City words for Alias — streets, buildings, services

Street, traffic light, coffee shop and the queue at the clinic. Words from the other side of your front door.

A set about the city: streets and squares, buildings and offices, shops, parks, the services that work while you sleep, and everything you pass on the way to work. From the bench to the town hall. No city or district names — explain a city in general, not your own.

Who this set is for

Everyone who has ever waited at a traffic light takes the first level. Then come boulevard, caretaker and parking meter — words for people who live in a city rather than drive through it. The third level is for people who know what a master plan is and how an urbanist differs from an architect.

Who this set is for

A group that gathered in a city and has just been discussing where to park. Neighbours and new residents of the district. People who moved from a village to a city or the other way round — they explain stairwell and caretaker from their own experience. The third level belongs where there is at least one urbanist, architect or simply someone who reads the local news.

Stoplight

Works: “everyone stands and looks up until it turns green.” A familiar scene at the crossing. Does not work: “a device for regulating traffic” — the room says sign, markings, policeman and spends half a minute going through options.

Stairwell

Works: “the place where the prams stand and it smells of someone else’s dinner.” A smell and a detail lead to the word faster than any definition. Does not work: “the entrance of a block of flats” — it is nearly the word itself, and the room waits for you to say something more.

Boulevard

Works: “a wide street with trees and benches down the middle, where you stroll instead of hurrying somewhere.” Through what people do on it. Does not work: “a type of city street” — far too broad, the room names avenue, alley, embankment first.

Where groups go wrong

The first trap is your own city. “It is where our bus stop is” only a neighbour understands, and the rest of the room sits silent. Explain the city in general. The second is institutions by function: “they issue documents there” fits five different words. Come in through what a person feels inside: the queue, the ticket number, the little window. The third is streets by size: “a big street” fits avenue, boulevard and highway alike, while the difference is in the trees, the cars and whether people stroll there.

Do not explain through your district: "next to our shop" works only for neighbours.
Institutions go through the feeling inside: queue, ticket number, little window, smell.
Tell streets apart not by size but by the life on them: trees and benches, cars, water alongside.

Easy

Familiar words that land on the first clue. For warming up, for kids and for mixed groups.

city, town, street, square, road, pavement, crossing, zebra, stoplight, crossroads, sign, car, bus, trolleybus, tram, metro, stop, taxi, bicycle, scooter, park, garden, bench, fountain, monument, streetlight, building, stairwell, floor, yard, playground, swing, sandpit, shop, supermarket, market, bazaar, pharmacy, hospital, clinic, school, nursery, university, library, museum, theatre, cinema, circus, zoo, stadium, pool, cafe, bistro, restaurant, pizzeria, canteen, bank, cashpoint, post-office, salon, barber, church, cathedral, station, airport, bridge, river, embankment, beach, hotel, office, factory, plant, police, firehouse, ambulance, dustcart, bin, caretaker, postman, shopkeeper, cashier, guard, courier, pedestrian, driver, passenger, neighbour, resident, tourist, crowd, queue, noise, jam, parking, garage, centre, outskirts, district, signboard

Medium

Takes a few sentences and some imagination. The default setting for an ordinary evening.

avenue, boulevard, lane, alley, descent, dead-end, bypass, roundabout, flyover, tunnel, underpass, junction, verge, kerb, markings, carriageway, bikeway, meter, pound, tow-truck, patrol, radar, barrier, checkpoint, intercom, concierge, housing, manager, utilities, plumber, liftman, chute, container, sorting, recycling, smokestack, waterworks, grid, substation, transformer, pipeline, manhole, sewer, culvert, drainage, asphalt, cobbles, paving, flowerbed, lawn, hedge, sapling, greening, gazebo, rotunda, arch, gate, tower, dome, spire, facade, balcony, loft, new-build, tenement, high-rise, cottage, dormitory, hostel, hospice, dispensary, surgery, casualty, notary, administration, mayor, town-hall, court, prosecutor, recruitment, passport, registration, residence, polling, precinct, ballot, municipal, revenue, treasury, archive, exhibition, gallery, philharmonic, planetarium, observatory, racecourse, rink, skatepark, pawnshop, newsstand

Hard

Rare or abstract words. More failed rounds, and more laughing at them.

urbanist, urbanism, master-plan, development, developer, density, gentrification, agglomeration, suburbia, suburb, megalopolis, metropolis, satellite, infrastructure, transit, interchange, hub, logistics, commuting, migration, alderman, magistrate, self-government, referendum, petition, budget, participation, community, commons, amenities, renovation, reconstruction, restoration, landmark, heritage, conservation, historic, easement, cadastre, surveying, zoning, industrial, recreational, waterfront, pier, port, dock, shipyard, elevator, silo, depot, garaging, tramway, trolleybuses, dispatcher, routing, headway, ridership, capacity, throughput, congestion, gridlock, signalling, regulation, priority, refuge, island, soundproofing, viaduct, aqueduct, collector, reservoir, mains, intake, treatment, incinerator, landfill, reclamation, ecological, smog, dust, lighting, efficient, colonnade, portico, pilaster, pediment, cornice, bay, mezzanine, firewall, municipality, skyline, plaza, promenade, kiosk, bollard, turnstile, funicular, monorail