How much do you really know about the systems that keep a city alive? The Works: Anatomy of a City contains everything you ever wanted to know about what makes New York City run. When you flick on your light switch the light goes on--how? When you put out your garbage, where does it go? When you flush your toilet, what happens to the waste? How does water get from a reservoir in the mountains to your city faucet? How do flowers get to your corner store from Holland, or bananas get there from Ecuador? Who is operating the traffic lights all over the city? And what in the world is that steam coming out from underneath the potholes on the street? Across the city lies a series of extraordinarily complex and interconnected systems. Often invisible, and wholly taken for granted, these are the systems that make urban life possible. The Works: Anatomy of a City offers a cross section of this hidden infrastructure, using beautiful, innovative graphic images combined with short, clear text explanations to answer all the questions about the way things work in a modern city. It describes the technologies that keep the city functioning, as well as the people who support them-the pilots that bring the ships in over the Narrows sandbar, the sandhogs who are currently digging the third water tunnel under Manhattan, the television engineer who scales the Empire State Building's antenna for routine maintenance, the electrical wizards who maintain the century-old system that delivers power to subways. Did you know that the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is so long, and its towers are so high, that the builders had to take the curvature of the earth's surface into account when designing it? Did you know that the George Washington Bridge takes in approximately $1 million per day in tolls? Did you know that retired subway cars travel by barge to the mid-Atlantic, where they are dumped overboard to form natural reefs for fish? Or that if the telecom cables under New York were strung end to end, they would reach from the earth to the sun? While the book uses New York as its example, it has relevance well beyond that city's boundaries as the systems that make New York a functioning metropolis are similar to those that keep the bright lights burning in big cities everywhere. The Works is for anyone who has ever stopped midcrosswalk, looked at the rapidly moving metropolis around them, and wondered, how does this all work?
Author(s): Kate Ascher
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Year: 2005
Language: English
Commentary: 32781
Pages: 244
Cover......Page 1
Copyright page......Page 8
A Note To Readers......Page 12
Contents......Page 13
Moving People......Page 14
Streets......Page 16
Regional Traffic......Page 18
Traffic Signals......Page 20
Split Phasing......Page 21
Traffic Cameras......Page 22
Thru Streets Program......Page 23
Traffic-Calming Measures......Page 24
Street Surfaces......Page 26
Street Repair......Page 28
Sidewalks......Page 32
Pedestrians......Page 33
Street Signs......Page 34
Streetlights......Page 36
Parking Meters......Page 37
Street Trees......Page 38
Subway......Page 40
The Subway Network......Page 42
Stations......Page 44
Subway Announcements......Page 47
Trains......Page 48
Signals and Interlocking......Page 50
Train Crews......Page 52
Breakdowns......Page 54
Pump Rooms......Page 56
Support Cars......Page 57
Bridges & Tunnels......Page 58
Bridges......Page 60
Bridge Operations......Page 63
Bridge Maintenance......Page 64
Tunnels......Page 66
Tunnel Maintenance......Page 69
Moving Freight......Page 70
Rail Freight......Page 72
Railcars......Page 74
Classification Yards......Page 76
Transcontinental Freight......Page 80
Maritime Freight......Page 82
The Harbor......Page 83
Entering the Harbor......Page 84
Managing Harbor Traffic......Page 86
Vessel Types......Page 87
Harbor Maintenance......Page 88
The Port......Page 90
The Container Revolution......Page 92
Air Cargo......Page 94
Commodities......Page 96
Air Cargo Facilities......Page 97
Stowage......Page 98
Express Carriers......Page 99
Markets......Page 100
Power......Page 104
Electricity......Page 106
Consumption......Page 107
Generation......Page 110
Power Plants......Page 112
The State Grid......Page 113
Alternative Energy Sources......Page 114
Distribution......Page 116
Substations and Transformers......Page 118
Wiring the Street......Page 120
Blackouts......Page 122
Natural Gas......Page 124
Pipeline Delivery......Page 126
Local Distribution......Page 128
Repair and Maintenance......Page 129
Steam......Page 130
Distribution......Page 132
Maintenance and Repair......Page 134
Steam Explosions......Page 135
Communications......Page 136
Telephone......Page 138
Switching Stations......Page 141
Underground Cables......Page 142
Cell Phones......Page 144
Pay Phones......Page 146
311......Page 147
Emergency Communications......Page 148
Moving the Mail......Page 150
Mail Distribution......Page 152
Zip Codes......Page 154
The Airwaves......Page 156
Television......Page 158
Cable Television......Page 160
Satellite Broadcasting......Page 161
Radio Technology......Page 162
Transmission......Page 163
Keeping It Clean......Page 164
Water......Page 166
Reservoirs......Page 169
Aqueducts......Page 170
Local Distribution......Page 172
Regulators & Pressure......Page 173
Hydrants......Page 174
Water Storage......Page 175
Leaks......Page 176
Water Tunnel No. 3......Page 178
Water Tanks......Page 180
Consumption......Page 181
Water Treatment......Page 182
Sewage......Page 184
Collection System......Page 186
Combined Sewer Overflow......Page 188
Floatables......Page 190
Sewage Treatment......Page 192
Sludge Processing......Page 194
Managing Effluent......Page 196
Garbage......Page 198
Sanitation Equipment......Page 200
Collection Routes......Page 202
Special Events......Page 203
Exporting Garbage......Page 204
Fresh Kills......Page 206
Recycling......Page 208
Composting......Page 211
Commercial Waste......Page 212
Roosevelt Island......Page 213
Street Cleaning......Page 214
Snow Removal......Page 216
The Future......Page 218
Second Avenue Subway......Page 220
Access to the Region s Core (ARC)......Page 221
Cross-Harbor Tunnel......Page 222
Bayonne Bridge......Page 223
Hydro Turbines......Page 224
Liquefied Natural Gas......Page 225
Wireless on Pole Tops......Page 226
Freedom Tower Broadcasting......Page 227
The Lloyd Aquifer......Page 228
Containerized Garbage......Page 229
Acknowledgments......Page 230
Image Credits......Page 232
C......Page 234
E......Page 235
G......Page 236
M......Page 237
N......Page 238
R......Page 239
S......Page 240
T......Page 241
Z......Page 242
