Lesson Y9-U02-L09

Y9-U02-L09 Sustainable Cities: Curitiba and Freiburg Quiz: KS3 Geography, Unit 14

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson Y9-U02-L09, Sustainable Cities: Curitiba and Freiburg: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 Geography (National Curriculum), Unit 14: Year 9: Urban Worlds: Megacities, Growth and the Future of Cities, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. What does 'sustainable' mean?

    • Using the most advanced technology, whatever its cost to residents.
    • Meeting today's needs without spoiling life for people in the future.
    • Building as many new homes as possible on farmland each year.
    • Keeping a city's population exactly the same from one decade to the next.

  2. What are the three pillars of a sustainable city?

    • Rural, urban and coastal.
    • Social, economic and environmental.
    • Political, cultural and religious.
    • Physical, digital and historical.

  3. What does BRT stand for in Curitiba's transport system?

    • Bus Rapid Transit
    • Bus Road Terminal
    • Basic Road Traffic
    • Blue Rail Tram

  4. Why is Bus Rapid Transit cheaper to build than a metro?

    • Buses run on dedicated lanes, so no costly underground tunnels are needed.
    • Buses carry only goods, so fewer staff are needed on each journey.
    • Buses never stop, so the city needs fewer roads and fewer drivers overall.
    • Buses are free to ride, so the city pays nothing for their running costs.

  5. Which scheme did Curitiba use to reward people who recycled?

    • Free electricity for homes built on greenfield farmland.
    • Fines for every household that owns a private car.
    • Recyclable rubbish exchanged for bus tickets or food.
    • Free cars given to every household in the city centre.

  6. Why did Curitiba use sheep in some of its parks?

    • To provide wool for the city's clothing factories.
    • To attract tourists who wanted to see farm animals.
    • To guard the buses from thieves at night.
    • To graze the grass, which cut the cost of mowing.

  7. What was distinctive about the Vauban district in Freiburg?

    • It was built car-free, so families walk, cycle and use trams.
    • It was built entirely underground to protect it from storms.
    • It was built as a motorway with a tram lane in the middle.
    • It was built on a mountain so that it could use wind power only.

  8. What is a passive house?

    • A home so well insulated that it needs almost no energy to heat.
    • A home whose residents are paid to stay indoors all day.
    • A home built inside an old factory to save greenfield land.
    • A home that sits empty so that it does not need any power.

  9. Alongside rooftop solar panels, which local energy source did Freiburg use?

    • A nuclear reactor built inside the city centre.
    • A coal power station on the edge of the city.
    • An oil refinery built beside the city's main park.
    • A local biomass plant.

  10. Using the bar chart, how many times higher is Curitiba's public-transport share than the typical car city's?

    • About 10 times higher.
    • About 1.5 times higher.
    • About 45 times higher.
    • About 3.75 times higher.

  11. According to the bar chart, which place has the highest share of trips by public transport?

    • Freiburg, at 30 per cent.
    • A typical car city, at 12 per cent.
    • All three places have the same share.
    • Curitiba, at 45 per cent.

  12. Which feature supports the environmental pillar most directly?

    • A festival that brings tourists into the city each summer.
    • A grant that helps new shops open in the city centre.
    • Affordable flats close to jobs and schools.
    • Solar panels fitted to every new home.

  13. A city builds affordable flats near jobs and schools. Which pillar does this mainly support?

    • Political, by changing who is allowed to vote in local elections.
    • Social, by giving people good housing close to work and services.
    • Economic, by adding a new tax on every house sale.
    • Environmental, by reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill.

  14. Which statement correctly compares the transport strategies of the two cities?

    • Both rely mainly on private cars, but Freiburg has far more buses than Curitiba.
    • Both cut car use, but Curitiba uses cheap citywide buses while Freiburg redesigns wealthy districts.
    • Freiburg uses buses on dedicated lanes, while Curitiba relies only on walking routes.
    • Curitiba bans all cycling, while Freiburg has no public transport at all.

  15. A UK city wants a low-cost way to cut car use across the whole city. Which idea from today fits best?

    • Bus Rapid Transit on dedicated lanes.
    • Passive houses built only on greenfield farmland.
    • A single car-free district only for wealthy residents.
    • A new motorway circling the city centre.

  16. Which is the most likely criticism of showcase green districts?

    • They make it illegal to walk or cycle anywhere.
    • They always increase pollution across the whole city.
    • They have never used any renewable energy at all.
    • They may be expensive and may not scale up to a whole city.

  17. Which feature of Curitiba's scheme helps both social and environmental aims at once?

    • Exchanging recycling for bus tickets or food.
    • Building an underground metro beneath the city centre.
    • Banning all bicycles from the city's main roads.
    • Replacing every park with a car park.

  18. Why might Freiburg's approach be harder for a poorer city to copy?

    • It requires all residents to stop using electricity completely.
    • It only applies to cities with fewer than 10,000 residents.
    • It only works in cities with no public transport at all.
    • It needs large investment and new-build districts, which are costly.

  19. Which judgement is most justified by comparing the two cities?

    • Cheap solutions can never reduce a city's transport emissions.
    • A cheap, citywide solution such as BRT may be more transferable than a single showcase district.
    • High-tech solutions are only ever useful in wealthy cities, so they cannot help poorer places at all.
    • Showcase districts are always more sustainable than citywide schemes.

  20. What is the main reason a showcase district like Vauban may not make a whole city sustainable?

    • It removes all public transport from the rest of the city.
    • It increases car use across the city by law.
    • It covers only part of the city, so most of its emissions remain.
    • It makes every home in the city free to run.

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