter trips for everyone
    • Cleaner air automatically
    • Crowding, dirty air, and strained services

  7. Two cities have equal wealth, but one is crossed without a car and the other is not. What best explains it?

    • Luck with the weather each year
    • The number of flags flown
    • Decades-old density, transit, and zoning choices

  8. A mayor claims a traffic jam proves the city needs wider roads only. What layout question is missing?

    • The mayor's favourite colour
    • Whether homes, jobs, and transit line up along routes
    • How loud car horns can get
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Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

What makes a city easy to cross W1-mt_AXiZ8RDe4Z-s1

  1. Its layout: distances, jobs, stations, roads · The layout explains which trips are easy and which hurt.
  2. They reinforce each other both ways · Crowds support transit, and transit supports close living.
  3. False · Rebuilding them costs a fortune and displaces people.
  4. It shapes travel patterns for decades · Rail and zoning lock in how residents move for years.
  5. A forces car use while B keeps car trips low · Spread plus weak buses means cars; compact plus transit means trains.
  6. Crowding, dirty air, and strained services · Growth without services brings crowding and slums.
  7. Decades-old density, transit, and zoning choices · Old layout choices still decide how residents travel today.
  8. Whether homes, jobs, and transit line up along routes · Jams come from distances and weak transit, not just road width.
Worksheet · LightMySky