Online search terms: Urban Observatory, Richard Wurman, 19.20.21 Project

The reading passage features an interview with urban planner Richard Wurman. In the interview, he describes a project that he is working on to help create a better system for comparing data between cities. His hope is that making the data easier to understand will help cities learn from each other and improve their efforts to become better. The interview is an excerpt from the article Urban Visionary that appeared in the magazine National Geographic Traveler.
Online search terms: Urban Observatory, Richard Wurman, 19.20.21 Project
After completing the Pre-Reading exercises on page 61, read and comprehend the article titled, “The Urban Visionary” on pages 62-64.
You can follow along by listening to the audio of The Urban Visionary, by clicking here (Links to an external site.) and choosing the appropriate reading passage.
After taking the time to understand the reading, complete the activities on pages 65-72.
Pay particularly close attention to the sections titled Language for Writing (page 67), Writing Skill – Writing an Introductory Paragraph (page 68), and Writing Skill -Writing a Concluding Paragraph (page 68).
Language for Writing: Using the Simple Past and the Present PerfectThe Language for Writing box reviews the use of the simple past versus the present perfect. While both are used to talk about events in the past, the simple past is used when something happened at a specified time, while the present perfect is used for something that happened at an unspecified time, or something that happened more than once in the past. Notice how the present perfect is formed: has/have past participle.
Writing Skill: Writing an Introductory ParagraphThe first Writing Skill box explains the structure of the introductory paragraph and its role in the essay. It also provides information about the hook and the thesis statement’s two common elements in an introduction. As the thesis statement contains the author’s main message, it should highlight the main points of the essay.
Writing Skill -Writing a Concluding Paragraph
The second Writing Skill box introduces the elements of a concluding paragraph. In addition to summarizing the thesis, a concluding paragraph often leaves the reader with a final thought. Some ways of writing a final thought include asking a question or making a prediction.