City Limits

If governments do not act quickly to discourage the building of cities for cars, the international effort
to control 1. ………………………………….will become much more difficult, reports a new study by the
Worldwatch Institute.

Sprawling 2. ………………………….. are helping to make 3. …………………………… the fasted growing source
of the 4. ……………………….. warming the earth’s atmosphere.

“Wind turbines, energy –efficient cars, and another 5. ………………………… have received much
attention in recent debates over energy policy , but we’ve been neglecting the role that urban design
can play in stabilizing the climate,” said Molly O’Meara Sheehan , author of City Limits: Putting the
Brakes on Sprawls. Local concerns like clogged roads, 6. ………………………, and deteriorating
neighbourhood are already fuelling a reaction against sprawl. Understanding the role of sprawl in
climate change should only speed up the shift towards more parks and fewer 7. ……………………………. .

8. …………………………. shows that sprawls already damages people’s health. Each year,

9. ……………………….. take up to one million lives worldwide. In some countries, the number of lives cut
short by illness from air pollution exceeds those lost to accidents. And by making driving necessary
and walking and cycling less practical, sprawling cities contribute to weight problems by depriving
people of needed 10. ………………………………….. .

By the end of the decade, the majority of world’s people will live in urban areas. Urban design
decisions made today, especially in the developing world where car use is still low, will have an
enormous impact on global warming. Adoption of the U.S. car-centered model would have
disastrous consequences.

In thirty years, China, excluding Hong Kong will have 752million urban dwellers. If each were to copy
the transportation habits of the average resident of San Francisco in 1990, the carbon emissions in
urban China could exceed 1 billion tons.

“Some cities in developing countries have already proved that a strategy of de-emphasizing cars and
providing public transit instead can work,” said Sheehan.

Starting in 1972, the city of Curitiba in Brazil built a system of busways and re- zoned areas along the
thoroughfares _ and is now enjoying better air quality and more parks for its 2.5 million people.