The Infrastructure Book: How Cities Work and Power Our Lives

by Sybil Derrible

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, world-renowned 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 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.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Technology, Urban Planning, Audiobook, Economics

260 pages, Paperback

Published March 4, 2025

About the author

Sybil Derrible is Professor of Urban Engineering and Director of the Complex and Sustainable Urban Networks (CSUN) Laboratory at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). He is a world-renowned scholar on infrastructure and Lead Author of the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) Seventh Global Environment Outlook (GEO-7) report.

He is the recipient of a US National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award and a Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). He was also an invited participant to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Grainger Foundations Frontiers of Engineering Symposium in 2023. Since 2019, he has been recognized in the top 2% researchers in his field for career and single-year impact by Elsevier.

He has published over one hundred publications, and he is the author of the popular science book "The Infrastructure Book: How Cities Work and Power Our Lives" (Prometheus Books, 2025) and the textbook "Urban Engineering for Sustainability" (MIT Press, 2019).

He lives in Chicago (Illinois).

Reviews

[Rishabh · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you think of infrastructure as a dry or overly technical topic, this book will offer you a refreshing new perspective. It offers an insightful and yet surprisingly engaging read. What sets this book apart is its compelling, almost novel-like storytelling. It takes you on a journey through time and across cities around the globe to discuss each infrastructure and its functioning. And, by doing so, it brings infrastructure to life and, very importantly, emphasize that infrastructure must always be people-centric.

[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

My best friend often describes the drama and impact of storm sewerage planning to me. This book made me think of those conversations. So many things we take for granted daily like our water, electricity, communication networks, transportation etc are the result of careful human design, which are sometimes brilliant and other times flawed. A lot of learning!

[Kelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this one more than I did, and although the topic of infrastructure in general was interesting, well-researched, and nicely summarized, I think I have two main quips with this book.

Mainly I think it is just wayyyyy too much content for one book. I can really appreciate that the author wanted to cover all aspects of infrastructure in one go, and they really tried to organize it in a thoughtful way. I just kept getting lost and wishing things were explained a bit more slowly or with more detail because there is just so much information to take in here.

(And I just don't like the author's voice, sorry. He sprinkles in too much autobiographical information for me, and rather than making it feel more personal it kept annoying me.)

Overall however I really liked the choice to introduce the various infrastructures by giving a specific city as an example each time, as I feel like I got to know the city a bit (as in travel writing), and the technologies discussed will make you think about how cities and society function more than you probably have thought about it before.

[Lydia Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this book! The author’s enthusiasm is contagious and whisks you through a collection of chapters on different types of infrastructure that form the foundations of life as we know it.

“Infrastructure is not about technology. It is about people,” is a sentiment the author carries through the pages, emphasising its critical role in strengthening social fabric, rather than lauding it for engineering ingenuity alone. The examples he gives are therefore quite relatable and helped me digest more technical content with ease (minus, perhaps, the chapter on telecommunications!).

You’ll learn to look at familiar cities with a new set of eyes as you, hopefully, analyse things like electric wires, car lanes, recycling norms with freshly awakened vigour! Would recommend.

[Ray Moon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interested In The Infrastructure That Supports Your Basic Needs?

The author divides his book into five parts: Water, Transportation, Energy, and Communication Infrastructure. Today, all of these are ubiquitous. The only time I think about them is when I am sitting in a parking lot on the freeway or my house is part of a rolling blackout. When I read the teaser for this book, I realized that I could learn the origin of these infrastructures and how they evolved. Learn where they have been implemented the best to date and where they have not. Most important for any potential reader, this book is written at a non-technical level.

The author has not provided cursory overviews. For example, the first part describes infrastructure that collects, processes, delivers, collects excess and used, processes, and releases water back into the environment. The author uses Rome as the first city that needed to import water to quench the thirst of a burgeoning population. The Romans in the 4th century BCE built their first aqueduct. It was 10.5 miles long. Water flows downhill. The change in height between the source and Rome was 38 feet. That means the slope was less than a tenth of a degree. A remarkable feat of engineering by those ancient Romans is just the first instance in this book, which is chock-full of intriguing examples. Since fresh water isn’t available everywhere, the next chapter deals with technologies to purify water. The next chapter deals with how to distribute the water to the population even when they live at very divergent elevations. Once the water is used, it must be collected, including any rainfall. Rome’s solution was simple. The water was all channeled in underground sewers and flowed into the Tiber. Offloading your waste to your neighbors is not a viable solution for long. The next two chapters cover this topic. These systems generally have to handle the normal level of sewage and an occasional large quantity of stormwater. If these systems do not work, the effects are immediate and serious.

