This is one of those excessively informative, almost formulaic books designed to enlighten the urban inhabitant ( it could be a city anywhere in the world) about basic features of urban engineering. It has an English feel ( many English and north American examples) to the urban landscape examples. This book provides a basic information about technology and engineering systems in cities. It is written by engineers and this is a book likely to strongly appeal to engineers. The essential services in managing raw materials, waste products, water, transport power and communication are identified and illustrated. You are taken through all of the systems and processes needed for a city to function with ease and success. The book is well illustrated with diagrams, maps and photographs . The formulae offered is of questions around what , where and dimensions. The book is aimed at the non - specialist reader and signals the shapes of bricks and mortar, steel pylons, machinery, plant,pipelines and traffic signals roadways , etc that you are likely to encounter in the city of the modern everyman. History is captured in digestible snippits and bites. Here is all you ever wanted to know about bridges, the gasworks, roadways, pavements, aquaducts, pipelines, refineries , canals, runways, telephones, sewers,waste disposal and a host of other important processes and city systems that enable the modern life styles of the 21st century to be maintained with efficiency and flow. Did you know that the first traffic lights were installed outside the houses of Parliament in London in 1868 to manage horse traffic? The approach is descriptive, factual, informative. The book has something of a textbook feel but there is no real analysis about the future of these systems nor is there an explanation of how people fit into the engineering landscape. There is no discussion of the social, economic or capital financing issues around investments in so many of these engineering projects. Who should make the critical engineering decisions? What levels of government work best with complex technology? Where shoud funding be sourced? One admires the flexbility and talent of the engineer and reflects on the importance of coordination in managing modern cities. Overall this book a little too static and sterile for my taste but worth keeping on the bookshelf as a work of reference . If you are a city creature then this book will help you to spot and appreciate the engineering inventions and achievements that make city living possible for millions around the globe. ( )