Collocations for IELTS: Urban Development

To reduce traffic jams and improve road movement.

To make residents less reliant on private cars for daily travel.

To make movement between neighbourhoods, jobs, services, and transport modes easier.

The fast growth of cities as more people move from rural areas or smaller towns to urban centres.

The uncontrolled outward spread of cities into surrounding rural or undeveloped land.

City growth that occurs without proper infrastructure, zoning, or long-term planning.

Disorganised and irregular city development caused by weak planning or poor enforcement.

A situation in which a large number of people live within a limited urban area.

Parts of a city where too many people live or work in limited space.

A serious shortage of homes that ordinary residents can afford to rent or buy.

To build or support housing that is financially accessible to low- and middle-income residents.

To offer government-supported or publicly assisted housing for people who cannot afford market prices.

To improve housing, sanitation, roads, and services in areas built outside formal planning systems.

To improve or rebuild extremely poor urban neighbourhoods with inadequate housing and services.

To stop residents from being removed from their homes without proper legal protection or alternatives.

To force poorer residents out of an area, often because redevelopment raises rents and property prices.

To accelerate the process by which wealthier residents and businesses replace poorer communities in an area.

To control the social and economic effects of neighbourhood upgrading so existing residents are not pushed out.

To increase unfair differences between neighbourhoods in access to housing, services, jobs, and infrastructure.

To lower poverty levels among people living in cities.

Urban areas where groups are separated by income, ethnicity, race, or social status.

Urban areas where people from different income groups live within the same community.

To support planning that considers the needs of all residents, including poorer and vulnerable groups.

To involve residents and communities directly in urban planning decisions.

To put land-use rules into practice for housing, commerce, industry, and public space.

To make land-use rules less strict so that development becomes easier or more flexible.

To make sure buildings follow legal standards for safety, design, accessibility, and construction quality.

To make the official permission process for development faster and simpler.

To reduce or stop building activity that violates laws, permits, or safety standards.

To control how land is used through planning rules and legal restrictions.

To use urban land as efficiently and productively as possible.

Development that combines housing, shops, offices, services, and public spaces in the same area.

A city layout that uses land efficiently, with higher density and shorter travel distances.

Housing that accommodates many people or homes within a relatively small land area.

City growth through taller buildings rather than outward spread.

The improvement or renewal of declining urban areas through investment, planning, and redevelopment.

To bring new life, investment, safety, and activity to older central city districts.

To reuse previously developed or industrial land for new housing, business, or public purposes.

To adapt unused buildings for new functions instead of demolishing them.

To protect historically or culturally valuable buildings and urban design features.

To allow urban growth while protecting heritage, nature, and community value.

To make cities healthier, safer, more convenient, and more pleasant to live in.

To improve people's overall living conditions, wellbeing, safety, and access to opportunities.

To design areas where residents can safely and easily reach daily needs on foot.

Urban design that makes streets safe, convenient, and comfortable for people walking.

Public areas that can be used easily by people of different ages, abilities, and backgrounds.

To improve parks, squares, streets, and other shared areas so they become active and useful again.

To make streets safer and more usable at night through better lighting.

To increase parks, gardens, trees, and other natural areas within cities.

To safeguard open land around cities from excessive development.

To include natural systems such as trees, parks, wetlands, and green roofs in urban planning.

To create connected networks of waterways, vegetation, and open space for ecology, cooling, and drainage.

To reduce the extra heat produced and trapped in built-up city areas.

To reduce pollutants in the air and make urban environments healthier.

To lower harmful or excessive urban noise from traffic, construction, and industry.

To collect, treat, recycle, and dispose of non-liquid waste effectively.

To provide cleaner and safer toilets, sewage systems, and waste disposal facilities.

To increase the capacity to clean sewage and used water before it returns to the environment.

To improve drains, sewers, and stormwater systems so they can handle rainfall and prevent flooding.

To make cities better able to prepare for, withstand, and recover from floods.

To control and use rainwater runoff through drainage, storage, green spaces, and planning.

To construct systems and facilities that can withstand climate-related shocks such as floods, heat, and storms.

To make clean water more available, reliable, and safe for urban residents.

To provide consistent electricity, water, gas, drainage, and other essential services.

To increase facilities such as parks, libraries, toilets, clinics, schools, and community centres.

To improve public facilities and systems used by residents and local authorities.

To update city systems with newer, safer, and more efficient technology and design.

To fix old roads, bridges, pipes, buildings, and public systems that are deteriorating.

To reduce shortages or inequalities in access to essential urban infrastructure.

To increase high-capacity public transport such as metro, rail, or rapid bus networks.

To encourage walking, cycling, and other forms of human-powered transport.

To give walking routes, crossings, and footpaths greater importance in urban design.

To make the final part of a journey from a transport stop to a destination easier.

To organise the movement of people travelling between home and work or study.

To encourage transport that is efficient, inclusive, affordable, and environmentally responsible.

To use digital technology and data systems to improve urban services and management.

To develop broadband, sensors, data platforms, and digital systems that support modern urban life.

To make city decision-making, administration, accountability, and service delivery more effective.

To improve the ability of local governments to plan, finance, regulate, and deliver services.

To encourage residents to take part in public decisions and community affairs.

To make urban planning decisions open, clear, accountable, and easy for residents to understand.

To draw funding from businesses, developers, or investors for urban projects.

To secure and manage funds for building or upgrading infrastructure.

To gather financial resources for city development, services, and infrastructure.

To oversee cooperation between government and private companies in delivering public projects.

To make sure urban growth benefits different groups fairly.

To stop certain groups from being pushed out of housing, services, jobs, or public spaces.

To safeguard groups at greater risk, such as the poor, elderly, migrants, informal workers, or people with disabilities.

To help people working outside formal employment systems through recognition, services, and protection.

To set fair rules for vendors who sell goods or food in public spaces.

To improve a city's ability to plan for and respond to disasters.

To lessen the harm caused by development, construction, transport, and resource use.

To encourage city development that balances economic, social, and environmental needs.

To create cities that are safe, inclusive, healthy, efficient, and pleasant to live in.