George and Michelle are at a party.

George: ‘’________’’

Michelle: ‘’Thank you for your compliment’’

Cities are built to survive and prosper. Over the years, we have learned to transform our surroundings according to our needs. We have cut through mountains to make more land and create artificial islands to make skyscrapers. City planning, as an organized profession, has existed for less than a century. However, a considerable amount of evidence (both archaeological and historical) proves the existence of fully planned cities in ancient times. Over the years, humans have made some mistakes in terms of using an excessive amount of resources for cities. This gives rise to the question of how sustainable the cities of the future would be.

We might be looking at smart cities in which street lights would only switch on when you are close by and traffic light would be eliminated by smart driving. The cities of the future would try to save our resources rather than deplete them.

An example of an advanced city is Kansas. Plans are in place to make Kansas a smart futuristic city in the future. Planners are considering introducing sensors to monitor the water mains. Warning would be issued to city officials when the infrastructure requires repair or replacement. In this way, the city would never be at risk of having broken pipes.

While the idea sounds fantastic, a large amount of rational critique has called this plan an oversold dream. Amy Glasmier is an urban planning professor at MIT. She is a smart city skeptic who that all the research and talk is great but gravely oversold.

The hanging gardens of Babylon were considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. They are believed to have been built by King Nebuchadnezzar in the sixth century BC as a present (31) ____ his wife, Amytis.

The gardens were (32) ____ in layers - one on top of the other, much like a modern multi-storey car park although a lot more attractive to look at. Each layer was a large terrace filled with tropical flowers, plants and trees. The large (33) _____ of water which these plants required was pumped from the river Euphrates nearby. It is said that Nebuchadnezzar and his wife would sit in the shade of the gardens and look down on the city of Babylon below.

The gardens' fame quickly spread, and travelers would come from far and wide to admire them. Even thousands of years ago, people used to go (34) _____! The city of Babylon itself was also famous throughout the whole world for its beautiful buildings, huge tiled walls and magnificent gates made of brass.

Sadly, nothing (35) _____ today of the beautiful hanging gardens, and the city of Babylon lies in ruins in what is modern-day Iraq.