Vocabulary: Urban living

Where people live:

flat (UK) / Apartment (US) – a block of flats / an apartment block
terraced / semi-detached (a semi) / detached
a penthouse
a condo = condominium (US) – bloque de apartamentos
a bungalow
a farmhouse
a cottage – casita de campo, cabaña
a mansion
a villa – Mediterranean
a tent
a caravan
a mobile home
a council house / a council estate

Collocations:

a residential area
an industrial estate
a shopping/pedestrian precinct, a shopping centre (UK) / a shopping mall (US)
a building site (UK) / a construction site (US)
green belt
shanty town
local amenities/facilities
red light district
Chinatown

Expressions:

on the outskirts
in the suburbs/suburban area
in the city centre (UK) / downtown (US)
slum
to sleep rough, homeless
to crash (on someone’s floor)
to put someone up
to rent a house/flat/apartment X to rent OUT a house/flat/apartment
The tenant rents the flat – The landlord/landlady rents OUT the flat

Adjectives:

run-down / shabby
to renovate/restore, to do up (an area or a house, flat etc)
bustling
lively
picturesque
cosmopolitan
prosperous
inner-city
dull
depressing

Have you ever been to a dull, depressing place?
City life or country life? Which would you prefer?
What was the area you grew up in like?

to demolish, to knock down

Is it better to demolish and rebuild or renovate and restore?
 

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