📘 Part 3: Cities

This episode's vocabulary

Accrue (verb) - if money or interest accrues or if you accrue it, it gradually increases in amount over a period of time.

Proximity (noun) - nearness in space, time, or relationship.

Determined (adj.) - having made a firm decision and being resolved not to change it.

Adjust (verb) - alter or move (something) slightly in order to achieve the desired fit, appearance, or result.

Influx (noun) -an arrival or entry of large numbers of people or things.

Moderation (noun) - the avoidance of excess or extremes.

Close knit (adj.) - bound together by strong relationships and common interests.

Cohesion (noun) - the situation when the members of a group or society are united.

By virtue of something (idiom) - as a result of something.

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Questions and Answers

Maria: Rory, what are the benefits of living in the cities?

Rory: Well, in just two words, access and choice, really, when you think about it, you have increased access to resources and people, which increases the amount of wealth that you can accrue. And then you've got a greater range of choice in terms of careers and schools and, well, even people to hang out with. It's great.

Maria: What are the problems that you find in the cities?

Rory: I think I read an article once that said one of the major downsides of city living was the increase in mental health problems due to people being in such close proximity and having to deal with each other more frequently. And I can definitely see that as an issue in addition to the faster pace of life causing burnout and all the issues with pollution and crime to go with that.

Maria: Is it good for elderly people to live in large cities?

Rory: Well, if they want to and they have a good support network, I think they can live wherever they like. The cities have quite decent disabled access. And as you get on in life, you aren't able to do as much as you could before. So actually, that could be quite useful, although on the other hand, it could be a bit depressing not seeing the countryside and just cityscape every day of your life for the rest of your days.

Maria: Is it possible that most of the population will move to cities?

Rory: I think most of the population already is or has, haven't they? So it's like 55 percent now. And apparently it's going to be something like 70 - 75 percent by 2050. And then you can see why, given the benefits, can't you?

Maria: What are the main changes in modern cities in the last 10 years?

Rory: Well, like we just said, they increased their populations, though that's been going on for years. Probably a more recent trend is the action taken to tackle this, for example? Well, the improvement. If we talk about Moscow, the improvements to Moscow's infrastructure, wider roads, more roads in general, increased access like we talked about at the beginning. And then there are the efforts being made to tackle the problems with increased travel or reduction of pollution. I think Moscow's a little bit behind in those terms, but other cities have kind of caught on to this and are catching up in terms of being eco friendly. So probably eco friendliness and infrastructure changes, I think, are the big ones.

Maria: Will the size of the cities increase in the future?

Rory: As long as people are determined to move there. I would imagine so, and as long as there is the sort of pull factor of... Well, two pull factors of increased access and greater choice, these things are attractive to people. And then the push factors of reduced choice and reduced access in the countryside, which people don't benefit from. And hopefully they'll continue to adjust to cope with the influx of people that that causes.

Maria: Do you think people will live in an extreme environment in the future?

Rory: If you live in Russia you know, they already do. As far as I'm concerned, this country does not do moderation very well. Seriously, though, if I'm not sure what we mean by extreme, if you mean temperatures, then that seems to be the trend, though, doesn't it? And because if we talk about climate change, the temperature is increasing and it's causing more extreme weather events. But we could also talk about extreme in terms of space. And then I think apartments are getting smaller and smaller as people in places adjust to new arrivals like we've been talking about. Well, just throughout this whole discussion, really.

Maria: Do you think that people in the countryside are more friendly than people in the cities?

Rory: Well, Moscow and London definitely have these reputations for having rude people living in them, don't they? One of my students commented on this the other day as it happens, and I think so. And I wonder if it's because we have to deal with so many people on a daily basis that we can't form the personal connections with each other, with each and every one of the people that we meet like you can in the countryside. So while things in cities are more efficient and more effective, they're less close knit as a result of having to deal with more people.

Maria: Do you think cities worth visiting are also suitable to live in?

Rory: Not always, since not everyone likes being overrun with tourists. If you're an extrovert and a tolerant character, then you might not mind as much as someone who's less so because you get to meet new people and you are not. If you're if you've ever met tourists in Moscow, you know, they've got lots of questions about where things are. So if you like helping people, it won't be so bad. But if you are focused on your work and you don't want to have to deal with these issues, then no, they're not suitable to live in. And maybe it's a good idea to find somewhere else.

Maria: What's the difference between the people living in the city and the people living in the countryside?

Rory: We sort of touched on this when we talked about the whole friendliness thing, really, didn't we? And I would say that's the biggest difference. There are other smaller ones since people in cities can be more cultured and richer by virtue of the access and variety that we also mentioned. I don't think that makes them necessarily better, though. It just makes them different. People in the countryside get the benefits of greater social cohesion and, well, greater social support. In general, I would say they don't have the sort of impersonal social workers to deal with their problems in the main.

Maria: What's the difference between big cities and small cities?

Rory: Well, aside from the size, the smaller the place is, the less anonymity there can be. In my hometown, for example, it seems everybody knows each other's business. So the support networks are stronger, but the chances for social centre are greater. A bigger places probably have more resources just by virtue of the increased importance they have. And so the demand increases in proportion to this. So I think those are some quite significant differences.