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Cities and Their Vital Systems asks basic questions about the longevity, utility, and nature of urban infrastructures; analyzes how they grow, interact, and change; and asks how, when, and at what cost they should be replaced. Among the topics discussed are problems arising from increasing air travel and airport congestion; the adequacy of water supplies and waste treatment; the impact of new technologies on construction; urban real estate values; and the field of "telematics," the combination of computers and telecommunications that makes money machines and national newspapers possible.Table of Contents Front Matter 1 Cities and Infrastructure: Synthesis and Perspectives 2 The Dynamic Characterization of Cities 3 How Cities Grew in the Western World: A Systems Approach 4 Urban Systems and Historical Path Dependence 5 An Economic Model of Urban Growth 6 Growth of U.S. Cities and Recent Trends in Urban Real EstateValues 7 Infrastructures for Movement: Past and Future 8 Dynamics and Replacement of U.S. Transport Infrastructures 9 Air Traffic Congestion: Problems and Prospects 10 Combining Communications and Computing: TelematicsInfrastructures 11 Reflections on the Telecommunications Infrastructure 12 Water Supply and Distribution: The Next 50 Years 13 The Urban Wastewater Infrastructure 14 New Construction Technologies for Rebuilding the Nation'sInfrastructure 15 Longevity of Infrastructure Contributors Index