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? 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, world-renown urban engineering expert 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 city planning in Los Angeles to waste management in Tokyo, Chicago's power grid to Shanghai's unique take on traffic, public transportation in the busiest cities and water treatment in the driest deserts - 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 our current infrastructure to be completely transformed if we hope to be sustainable and resilient into the future. After reading The Infrastructure Book, readers will never look at a city the same way.
Sybil Derrible is a Professor of Urban Engineering and the Director of the Complex and Sustainable Urban Networks (CSUN) Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He is a world-renown scholar on infrastructure and a Lead Author on the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) Seventh Global Environment Outlook (GEO-7) report. Sybil Derrible is the current chair of the AMR10 Critical Transportation Infrastructure Protection Committee with the Transportation Research Board (TRB) and the past chair of the Sustainable Urban Systems section with the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE). His research interests lie at the nexus of infrastructure planning and design, urban metabolism, and complexity and data science. He teaches on urban engineering and data science.
"[A] penetrating analysis of urban infrastructure..."-- "Nature" "Derrible's book is a worthy new tool... expertly done with a snappy and engaging writing style perfectly suited to his goal of making engineering accessible."-- "ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers)" "Finally a definitive infrastructure book from a trusted expert that is accessible to laypeople and covers a whole range of structure types and functions, all using case studies from cities around the globe. Whether you're a nerd or just want to attempt to understand the extreme complexity that makes up the modern systems that stage our lives, this is a great read for you!"-- "The Colorado Sun" "We're all going to need this book sometime... [Derrible] is a capable and companionable tour guide for what amounts to a culturally astute infrastructure travelogue... I'll be keeping my copy close on my desk to look up everything about infrastructure that I didn't know but was too embarrassed, or lazy, to find out until now."-- "Engineering News-Record" "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 "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 "In The Infrastructure Book, Sybil Derrible weaves these stories together to explore how we shape infrastructure, how infrastructure shapes us, and how fragile that relationship can be. If you've ever wondered how many people, pipes, pumps, and purifiers stand between you and a glass of clean water, this book is well worth your time."--Guru Madhavan, Norman R. Augustine Senior Scholar and Senior Director of Programs, National Academy of Engineering "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 Pena-Mora, 2025 president of the American Society of Civil Engineers