As the first chapter uses Rome, each chapter uses a different location to illustrate the principles. In many of the locations, he has lived for some time. He provides little vignettes on the cities with places to eat. This aspect tends to add the right amount of lightness to make the reading easier while he explains the technology and how it works in that city. These vignettes are separated from the text in a box and a different color, which makes it easy to differentiate from the regular text.

One piece of information brought a smile to my face. I learned something that I did not know and would, if asked, confidently give the wrong answer. The author calls Saint-Pierre and Miquelon home. It is a small island south of Newfoundland. It is not Canadian territory but France.

This book is the first that I have read by this author. I found the book was easy to read, very informative, and not too technical. My understanding of the complexity of the infrastructure that supports our lives was significantly improved. I highly recommend reading this book. I rate it with five stars.

I received the free, pre-publication e-book version of this novel from Prometheus Books, an imprint of The Globe Pequot Publishing Group, through NetGalley. My review is based solely on my own reading experience. Thank you, Prometheus Books, for the opportunity to read and review this book.

[Vipul Murarka · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was always curious to learn about the infrastructure that we observe/use on a daily basis. But couldn't actually comprehend as to where to start and how to go about it as there is plethora of information online that one tends to get lost. This book is probably the best option to get to know about how the infra in cities work and how we almost daily use them without appreciating the efforts gone behind building these.

The author has, in a unique manner, described several infrastructure such as water, transport, electricity, telecommunication. To deal with these topics, one might feel that it could be boring and technical. The author however has made us travel to 16 cities in each chapter (actually more cities as there is additional story of the infra at the end of the chapter) to help us understand how the infra was developed. He has very systematically broken the complex infra to smaller fragments and in a very interesting and simple language helped us appreciate the infra that we are surrounded with. The only infra that I found to be slightly difficult to understand was the one on telecommunication as it had several technical jargons. otherwise this book has helped me appreciate and i am now intrigued to go deeper into the topics. Who knows, i probably will start paying more attention to the infra of a particular city when i am traveling.

The book was given as an ARC by Edelweiss and I intend to purchase this book once released as it is one of those that deserves a spot in your library.

[Lola · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy from the publisher through Netgalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

I like learning new things and I didn't know a lot about infrastructure, so that's why I picked up this book. And I am glad I did. I really enjoyed learning more about infrastructure. The book is well written and I enjoyed reading little bits at a time and learning more.

This book is split up in chapters that cover different types of infrastructure. Each chapter travels to one city to explain the concepts and then often at the end of a chapter uses another city as an example of how things work there, sometimes similar and sometimes differently. This gives a good sense of how the infrastructure is created to fit the needs of a city.

Along the way the author explains the concepts of infrastructure in an easy to understand way. I have to admit I sometimes felt a bit lost when reading the more technical details or the calculations for some things, but those were only a few moments. Most of the time I could udnerstand and follow along despite having no knowledge about this topic at all, which is all thanks to the accessible way the author wrote this book.

To summarize: This book was very informative and easy to understand even for someone who doesn’t know a lot about the topic. I liked the way it was written. Traveling to different cities to learn about the concepts of infrastructure and I finished the book feeling like I understood way more about the topic and the way it shapes our lives. All in all I can definitely recommend this book.

[Thien-Nam · Rating 4 out of 5]

If nothing else, I've walked away with a more complete perspective on the human-made foundations of our daily lives. While not life-changing by any means, the author provides a fairly enjoyable walk-through of what could otherwise easily devolve into a fairly dry topic by a lesser writer. The "gimmick" in this case is that our journey through the types of infrastructure (water, transport, energy, and telecommunication) is sprinkled with anecdotes from the author's personal travel journal through exemplary cities throughout the world. The effect is as intended: I found myself more interested and better able to recall the otherwise colorless details of landfills and bus fares when they were grounded against the vibrant descriptions of Paris and Cairo. In general, the book stayed fairly general. If you're looking for in-depth knowledge about technology for hard-hitting analysis on the economics or politics of infrastructure, then you won't find it here. But if you're looking for a complete, well-paced, and surprisingly memorable tour of our shared urban existence, then this book is for you.

[Liza Konovalova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you, NetGalley for providing the ARC of the book.

Overall, I thought the book was interesting but it ultimately failed to be entertaining and engaging.

The good: the author clearly knows their stuff: all the technologies were explained well and made accessible to those of us with no knowledge about infrastructure.

