Description

Science is secretly at work behind the scenes of major cities of the world and will continue to be so. Technological advances in fields as diverse as quantum mechanics, electronics, and nanotechnology are proving increasingly important to city life, and the urban world will turn to science to deliver solutions to the problems of the future; more than 50 percent of the world's population now lives in cities, and that proportion is growing fast. Can engineering provide the answer to a viable megacity future?

Science and the City starts at your front door and guides you through the technology of everyday city life: how new approaches to building materials help to construct the tallest skyscrapers in Dubai, how New Yorkers use light to treat their drinking water, how Tokyo commuters' footsteps power gates in train stations. Uncovering the science and engineering that shapes our cities, Laurie Winkless reveals how technology will help us meet the challenges of a soaring world population--from an ever-increasing demand for power, water, and internet access, to simply how to get about in a megacity of tens of millions of people.

PUBLICATION DETAILS

Published
11 Aug 2016
Format
Hardback
Edition
1st
Extent
336
ISBN
9781472950833
Imprint
Bloomsbury Sigma
Dimensions
216 x 135mm
Publisher
Bloomsbury Publishing

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Chapters

Chapter 0 Hello

Chapter 1 To Stick Or Not To Stick

Chapter 2 A Gecko’s Grip

Chapter 3 Gone Swimming

Chapter 4 Flying High

Chapter 5 Hit the Road

Chapter 6 These Shaky Isles

Chapter 7 Break The Ice

Chapter 8 Human Touch

Chapter 9 Closer Than Close

Physicist and materials and energy harvesting specialist Winkless explores the engineering feats that make urban lifestyles possible . . . [She] explains the complexities of the topic in broad terms, making them accessible to general readers.

– Library Journal

In this cheerful addition to the how-things-work genre, physicist and science writer Winkless reminds readers that urban areas are now home to more than half the human race and use an increasing proportion of the Earth's natural resources, so it behooves people to know how they operate.

– Publishers Weekly

Winkless' behind-the-bustle tour [of the science of cities] also offers abundant facts of General interest . . . [A] packed-with-detail, textual work that will be a hit with both young adult and adult patrons curious about what makes cities tick.

– Booklist

Got Science Review

Got Science are pretty tough on pop-science books, so I was honoured to receive this review for Science and the City, from them in August 2016. gotscience.org/2016/08/book-review

Carter Journalism Institute at New York University

This review from the Carter Journalism Institute absolutely made my week! coopersquarereview.org/review/the-city-deconstructed/