Unit Three: Four Walls

Speaking

• Look at these rooms and features in a home discuss what each one is which are the most desirable features in a home in your country ?
• Garden game room gym roof garden terrace courtyard
• Garage /workshop home theater
• Sauna
• Walk-in closet

• Describe what your ideal home would be and what rooms and features it would contain

Reading : Old new towns

• Match the collocations with the definitions
• Sprawling metropolis
• Historic neighborhood
• Commercial district
• Housing development
• Vibrant city
• Bedroom community
• Quiet town
• Leafy suburb
• 1. famous for its old buildings
• 2.Attracts shoppers
• 3.A concentration of affordable residential homes
• 4.A large lively city
• 5.Lots of commuters live here
• 6.Nothing much happens here
• 7.A rich green residential area outside the center
• 8.An area that keeps growing outwards

• Describe where you live

• Answer the questions
• 1. what do Poundbury and Thames Town have in common?
• 2.For what reason was each town built
• 3.Are they successful?

• Find examples of the following
• 1. two things that characterized town planning in Britain in the 1960s
• 2. two types of buildings found in Poundbury
• Twoi buildings found in Thames Town
• Two examples of good town planning ideas in poundbury

• Where would you look for inspiration if you were planning a new town? If you are Prince Charles or the Shanghai planning Commission , the past would seem to be the answer; or to be more precise , the English past . The town of poundbury in the south of England , designed by prince Charles , is an answer to what he calls the “heartless urban planning “ of the 1960s. It offers an alternative to “ugly” high-rise apartment blocks , large housing projects ,and zoned planning ,where industry ,stores ,and homes are separated into different areas .
• Pounbury ‘s buildings imitate the cottages and grander houses of 18th-century Dorset." what I was trying to do ,” the prince said ,”was remind people that it is pointless to throw away the knowledge and experience of what has gone before .”
• If you find such reproductions of the past artificial , then you will certainly not enjoy Thames Town , a new development just outside Shanghai .Rarely do you find nostalgia taken to such extremes .But this is not nostalgia for traditional Chinese living .Thames Town is modeled on the English town of Dorchester, not far from Pound bury ,and is part of a plan to create a new suburbia for Shanghai’s richer classes .it boasts a pub , a fish and chips shop , and a 19th-century church .nine such replica towns are planned around Shanghai , each based on a different Western style: Italian,austrian,etc. But are these model towns a success ? As far as friendly urban planning goes , Poundbury does seem to work .Business are placed close to residential buildings , enabling residents to walk to work . A third of the houses are “affordable housing ,” giving the town a social and economic mix .They have small gardens , but there is plenty of communal green space , making it easy to get to know your neighbors .Unfortunately , the same can not be said for Thames Town ,. It is popular with day visitors and Chinese couples planning western-style weddings , but , going there , you get the distinct feeling you are in a museum , not a town.