A metropolis and its wide reach

In the picture

1. 1Central towers: head offices, banks and high-level services in the core
2. 2Ring road: links the districts around the core
3. 3Airport and airliner: connection to other major cities worldwide
4. 4Suburban housing: homes in the wide periphery around the centre
5. 5Motorway traffic: daily commuters flowing towards the core

Examples

• Paris, where head offices, universities and airports serve a region far larger than the city itself.
• Tokyo, where millions commute by train each day from distant suburbs into the centre.

Quiz: A metropolis and its wide reach (Age 16)

1. 1

   Which sentence best describes a metropolis?

   • A big city that concentrates high-level functions, people and flows
   • A city whose built-up area is larger than all others in the country
   • A town whose population has grown very quickly in a short time
2. 2

   How far does a metropolis’s influence reach?

   • Only as far as the ring road that links its districts
   • Only to the other major cities it is linked to by air
   • Well beyond the built-up area, into a wide periphery of suburbs and countryside
3. 3

   Why do many people living in the suburbs and countryside travel into the metropolis every day?

   • Because the centre offers cheaper housing than the periphery
   • Because the important jobs, companies and universities are gathered in the core
   • Because they prefer the city’s nightlife and leisure to local life

The answers, each with its explanation, are in the app. This lesson has left the free week, so its quiz is part of the subscription.