Synopsis
The Brunel Lectures span the last ten years and provide a diversified review of "work in progress" in the theory and practice of macro-engineering. This book is an edited compendium of these lectures and contains contributions from leading figures in the field. The introduction reports on the development of key elements for a power transmission satellite which will ultimately make the exchange of power between distant countries a feasible proposition. The book looks at closed system habitats - a way of applying advanced technology to effect desert rehabilitation; Osaka's financially successful use of artificial islands as an instrument of offshore development, large scale canals including the Grand Canal of China and the possibility of colonization of the Moon. The sociological, financial, practical, philosophical and theoretical implications of macro-engineering are balanced in a book which puts the rapidly developing interdisciplinary area into perspective.
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