Urban planners often praise the downtown district's ______ layout, noting that while residential towers provide high-density housing, commercial space...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
Urban planners often praise the downtown district's ______ layout, noting that while residential towers provide high-density housing, commercial spaces at street level ensure walkable neighborhoods, and integrated green spaces offer community gathering areas throughout the development.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
disconnected
cohesive
outdated
expensive
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "Urban planners often praise the downtown district's" |
|
| "[MISSING WORD]" |
|
| "layout, noting that while residential towers provide high-density housing," |
|
| "commercial spaces at street level ensure walkable neighborhoods," |
|
| "and integrated green spaces offer community gathering areas throughout the development." |
|
Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Urban planners praise a downtown layout that successfully integrates different types of spaces.
Argument Flow: The passage presents urban planners' positive view of a layout, then supports this with three specific examples showing how residential, commercial, and green spaces each serve important functions in the development.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
This is a fill-in-the-blank question asking us to choose the best logical connector. The answer must create the right relationship between what comes before and after the blank.
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- Looking at our analysis, we see urban planners praising a layout, then three examples showing how different elements work together effectively
- The residential towers provide housing density, commercial spaces create walkability, and green spaces offer community areas
- Each element serves a different but complementary purpose
- The missing word should describe a layout where these different components work well together rather than conflicting or existing separately
- So the right answer should describe a layout where different elements are unified and work together harmoniously
disconnected
✗ Incorrect
- This suggests elements that don't work together or are separated
- Contradicts the evidence that shows residential, commercial, and green spaces all contributing effectively to the neighborhood
cohesive
✓ Correct
- Perfectly captures how the different elements work together as a unified whole
- Matches our prethinking about elements working harmoniously
- Explains why planners would praise this layout - everything fits together well
outdated
✗ Incorrect
- Focuses on age/timing, which isn't relevant to the passage
- Doesn't connect to how the different spaces function together
expensive
✗ Incorrect
- Focuses on cost, which isn't mentioned or implied anywhere
- Doesn't explain the relationship between the different space types