"Common sense can be so uncommon, but it pervades this thoughtful and entertaining volume. The Infrastructure Book is an easy-to-digest and right-headed primer on the cities hidden beneath our cities." – Jeff Speck, urban planner and author of Walkable City
"Like a magician revealing the secrets of how amazing things happen, Sybil Derrible describes in fascinating detail the underlying foundation of our social fabric. The Infrastructure Book is a must-read." – Feniosky Peña-Mora, 2025 president of the American Society of Civil Engineers
"If you want to know how a city works, this is the book for you. The Infrastructure Book takes readers on a fascinating tour of the world explaining in everyday language how our water, energy, infrastructure, telecommunications, and transport systems work. Incredibly readable – my knowledge has increased tremendously." – Sir Robert Watson, CMG, FRS, professor emeritus of the University of East Anglia and former Chair of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Book Description
Clean water, paved roads, public transit, electricity and gas, sewers, waste processing, telecommunication, even the Internet – all this infrastructure is what makes cities work and powers our lives, often seamlessly and silently. Virtually everything we do and consume depends on infrastructure. Yet, most people have little to no idea how these systems work. How is water treated? How do cities manage rainwater? Why do traffic jams exist? How is electricity generated and distributed? What happens to trash after it is picked up? How does the Internet work?
In The Infrastructure Book, Sybil Derrible reveals the behind-the-scenes machinations of the foundational systems that make our societies function. Visiting sixteen cities around the world and their unique approaches to organizational challenges – from water distribution in Hong Kong to waste management in Tokyo, and from Chicago’s power grid to low Earth orbit satellites in space – this highly readable book uses fascinating case studies and historical detours to show how infrastructure works – and, sometimes, doesn’t.
With large-scale infrastructure repairs looming and the need for existing infrastructure to be transformed, the book also shows how infrastructure can be more sustainable and resilient. After reading The Infrastructure Book, readers will never look at a city the same way.
