Sustainability scientist Mikhail Chester, director of ASU’s Resilient Infrastructure Laboratory, has published a new book. Urban Infrastructure: Reflections for 2100 is an edited volume imagining infrastructure transitions and goals at end-of-century.
The book overview follows.
Infrastructure systems deliver basic and critical services. They are the pillars of civilization. In the twenty-first century, infrastructure will need to change to fit the needs of a new world. What shape will they take? What function will they provide? Who will they serve and why? In this book, forty experts from around the world share their reflections for infrastructure at 2100.
The book is a series of science fiction short stories, essays, and poems. Climate change, sustainability, resilience, and technology are recurring themes in the reflections. Written in 2020, it is impossible to predict how infrastructure will be in 2100. The goal of this book is not to make accurate descriptions of the future. Instead, it is to provide a dialogue and visions of what we could hope for or fear. Only time will tell on which side of the balance we end up leaning.