Read the excerpt and identify the author's main purpose:

"Urban policymakers frequently prioritize flashy architectural megaprojects over walkable pedestrian corridors. Yet empirical data consistently shows that pedestrianized streetscapes yield far greater long-term economic vitality, public health gains, and social cohesion than isolated commercial high-rises."

The author's main purpose is to:

Answer and explanation

Correct answer: D. advocate for pedestrian-friendly urban planning over isolated megaprojects

  1. Step 1: Analyze the rhetorical contrast: the author juxtaposes flashy megaprojects against pedestrianized streetscapes and presents evidence supporting pedestrian priority.
  2. Step 2: The communicative intention is to persuade municipal planners to favor walkable public infrastructure.
Answer
advocate for pedestrian-friendly urban planning over isolated megaprojects.
Why not the others: 'encourage municipal governments to ban all commercial construction' exaggerates the argument into an extreme, unrealistic policy; 'prove that architectural high-rises cause immediate economic collapse' distorts a critique of priorities into an unfounded claim of collapse; 'criticize pedestrians for avoiding urban shopping plazas' contradicts the text's defense of pedestrian infrastructure.

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