Kate Ascher

Quiz your knowledge of local infrastructure with Columbia GSAPP's Kate Ascher.

Kate Ascher, author of The Heights: Anatomy of a Skyscraper, and Carol Willis, founder, director, and curator of the Skyscraper Museum, discuss the history and future of tall buildings—from Chicago’s 17-story Auditorium Building to Dubai’s 160-story Burj Khalifa. They’ll explain how they’re built, how they work, and how they’ve changed cities.

Professor of Urban Development at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP), a principal with Happold Consulting, and author of The Heights: Anatomy of a Skyscraper, Kate Ascher discusses her new book about tall buildings and density.

How do traffic lights work? Where does our water come from? What keeps the subway system going 24 hours a day? Kate Ascher explains how the infrastructure of New York City keeps everything running smoothly…most of the time, anyway. She’s author of The Works: Anatomy of a City.

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What caused the steam pipe near Grand Central to blow, and do we need to worry that it will happen again? Kate Ascher, executive vice president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation and author of The Works: Anatomy of a City gives her diagnosis.

Kate Ascher, author of The Works: Anatomy of a City (Penguin, 2005)- on everything you wanted to know about the inner workings of a city