Comprehension
The magic of squatter cities is that they are improved steadily and gradually by their residents. To a planner’s eye, these cities look chaotic. I trained as a biologist and to my eye, they look organic. Squatter cities are also unexpectedly green. They have maximum density—1 million people per square mile in some areas of Mumbai—and have minimum energy and material use. People get around by foot, bicycle, rickshaw, or the universal shared taxi.
Not everything is efficient in the slums, though. In the Brazilian favelas where electricity is stolen and therefore free, people leave their lights on all day. But in most slums recycling is literally a way of life. The Dharavi slum in Mumbai has 400 recycling units and 30,000 ragpickers. Six thousand tons of rubbish are sorted every day. In 2007, the Economist reported that in Vietnam and Mozambique, “Waves of gleaners sift the sweepings of Hanoi’s streets, just as Mozambiquan children pick over the rubbish of Maputo’s main tip. Every city in Asia and Latin America has an industry based on gathering up old cardboard boxes.” . . .
In his 1985 article, Calthorpe made a statement that still jars with most people: “The city is the most environmentally benign form of human settlement. Each city dweller consumes less land, less energy, less water, and produces less pollution than his counterpart in settlements of lower densities.” “Green Manhattan” was the inflammatory title of a 2004 New Yorker article by David Owen. “By the most significant measures,” he wrote, “New York is the greenest community in the United States, and one of the greenest cities in the world . . . The key to New York’s relative environmental benignity is its extreme compactness. . . . Placing one and a half million people on a twenty-three-square-mile island sharply reduces their opportunities to be wasteful.” He went on to note that this very compactness forces people to live in the world’s most energy-efficient apartment buildings. . . .
Urban density allows half of humanity to live on 2.8 per cent of the land. . . . Consider just the infrastructure efficiencies. According to a 2004 UN report: “The concentration of population and enterprises in urban areas greatly reduces the unit cost of piped water, sewers, drains, roads, electricity, garbage collection, transport, health care, and schools.” . . . [T]he nationally subsidised city of Manaus in northern Brazil “answers the question” of how to stop deforestation: give people decent jobs. Then they can afford houses, and gain security. One hundred thousand people who would otherwise be deforesting the jungle around Manaus are now prospering in town making such things as mobile phones and televisions. . . .
Of course, fast-growing cities are far from an unmitigated good. They concentrate crime, pollution, disease and injustice as much as business, innovation, education and entertainment. . . . But if they are overall a net good for those who move there, it is because cities offer more than just jobs. They are transformative: in the slums, as well as the office towers and leafy suburbs, the progress is from hick to metropolitan to cosmopolitan . . .
Question: 1

Which one of the following statements would undermine the author’s stand regarding the greenness of cities?

Updated On: Aug 20, 2024
  • The compactness of big cities in the West increases the incidence of violent crime.
  • The high density of cities leads to an increase in carbon dioxide and global warming.
  • Over the last decade the cost of utilities has been increasing for city dwellers.
  • Sorting through rubbish contributes to the rapid spread of diseases in the slums.
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The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

This question is straightforward if you grasp its essence. The task is to undermine the author's argument specifically about the 'greenness of cities,' focusing solely on this aspect.

Option 1 discusses 'violent crimes,' which is unrelated to the greenness of cities and can be dismissed.

The correct choice is Option 2. If an increase in population density leads to more CO2 and global warming, then the concept of greenness becomes ineffective, as carbon dioxide would counteract it.

Option 3, similar to Option 1, is irrelevant. The high cost of utilities does not pertain to greenness.

Option 4 is also irrelevant and does not counter the idea of greenness.

It's important to note that despite the content in choices 1, 3, and 4, the author's concept of the greenness of cities can still be a valid point.

