Unseen Infrastructure: The Underground Networks That Keep The World Turning

In a world where everything feels presented to us at all hours of every day – on our phones, our laptops, on billboards, in stores – it’s rare to find a bit of the world that still escapes our gaze. All around us exists an unseen world of labyrinths, sprawling and complex networks carrying vital resources for modern society. For the most part, we don’t even notice it until something goes wrong.

In fact, the sheer fact that this infrastructure is unseen is a marvel of modern engineering. Water infrastructure has always been a crucial aspect of civilization, but not too long ago, the world’s streets and houses were flush with clear evidence of water, both clean and dirty, from chamber pots to water carriages as recently as the mid-20th century all the way back to the open channel aqueducts of the ancient Roman empire. With this infrastructure now being hidden, we perhaps live in an era where water and its associated infrastructure is the most underappreciated it has ever been.

Let’s explore this unseen infrastructure and examine everything happening right beneath our feet, in our walls, under our roads, and throughout our cities.