IELTS Writing Task 2/ Essay Topics with sample answer.
IELTS Writing Task 2 Sample 132 - Buildings often reflected the culture of a society but today all modern buildings look alike
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IELTS Writing Task 2/ IELTS Essay:
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
In the past, buildings often reflected the culture of a society but today all modern buildings look alike and cities throughout the world are becoming more and more similar. What do you think is the reason for this, and is it a good thing or a bad thing?
You should use your own ideas, knowledge and experience and support your arguments with examples and relevant evidence.
You should write at least 250 words.
Model Answer 1:
Historical architectures emblem the cultural heritage of a society and serve as a source of attraction and inspiration for the dwellers and tourists. The uniqueness of buildings in urban areas is gradually replaced by standard construction stencils and cities all over the globe are becoming identical. This essay will analyse some reasons for this convergence and will provide an opinion on this practice.
With the advent of modern equipment, machinery and following similar standards of construction, metropolitan reveal a great deal of similarities in the architecture of buildings. This is primarily due to the increased land price where builders find it more economical to erect a building than to construct one unit housing scheme. Another reason is to provide inhabitants with the similar lifestyle. For instance, multipurpose shopping malls in Karachi and Lahore have similar structure featuring parking space, food courts, and ticket vending machines and so on. Moreover, governments are adopting similar planning and construction footprints to ensure all housing schemes, multipurpose complex, offices and so on are developed on modern layouts to save the environment from pollution, protect natives from furies of mother nature and so on.
However, these modern practices come up with their own challenges can be rated good or bad for cities. Laudable arguments are that tourist feels homely, and people have same services and lifestyle. On the other hand, these advancements are damaging the cultural heritage and iconic features of a city which stands out in the world and are taking away its pride and inimitability.
To conclude, modern construction practices have resulted in marvels and revamped the metropolitans. In my opinion, it is a good thing, but proper measures should be taken by the government to preserve the historic architecture and sights of a city.
[ by - Tauseef Raza ]
Model Answer 2:
Every city has its architectural character, but the similarities between cities are more obvious these days than in the past. In my opinion, one reason for this is the high price of land.
In most large cities, land is scarce and consequently, it is very valuable. This has led to the construction of tall buildings which occupy only a small area of land while providing lots of floor space where people can live or work. Buildings of this type are made of concrete and steel and can be built comparatively quickly using prefabricated materials. They do not use local materials, such as stone, timber or brick, which used to give cities their individual character. In consequence many cities. now look very much the same and you might not know whether you were in Brisbane, Bangkok or Berlin when you are on the street.
While I realise that we cannot stand in the way of progress, I believe that cities should try to keep some individuality. For example, in Paris, it is prohibited to build very tall buildings in the centre of the city, as this would spoil the overall appearance of the skyline. Other cities have chosen to design unique buildings to ensure they look different. The twin towers in Kuala Lumpur or the Opera House in Sydney are examples of this approach, and I agree with this kind of initiative.
All in all, although it is regrettable that modem cities look similar, I tend to feel that this is unavoidable. However, it can be argued that, even if the buildings are similar, cities will maintain their own character as a result of cultural diversity, the terrain and the climate, which ultimately determine how people live.
Firstly, with the increase in population, space is a major concern. Instead of single houses, tall apartments are constructed that can accommodate many families. A similar practice is observed in all cities. For instance, there was a piece of land owned by an individual near the place where I live. This land was purchased by a builder and the company, in turn, constructed a huge building over there with several accommodation units.
Secondly, with the advent of modern technologies in the field of construction different, cities use them to ease the construction process and reduce the time involved in erecting a building. For example, now readymade RCC blocks are available and entire blocks are used as units due to which low manual labour is involved. Thus, the look and feel of the building will appear to be similar. In addition, nowadays while any building is constructed, its cultural aspect is not much important compared to the fulfilment of the requirements of an individual who will eventually stay there. For example, features like a balcony, attached bathroom, bedrooms, main hall, parking space, amenities etc are made based on the choice of the owner and most of them have similar tastes and preferences in cities. While in past, buildings were inspired hugely by culture. The major intention was to give an aesthetic touch to the interior and exterior of the building.
In conclusion, I believe considering the factors of space and time, it is a good development to construct the modern buildings regarding utilisation rather than just the look and cultural aspects. However, the government should also take active steps to preserve already existing cultural buildings and constructions of society.
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