Includes bibliographical references (pages 271-280) and index

Up -- Switch -- Wet -- Way -- Drive -- Loco -- Connect -- City

Up: The most visible part of a city's skyline is the skyscraper--do you know how they're built? -- Switch: Sparks will fly--we'll explore the role of electricity, and you'll understand how the grid works -- Wet: Cities can't survive without water, and they produce a lot of waste. Expect toilet humor! -- Way: Let's head out on the open road, and explore beautiful bridges and the science of traffic jams -- Drive: What good is a road without a car? Here we'll talk about everything from tires to fuel cells -- Loco: We'll dig our very own tunnel, and you'll discover why 'leaves on the line' cause problems -- Connect: Cities contain other less obvious networks--food and goods, communications and money -- City: Spend a day of discovery in an imaginary future city

"Cities are a big deal. More people now live in them than don't, and with a growing world population, the urban jungle is only going to get busier in the coming decades. But how often do we stop to think about what makes our cities work? Cities are built using some of the most creative and revolutionary science and engineering ideas--from steel structures that scrape the sky to glass cables that enable communication at the speed of light--but most of us are too busy to notice. Science and the City is your guidebook to that hidden world, helping you to uncover some of the remarkable technologies that keep the world's great metropolises moving. Laurie Winkless takes us around cities in six continents to find out how they're dealing with the challenges of feeding, housing, powering and connecting more people than ever before. In this book, you'll meet urban pioneers from history, along with today's experts in everything from roads to time, and you will uncover the vital role science has played in shaping the city around you. But more than that, by exploring cutting-edge research from labs across the world, you'll build your own vision of the megacity of tomorrow, based on science fact rather than science fiction."--Dust jacket