Describe a park or garden in your city that you think is well designed.
A card about a public park, community garden or green square. The last bullet turns description into judgement, so notice the design choices that make the place work.
The task card
Describe a park or garden in your city that you think is well designed.
You should say:
- where it is
- what it looks like
- who uses it and what they do there
and explain why you think it is well designed.
Now say it yourself
Record your own two minutes on this card and have it transcribed and marked against the Speaking criteria. Practising is free; the band estimate is part of Pro.
Record my answerHow long you have
- 1 minute
Preparation
The examiner hands you the card, paper and a pencil. Make notes — a few words per cue point, never sentences.
- 1–2 minutes
Your long turn
Speak until the examiner stops you at two minutes. Finishing early is the most common self-inflicted problem in Part 2.
- 1–2 questions
Rounding off
The examiner may ask one or two short follow-up questions, then moves straight into the Part 3 discussion on the same theme.
Part 2 takes three to four minutes in total. The whole Speaking test runs 11 to 14 minutes across three parts, and Part 3 that follows lasts four to five minutes.
How to approach this card
Fix the location and size quickly — 'a small park between two blocks of flats, about the size of a football pitch' — and then describe the layout in a logical order: entrance, centre, edges. A mental walk through the park keeps the description organised.
'Who uses it' is a chance to show range: runners before work, grandparents with prams, teenagers after school, people on a lunch break. Linking each group to a time of day gives you a natural structure and plenty of present simple with time expressions.
For 'why it is well designed', point to specific choices and their effects: shade over the playground, benches facing each other, lighting along the paths, a fence that keeps dogs out of the play area. A strong answer explains why each choice works for real people.
The common mistake is calling the park 'green and beautiful' without judging the design at all. If something is badly designed, mention it too; one honest criticism shows that you are evaluating, not just praising.
Model answer
Speak your own answer first. Examiners are trained to spot memorised speeches and mark them down — use this to study structure, pacing and naturalness, never to recite.
Show the model answer
The park I'd choose is a fairly small one near my office. Locals call it the circle park, because it's built in a ring around an old water tank. It's only about the size of three football pitches, but I think it's the best-designed public space in the city. From the main gate, a wide path runs all the way round the edge in a loop that's exactly half a kilometre long, so two laps make a kilometre, and every fifty metres is marked on the ground. Inside the loop there's a lawn, a playground, an outdoor gym and, in the middle, the old water tank, now painted and turned into a viewing platform. Big neem trees line the whole path, so it's shaded for most of the day. Pretty much everyone uses it, but in shifts. At six in the morning it's runners, most of them glancing down at the distance markers. By mid-morning it's mothers with toddlers in the playground. At lunchtime office workers like me eat on the benches, and in the evening teenagers take over the outdoor gym while families walk round and round the loop. What makes it well designed, I think, is that nearly every choice solves a real problem. The shade means people actually come in summer, when most parks here are empty. The measured loop lets walkers track their distance without an app. The playground has a low fence with benches facing it, so parents can sit down and still keep an eye on their kids. And the lighting along the path means women feel safe walking after dark; it's still busy at nine at night. My one criticism is the toilets: there are only two, both by the main gate, which is a long way to go with a toddler.
Why this works: The description follows a logical walk from the gate inwards, and the 'in shifts' structure for who uses the park produces natural present simple with time expressions. The final bullet is answered with four design choices, each linked to its effect on real people, and the answer ends on a plain, specific criticism rather than a polished closing line.
Useful vocabulary for this topic
- a green space
General term for parks and gardens in a city.
- well laid out
Arranged sensibly; a precise way to praise a park's design.
- to cater for
To provide what a group needs: 'it caters for every age group'.
- an outdoor gym
Free exercise equipment installed in a public park.
- well maintained
Kept clean and in good condition.
- a lot of thought has gone into
Natural phrase for careful, deliberate design.
- to feel safe after dark
Useful for explaining the effect of lighting and busy paths.
Part 3 discussion
After your long turn the examiner moves into a four to five minute discussion on the same theme, working from two related discussion topics with about three questions each. The first stays close to your own experience; the second widens out. Answer with reasons and examples, not one-line replies.
- 1Why are parks important in cities?
- 2Should land in cities be used for parks or for housing?
- 3Who should pay for looking after public parks?
- 4How can public spaces be designed to suit both young and old people?
- 5Do people use parks differently now compared with the past?
- 6Should private companies be allowed to sponsor public parks?
More on how this family of cards is discussed: Places. Model answers for Part 3: Part 3 questions and answers.