Toggle Nav

Tel: +44 (0) 20 8829 3000

Email: customercare@turnaround-uk.com

How Infrastructure Works

Inside the Systems That Shape Our World

ISBN-13: 9780593086599

Author(s): Deb Chachra

Subjects: TN

Publisher: PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE GROUP

Publisher Imprint: Riverhead

Publication Date: 17-10-2023

Format: Hardback

Availability: Temporary unavailable

£25.99
How Infrastructure Works

About the book

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 - of our ability to work collectively for the public good - and 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 - but also, who they work well for, and who pays the costs. Across the US 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 - and fix them, together - before it's too late.