Cities
Thanks for joining us!
This episode was written by Kara and voiced by Kara and T.
Episode art was created by Jean.
It was originally released in March 2024.
— We love these picture books about city living —
— City Episode Summary —
What’s it like to be in a city? —
Cities often have many buildings close together – there can office buildings alongside restaurants, libraries, shops, and apartment buildings.
Because people are trying to fit a lot of people and buildings into a space, they often go vertical and built up! Rather than having a building with a just a few stories, there are often buildings with many stories.
The United States has some fantastic skyscrapers —
New York City has some of the most famous American skyscrapers. When the Empire State Building was built over 90 years ago, it was the tallest building in the world. Now, One World Trade is the tallest building in New York City and in North America.
Willis Tower in Chicago is almost as tall as One World Trade and has a very cool viewing area called the Skydeck that’s like walking into a room of windows, including one below you!
In San Francisco, you can find the uniquely triangular Transamerica Pyramid and recently built Salesforce Tower sticking out from the skyline.
Types of transportation —
Between all of those buildings, there are sidewalks to walk on and roads that help people get around through transportation.
Have you ever been on a type of transportation? Like a bus, train, or subway?
In cities like New York City and London, trains called subways are built under the ground so they can move really fast.
San Francisco has cable cars and streetcars on their own tracks above the ground.
Venice is a city in Italy that’s famous for using boats called gondolas to get around the canals that run through the city.
In Amsterdam in The Netherlands, there are bike lands all over the make it easy for everyone to get around on their bicycles.
Bangkok, Thailand has lots of tuk tuks, which are small vehicles with three wheels and open sides that ride on the street.
What would you put in your city? —
Cities also have places for people have fun! Like parks outdoors and areas for sports like baseball diamonds, soccer fields, and basketball courts.
Some libraries in cities are huge, beautiful buildings with so many books. There are also museums where people can learn about art, science, or technology.
It’s someone’s job to think about how a city is designed – where the transportation stops should be, how the streets are laid out, whether the sidewalks have dips in the curb so that people in wheelchairs and strollers can safely cross. Cities are always changing and so we always need to be thinking about how they work.
What would you put in your city? Could you draw it?