2013.10.08《雅思写作The lay…

The layout of a city（城市应该如何布局？）

In many cities, planners have laid out schools, homes, shops, offices in specific areas which were widely separated from each other. Do you think advantages of this policy overweight disadvantages to the city residents?

It’s no exaggeration to say that urban planning is a heart-wringing task for every city governor. Instead of speaking for the approach – which I term as the sprawling layout – that separates education areas, offices, dwelling sites, shops etc. far apart from each other, I am more inclined to the other way round; that is, to integrate theses sections organically together to maximise the convenience for unbanites.

The sprawling layout of a city means that much land has to be taken over to construct the urban area, which brings about a bundle of problems. Their farmland coming to naught, many farmers become city dwellers. This seemingly honourable and pride-taking title, however, turns out nothing short of a nightmare for them. With few or no educational qualifications and special vocational skills, many of them will be reduced to inferior job seekers who trudge to and fro to find an average, if not decent, job to sustain their families. On top of that, environment pollution is likely to be exacerbated by the emission of rubbish, sewage and exhaust gases from the wide-stretching urban area.

Cost is another issue that deserves due attention. With this layout, city planners have to invest more funds in ameliorating infrastructures like roads, water supply and drainage system, street lamps, public transit system, communication facilities, power grid et cetera. Moreover, a considerable part of the money will have to be earmarked to employ those city managing and constructing staff, say, dustmen, policemen, thereby pushing up the personnel cost. Then think about the cost of time, and imagine how a shopaholic’s zeal will be dampened the moment she finishes her hour-long ride from home to the shopping mall, and how a couple will be exhausted by the routine hassle of driving their kid to school and back home!

The proponents of the sprawling city pattern may base their reason on the assumption that it has durability. They believe that with the expansion of population in the future, every section of the city will provide spacious room for the new immigrants, be they employees, staff of the newly-stationed enterprises, community residents, or students, to name but a few. Despite this, city planners must not sacrifice the current generation’s convenience and life quality to meet the needs of the uncertain future. After all, they have the ability, and are obliged to balance city’s layout and citizens’ life quality, and the intangible future is far from a pretext for their laxity or even inability.

 

Actually, this complicated and somehow head-splitting issue simply boils down to one question: how to construct the city so as to offer the most possible convenience for urban residents. It indicates that city governors are expected to be people-oriented when planning the urban zone, and that all the measures and policies must be carried out in the best interest of the unbanites.