The bad: as the tagline above states, it was just a bit boring. I liked that the author picked a city to illustrate a point but I felt like that example could have been done in a more engaging way. I also wanted to understand why and how this affects me (and others) in a profound way. In other words, how does infrastructure shapes our social world. There some indications of this but the author mostly spent time explaining how our water is cleaned.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating overview of the infrastructure that silently keeps a city running. I enjoyed learning about different systems for obtaining energy, transferring information, and controlling waste and water runoff. The book is short and easy to read, with lots of footnotes that expound on the information and put it into context. It was perfect for a reader like me who is not directly involved with the decision-making in my city, just curious about how it all works and if there are things I could do, personally, to help it run more smoothly.

I received a free Advanced Reader's Copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Sierra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tons of content, but still manageable and memorable. Taking on all the major infrastructure systems in all cities is a lot, but I am better equipped to think about what powers the places I go to. The reliance on case studies was what this book work. I think this was adapted from a textbook that Derrible wrote, which explains a lot but also makes it a lot more impressive. I like how he talked a little bit about his background without spending too long on it, and then ended with talking about his hometown, which was a lovely way to tie everything up.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Eugene · Rating 5 out of 5]

You might imagine that it is paradoxical that a book could systematically explain core infrastructure systems whilst communicating in an accessible and entertaining manner, however this book does this exceptionally well. This book is full of interesting anecdotes, humour, thoroughly-researched evidence, and above all, a spirit that wants the reader to love and appreciate infrastructure as much as the author clearly does. I really enjoyed this book; it's a great introduction for anyone who wants to understand how our cities work at a deeper level.

[Anton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the book! It offers a complex and very interesting look at the interconnected systems that sustain urban life, from transportation to energy to water networks. As an educator, this book helped me see the broader picture of how infrastructure shapes society (a critical question of our today's life), emphasizing the interdependence of various systems. It provides valuable insights to share with students about complex, real-world connections, fostering a deeper understanding of sustainability and urban planning.

[Mick de Waart · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an urban planner, I thought the book was good but a bit too shallow for me personally. I would’ve liked Derrible to go a bit more in depth.

I actually thought the final chapter, where he started speculating a bit based on his expertise, was the most interesting.

Definitely not a bad read, probably even a very interesting read for a layman, but you might find it lacking a bit if you’re also a professional who’s already aware of most of the basics.

[Barbara Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, all about infrastructure, is wrapped up in personal stories and a trip around the world. Infrastructure profoundly affects people who live in developed areas - that includes all of us! Our library has an audio copy that I listened to while pulling weeds. (So many weeds!)

[Scott Benson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should read this!
Wonderful explanation of the critical infrastructure that we all took often take for granted. Well written and easy to follow.

[Nicole Laumer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book for non engineers to understand how our systems actually work!

[Chandler Elmore · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating behind the curtain look at what powers our lives and allows us to move around freely

[Nat · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a super interesting book and I did learn a lot but it was hard to follow with the number of shorthands used… it kinda made me want to give up on following it

[Akanksha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t expect a book about infrastructure to be this engaging, but The Infrastructure Book completely surprised me. It’s informative without being overwhelming, and it makes you see your city differently. Genuinely enjoyable read

[DJ Caalaman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Never taking infrastructure for granted again

[Marie Rowley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't remember why I picked this up but I'm glad I did! It promised to change the way you look at the city around you, and that was more or less true. Every chapter approached a different element of urban infrastructure -- water treatment, storm water management, solid waste management, electricity generation, etc -- and used a city around the world as a case study to talk about how it can and does work in cities. Every chapter concluded with a different city for comparison, for better or worse. I learned so much! In almost every chapter I kept doing the thing I think my husband pretty much hates at this point where I go "HUH!" and then set the book I'm reading down and interrupt him in whatever he's doing to share some amazing fact I've just learned. I repeat so many facts from books I've read that a friend just told me I'm her favorite nonfiction book podcast. ANYWAY. My only critiques are that the book got bogged down a bit too much in technicalities at times (it promised not to but then did anyway -- trying to thread the needle between being for general audiences and urban planning/civil engineering students), and that in some chapters the author introduced a city for a case study and then barely actually mentioned it. The city case studies worked best when she really talked about them, but in a few chapters they felt like an afterthought, like for public transit, it was like a deep, long discussion on how hard it is to run a complex public transit network and then at the end it was like "and London has the biggest one." Right, so how do they do it? It's like she just ran out of space to go further. That happened a few times. But on the whole, really fascinating.

[Sybil Derrible]

Here it is—my book! I can't promise you'll love the style, but I promise you'll learn something new. I poured my heart and soul into it. As you notice the infrastructure around you or hear about it in the media, you might be interested to learn how water is treated, why cities flood, what causes traffic congestion, how electricity is generated, what happens to waste after a garbage truck picks it up, how the internet works ... if The Infrastructure Book sparks even a tiny bit of curiosity, I’ll call it a success.