Reading ComprehensionDifficulty: Hard

PT139 S2 P1 Q3 Explanation

New Urbanism

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Reading Comprehension question.

TopicsNon-Author OpinionSociety

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Passage

Over the past 50 years, expansive, low-density communities have proliferated at the edges of many cities in the United States and Canada, creating a phenomenon known as suburban sprawl. Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck, a group of prominent town planners belonging to a movement called New Urbanism, contend that suburban town planners contend, as it is to imagine the concept of family independent of the home.

Suburban housing subdivisions, Duany and his colleagues add, usually contain homes identical not only in appearance but also in price, resulting in a de facto economic segregation of residential neighborhoods. Children growing up in these neighborhoods, whatever their economic circumstances, are certain to be ill prepared for life in a diverse society. give people of diverse backgrounds and lifestyles an opportunity to interact and thus develop mutual respect.

Opponents of New Urbanism claim that migration to sprawling suburbs is an expression of people’s legitimate desire to secure the enjoyment and personal mobility provided by the automobile and the lifestyle that it makes possible. However, the New Urbanists do not question people’s right to their own values; instead, they suggest that individual mobility, consumption, and wealth should be valued absolutely, regardless of their impact on community life.

What this question is testing

Non-Author Opinion

Your task

Pin down exactly what the question asks about the passage — a detail, the author's view, the structure, or the main point — before looking at the choices.

Common trap

Answers that restate a true detail from the passage but don't answer the specific question being asked.

Winning move

Anticipate the answer in your own words from the passage, then find the choice that matches that prediction.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
3.

The passage most strongly suggests that the New Urbanists would agree with which one of

Answer choices

  1. Too Strong12% picked this

    The primary factor affecting a neighborhood's conduciveness to the maintenance of civility is the amount of time required to get

    While it may be a factor (first paragraph) to say that it is the primary factor goes too far.

  2. Contradiction2% picked this

    Private citizens in suburbs have little opportunity to influence the long-term effects of zoning policies

    New Urbanists seem to suggest that private citizens do have influence over the long-term effects of zoning policies in the third paragraph.

  3. Contradiction2% picked this

    People who live in suburban neighborhoods usually have little difficulty finding easily accessible jobs that do not require

    The passage suggests that people in suburban neighborhoods must commute long distances to get to work (second paragraph).

  4. Correct59% picked this

    The spatial configuration of suburban neighborhoods both influences and is influenced by the attitudes of those

    Why this is right

    This is supported in the second and third paragraphs.

    Skill tested: Non-Author Opinion · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

  5. Contradiction26% picked this

    Although people have a right to their own values, personal values should not affect the ways in

    The passage suggests that personal values should be viewed more critically and should affect the ways in which neighborhoods are designed (second paragraph).

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