How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems That Shape Our World


Description :
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2023 BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY"Revlatory, superbly written, andpulsing with wisdom and humanity, How Infrastructure Works is a masterpiece. 8221 8212Ed Yong, author of An Immense WorldA new way of seeing the essential systems hidden inside our walls, under our streets, and all around us Infrastructure is a marvel, meeting our basic needs and enabling lives of astounding ease and productivity that would have been unimaginable just a century ago. It is the physical manifestation of our social contract 8212of our ability to work collectively for the public good 8212and it consists of the most complex and vast technological systems ever created by humans. A soaring bridge is an obvious infrastructural feat, but so are the mostly hidden reservoirs, transformers, sewers, cables, and pipes that deliver water, energy, and information to wherever we need it. When these systems work well, they hide in plain sight. Engineer and materials scientist Deb Chachra takes readers on a fascinating tour of these essential utilities, revealing how they work, what it takes to keep them running, just how much we rely on them 8212but also whom they work well for, and who pays the costs. Across the U.S. and elsewhere, these systems are suffering from systemic neglect and the effects of climate change, becoming unavoidably visible when they break down. Communities that are already marginalized often bear the brunt of these failures. But Chachra maps out a path for transforming and rebuilding our shared infrastructure to be not just functional but also equitable, resilient, and
sustainable. The cost of not being able to rely on these systems is unthinkably high. We need to learn how to see them 8212and fix them, together 8212before it 8217s too late.