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Question: 2

According to the passage, squatter cities are environment-friendly for all of the following reasons EXCEPT:

Updated On: Sep 17, 2024
  • they recycle material.
  • their transportation is energy efficient.
  • they sort out garbage.
  • their streets are kept clean.
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The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

This question can be correctly answered by applying common sense and selecting the option with the least impact on the environment. In this case, recycling materials and using energy-efficient transportation are recognized as having a significant positive impact on the environment. Since this is an "except" question, both Option 1 and Option 2, which align with positive environmental impacts, can be eliminated.
Now, we are left with two choices: sorting out garbage and keeping streets clean. Sorting out garbage is acknowledged to have a more substantial impact on the environment, and it has been discussed in the passage. Therefore, Option 3 can be ruled out.

Consequently, Option 4, which involves keeping streets clean, is the best choice as it implies the least impact on the environment.

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Question: 3

We can infer that Calthorpe’s statement “still jars” with most people because most people:

Updated On: Aug 20, 2024
  • do not regard cities as good places to live in.
  • consider cities to be very crowded and polluted.
  • regard cities as places of disease and crime.
  • do not consider cities to be eco-friendly places.
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The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

This is a challenging question, and the options are closely related, making it difficult to confidently choose one. However, the elimination method can help in this case.

The passage states:
"In his 1985 article, Calthorpe made a statement that still jars with most people: 'The city is the most environmentally benign form of human settlement. Each city dweller consumes less land, less energy, less water, and produces less pollution than his counterpart in settlements of lower densities.'"

The correct answer should be the opposite of what Calthorpe asserts since people's beliefs and Calthorpe's statement are contradictory (the verb "jars" implies disturbance). Calthorpe claims that cities are the most environmentally benign form of human settlement, so people's belief would contradict this. Thus, Option 4 is the right choice.
Option 1 is too broad and not specific, lacking the precision of people's belief compared to Option 4. Option 2, while very close, includes the pollution idea mentioned by Calthorpe, but the concept of crowdedness is not present in his statement.

Similarly, Option 3 introduces crimes and diseases, which are not mentioned in Calthorpe's quote.
Both choices 2 and 4 are very close, but Option 2 is ruled out because of the idea of 'crowdedness.'
It's indeed a very close call.

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Question: 4

In the context of the passage, the author refers to Manaus in order to:

Updated On: Aug 20, 2024
  • explain where cities source their labour for factories.
  • promote cities as employment hubs for people.
  • explain how urban areas help the environment.
  • describe the infrastructure efficiencies of living in a city.
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The Correct Option is C

Solution and Explanation

This question is straightforward and can be answered by understanding the context in which the author discusses Manaus, particularly focusing on the first sentence of the last paragraph.
The passage states: "[T]he nationally subsidized city of Manaus in northern Brazil 'answers the question' of how to stop deforestation: give people decent jobs."
Given these lines, we can narrow down the choices to Options 2 and 3. However, since the primary purpose of providing jobs is to address the more significant issue of deforestation, Option 3 is the correct choice.

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Question: 5

From the passage it can be inferred that cities are good places to live in for all of the following reasons EXCEPT that they:

Updated On: Apr 25, 2025
  • help prevent destruction of the environment.
  • have suburban areas as well as office areas.
  • offer employment opportunities.
  • contribute to the cultural transformation of residents.
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The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

This may pose a challenge for most students, as it requires selecting the option that cannot be deduced. Put differently, the task is to eliminate choices that can be inferred and identify the correct answer, which must resist inference.
The concluding paragraph aids in dismissing two options. The first one asserts that cities undeniably contribute to job creation, and the second one claims they play a role in averting environmental destruction. Both these options can be inferred when the author cites the example of Manaus. Thus, Options 1 and 3 can be excluded.
This leaves us with two choices, and Option 4 suggests that cities contribute to cultural transformation. This inference aligns with the last sentence of the paragraph, where the term "transformative" is used to describe progress "from hick to metropolitan to cosmopolitan." It can be inferred that this signifies cultural transformation, as one progresses from metropolitan to cosmopolitan.
Some may argue that Option 2 can also be inferred from the final sentence of the passage. However, the author does not believe this is the reason cities are considered good places to live.
The last paragraph provides hints for all choices except Option 2

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