How Big Cities Pull Everything In

In the picture

1. 1Business district towers: company headquarters, banks and decision-makers packed together
2. 2Ring road and interchange: motorways built to move huge numbers of people and goods
3. 3Suburbs of houses and warehouses: the city sprawling outward over former farmland
4. 4Commuter train: workers travelling from the periphery to the centre every day

Examples

• A parent who lives in a suburban town takes a 50-minute train every morning to an office in the city centre.
• A big international company puts its headquarters in the capital’s business district rather than in a small town.

Quiz: How Big Cities Pull Everything In (Age 16)

1. 1

   According to the idea of metropolisation, what do the largest cities concentrate?

   • Most of the country’s farms and food production
   • The best-paid jobs and the headquarters that make big decisions
   • Mainly cheap housing for people leaving the countryside
2. 2

   What happens to the land around a metropolis as it keeps growing?

   • The edges empty out as people move back to villages
   • The city stops spreading and only builds taller towers in the centre
   • The city sprawls outward, turning former farmland into suburbs of houses and warehouses
3. 3

   In a metropolis, which way do millions of workers mainly travel every day?

   • From the centre out to jobs in the countryside
   • Between small towns, avoiding the big city
   • From the edges of the city into the centre to work

The answers, each with its explanation, are in the app. This quiz is free there while the lesson is in the free week.